Taking the plunge into the world of marketing automation is daunting - especially when you have a system that’s worked pretty well for you over the last few years. The thing about marketing automation software is that it doesn’t claim to do anything amazing - that’s your job. All it does is follow your lead. But one thing that is a result of great marketing automation software is the time it gives back to you - which is what makes it so important for professional marketing managers.

‘What gets measured gets improved’, Neil Sharma, leadership coach and author

B2B companies are spending more and more money on B2B content marketing these days. A whole lot more. In fact, in the US alone, it has been estimated that B2B companies spend $5.2bn on content creation, which is equivalent to around 55% of their marketing budgets. You would hope that with such a huge amount of expenditure going towards content that marketing executives would have ways to know what was working and what wasn’t, but according to the latest Gleanster report,  ‘The $958m Marketing Problem’, that’s often not the case.

So what is the $958m B2B content marketing problem? It’s the amount of money that’s wasted on ineffective content due mostly to clumsy content management. That’s around $120,000 per year per medium to large company. 

So what’s going on? Are we just creating content for content’s sake? 

Over the last few years, content marketing has caused an upheaval in the way B2B marketing is done. Sales reps and cold calling has given way to informative and engaging content, as brands struggle to capture attention in an environment where attention spans are shrinking, and buyers are leading themselves through the buying journey with new technologies.

You've heard about Inbound Marketing methodology, but you’re not so sure how it replaces the outbound marketing methods you've been using for years.

The truth is that if 78% of marketers (according to HubSpot’s State of Inbound 2015) are using inbound marketing, there’s a good chance they too came from an outbound marketing background. So, in order to help you understand why you should move to inbound marketing from outbound, I’ve have highlighted what outbound marketing techniques you can replace with inbound marketing.

By replacing each element of your outbound marketing strategy with your new inbound marketing strategy, you will have a filled marketing strategy that meets goals for higher conversation rate and increased ROI.

Most people think about designing a good website in terms of CTA, landing pages and leads - however they forget that there’s more to website mechanics than where to place your footer and whether or not your website is “flat”. What many people probably don’t know is that reverse engineering experience and intent has an equally important to website conversions.

When you’re trying to make the claim that your company’s website needs a refresh can often fall upon deaf ears. The stigma attached to website re-designs are pretty well founded; it’s a drawn out process that is quite painful for everyone involved. And then there’s the cost… That’s a whole other story.

It’s the new buzz-word in the industry that’s doing the rounds in meeting rooms and at marketing events, but what is it about Growth-Driven Design that makes it so diverse and easy to apply to all areas of your marketing strategy?

You probably don’t need us to tell you that buyer behaviour has undergone a revolution over the last few years. B2B companies have been aware of the change in consumer habits and preferences for some time now. But, for the most part, this hasn’t been reflected in their B2B marketing strategy. One area that is seriously due for an overhaul is the way in which sales teams interact with customers. Companies that have been successfully navigating this new consumer landscape, where the customer is in charge, have largely been those whose sales teams have learned to loosen the reigns, and let the customer take the lead while they listen, learn, engage, and follow up.

You might have been using HubSpot for a few months now and you’re not sure if it’s really working in terms of ROI. Unfortunately, when you’re in this position, it can be easy to get frustrated and give up altogether. You might even be considering whether you should stay with HubSpot, or start looking for another platform. But before you do, read on.

We’ve been using HubSpot for ourselves and across our clients for a number of years now, so we’ve got a good idea of what we like within the platform and what we’re not so crazy about. No matter what, we have chosen to stay with HubSpot because we know that the methodology that the platform has been built on is invaluable.