4 Super-Common Mistakes Product Marketers Make When Blogging (How to Blog Like HubSpot)

Joshua Feinberg Co-Leader of Boca Raton HubSpot User Group

Co-Founder and CMO of SP Home Run

@joshua_feinberg

Product Management 101 What are we really selling? Why are customers buying it? What’s the right price?

1984: The Star Ledger $1.25/week (or is it?)

Product Management 101 What are we really selling? Why are customers buying it? Is it the right distribution channel?

1999: Small businesses not ready for SBS DIY

Microsoft develops a Small Business Server suite (“Sam”) in 1997

Product Management 101 What are we really selling? Why are customers buying it? How do we use education to drive change?

2015: Thought leadership builds trust

Emergence of product managers and product marketers as thought leaders

What is HubSpot? (HubSpot Co-Founders

Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_bqIr7pGzQ

Flashback to First BocaHUG Meeting

How to Make Your Blog Lovable

HubSpot CMO Mike Volpe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL_8-6juwk4

HubSpot Employee #5 Since Volpe joined HubSpot in 2007

• Became the gold standard for blogging and highly-prolific thought leadership

• 30,000 to 50,000 Inbound leads generated monthly

• Over 2,000,000 monthly visitors

Who Blogs?

Lots of Businesses Blog

But very few product marketers are blogging in a strategic way that drives leads, sales opportunities, and revenue

Blogging and Inbound Methodology

Before We Start Blogging We Need…

• Goals

• Buyer Persona(s)

• Keyword Research

• Editorial Calendar

Which Goal(s) Does Blogging Help?

a) Visitors

b) Leads (Contacts) +marketing qualified +sales qualified

c) Clients (Customers) (revenue)

What Does a Goal Need to Be?

SMART

• Specific

• Measurable

• Attainable

• Realistic

• Time bound

Buyer Persona(s)

Prerequisite: SMART Goal(s)

• Who is your ideal client?

• What problems does that client need solved?

• What are they searching for at 2am?

• What could get them promoted? Fired?

• Where do they get their information from?

Keyword Research

Prerequisite: Buyer Persona(s)

• Highly specific long-tail keyword phrases

• Balance

– Monthly Searches

– Difficulty (rating: 1 to 100)

Editorial Calendar

Prerequisite: Keyword Research

• Plan out 3+ months of blog topics

• Focus of today’s workshop

Review of Prerequisites

1. SMART Goal(s)

2. Buyer Persona(s)

3. Keyword Research

4. Editorial Calendar

Don’t make the ultra-common mistake of skipping one or more of these four steps!

Blogging Titles

“Spend half your time writing the article and half your time writing a catchy title.”

Dharmesh Shah, Co-Founder of HubSpot

Title Formulas

• Ask and answer questions posed by buyer persona(s)

• Cost (prices, rates, fees, etc.)

• Problems

• Versus (comparison)

• Best

• Use their words, not what you think their words are

Blogging Workshop Participants Participant

Tell us your

• Company Name

• SMART Goal

• Persona (Most Profitable)

• Most Important Keywords from Persona

Co-Leaders and Audience

Will brainstorm

• Remarkable Blog Titles (confirm keywords using keyword tool)

• Awareness Stage Lead Generation Offer Title (TOFU: Top of Funnel)

• Guest Blogging Partners

How Often Should You Blog?

• How often do you want leads?

• Track your tipping points (see HubSpot State of Inbound)

– 100 remarkable indexed blog posts?

– 400 remarkable indexed blog posts?

• Commitment required

Review of Prerequisites

1. SMART Goal(s)

2. Buyer Persona(s)

3. Keyword Research

4. Editorial Calendar

Blogging and Inbound Methodology

Get a Free Marketing Assessment http://www.sphomerun.com/fma

Is your blog helping you reach your SMART goals for leads, clients, and ROI ?

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