A marketer’s job is never ending. From auditing social media profiles and following up with leads, to getting to grips with campaign reporting and writing fresh and engaging content for blogs and videos, our task list is only ever increasing.
It’s not at all surprising then that many marketers turn to a variety of third-party tools to help them manage aspects of their marketing and sales activity in a bid to be more ‘productive’. However, while these tools are great, if you’re using 10 to 15 tools which do not communicate with each other and the end result is that marketers spend too much time wasting time trying to get these tools to work!
Fortunately, HubSpot has the answer.
*Disclaimer* - we’re a HubSpot Growth Consultancy, but we’ve seen lots of companies gain incredible results by using HubSpot to streamline and improve all marketing and sales activity.
So how can HubSpot help you to be more productive when it comes to your day-to-day marketing activities? To show you, I’ve mapped out my average 9-5 as a HubSpotter and how it’s made me more productive and successful.
Morning
8:00AM
Managing my inbox
First things first (and preferably with a cup of coffee), I start the morning by checking through my email inbox to see what’s come in overnight and to see if there's anything I need to focus on early in the day. It’s usually a good chance to focus on a specific task as there’s not many people in the office!
Inbox management is a prevalent issue – according to The Guardian, the average office worker spends nearly 30% of their working week in their inbox!
So to make managing my inbox easier, I have specific folders and distribution emails. Having specific folders allows me to filter emails to see which ones are from clients and which ones relate to internal marketing/sales activity.
In addition, I try to check my emails once an hour, on the hour. This means that I’m not constantly refreshing and reacting to emails that distract from working on the main things I’m trying to work on. Of course, whilst not HubSpot specific, this helps to set the tone for the rest of the day and I would highly recommend managing your inbox in this way!
9:00-10:00AM
Checking leads and HubSpot notifications
After sorting out my emails I go through any HubSpot leads generated overnight and ensure they have either been allocated to the right salesperson, if necessary, or that they have been enrolled on the correct lead nurture pathways and lists.
Lead management is a major challenge for marketers. Some businesses do the hard work of generating leads and forget to follow up with them; move them over to sales; or simply just lose them in their CRM…
To avoid these issues, HubSpot is configured to automatically send me (and everyone else) notifications and emails when someone fills in a form on our website or revisits our website (and as my emails are all separated I’ll be able to find these emails easily). Also, the HubSpot Slack bot (part of the HubSpot and Slack integration) is also configured to send me – and everyone else – real-time notifications for the above (which really benefits our sales team who can then follow up right away). With this set up, we never miss any leads.
In addition, there are workflows set up in HubSpot to automatically assign new leads generated to the right lists and lead owner in HubSpot depending on where they are in the sales cycle!
Having all of this in place will help you to identify new leads and see whether or not they need to be handed to sales or put into lead nurture workflows. Separating your leads into lists will not only help you to delegate the work load, but also ensure you follow up promptly and stand the best chance of turning leads into customers.
10:00-11:00AM
Checking and planning blogging activity via HubSpot
Rather than guess what blogs are generating interest and leads, I use HubSpot’s blogging analytics to work out what’s performing well and to determine what we should do more of. Being a productive HubSpotter isn’t just about reducing the time you spend on what you do – it’s also about getting the most out of what you do.
In addition, a blogging/content schedule will help you to keep up to date with content creation and make sure you spend time on the things that matter (we use HubSpot's content strategy tool in the process). Consistency is key to improving your productivity with HubSpot. Secondly, audience insights are key to ensuring you get the most out of your content – being productive is also about being effective! Find out what content works and create more of it!
11.00-11:30AM
Reporting
It’s extremely important for me to be able to have an overview of all activity currently taking place. That means having a snapshot of all lead numbers, deal progression, sales activity, as well as all the stats around our website, social media activity, and content promotion.
We use a tool called Databox which allows us to do this brilliantly. We have various dashboards set up – which are all live snapshots of currently activity – and I like to spend around 30 minutes per day reviewing the data and charts as I can then make data-driven decisions based on the numbers.
We also have templates built out that we use for our clients, so if you’re looking for a similar set up – please get in touch.
Using a tool like Databox allows you to set up all of your reporting with ease and then check it every few weeks or months. With Databox, you spend less time creating reports and more time reviewing and analysing them.
11:30AM-12:30PM
Event management and planning
We are constantly running or attending events at The B2B Marketing Lab. The latest events we are currently planning for are:
HubSpot User Group – 19 September 2018 – please click here for free tickets.
I’m really excited about this event. We even have Olivia Kirwan from HubSpot coming over from Dublin to speak! There’s a lot of work to do in preparing for the event – promotion, organisation etc – but it’s going to be a blast!
INBOUND 18 – 02 September 2018 – Boston, USA
We have a team of nine HubSpotters going out to Boston for HubSpot’s annual INBOUND conference at the start of September and a lot of preparation is currently taking place. We’ll be doing video commentary and posting some great content from Boston, so please follow our LinkedIn and Instagram feeds!
Afternoon
12:45-1:15PM
Managing social media outreach and engagement in HubSpot
Net up, scheduling social media.
Even for the social media savvy, keeping up with social media is difficult at best. You – as a marketer – have to think about what to post and when to post on a daily basis to maximise effectiveness.
We schedule a lot of social media. We might schedule about 40+ posts a week.
HubSpot’s Social tool allows you to manage your social media and see what your followers are saying about your business - which is great for improving HubSpot productivity - no more spending hours on social media!
Also, if you want to improve your social media activity and start generating leads via your social media channels, check out our blog: 'Are your colleagues promoting your business on social media?'
1:15-2.00PM
HubSpot education time
Marketing is always changing and to stay ahead of the game it’s important to keep up to date with the latest trends and developments.
HubSpot is no exception, so around this time I’m usually on a webinar or conference call talking to HubSpot experts about new products and/or developments, or just educating myself on the tool.
Only the other day I was on a HubSpot webinar where new HubSpot products and features were announced – stay tuned for blogs discussing them all – and was able to find out a lot more about the new products and services that are due to be announced at this year’s INBOUND conference.
Always be learning. The more you know about HubSpot, the easier it is to improve your HubSpot productivity.
2:00-3:00PM
Creating promotional emails using pre-built email templates
Next, drafting promotional emails.
Creating promotional emails from scratch for your marketing campaign can be both arduous and time-consuming – but they’re wholly necessary for outreach.
So rather than spend an hour building and drafting a promotional email in HubSpot, why not use a pre-built HubSpot email template and do it in 10 minutes?
Using the pre-built templates I only need to drag and drop my copy and add a call-to-action (CTA). This allows me to build, draft and send emails in no time at all.
Because the task takes less than 10 minutes, I have more time to focus on the more important aspects of the message, such as ensuring the subject line is enticing or personalised, as well as add the mail to a workflow to send to relevant prospects.
Don’t waste hours creating your marketing emails – HubSpot’s template marketplace can provide you with pre-built email templates that are optimised for every device. All you need to do is add your copy!
3:00-4:00PM
Creating lead nurture workflows
This brings me to setting up workflows for lead nurturing.
Workflows are great because they automate repetitive marketing tasks - improving your HubSpot productivity. Things like lead nurturing and engagement can be done at scale and without manual input, providing you configure your workflows correctly.
Some businesses engage with leads manually which is fine when they have just a few leads - but what happens when they have hundreds? Engaging with each individual lead at that point to just 'check in' will take far too much time and resource (unless the business has a large marketing team).
Instead of reaching out to individual leads to check in, I can instead create a workflow in HubSpot which triggers based on how a lead has engaged with our website. This ensures that any contact who downloads the new eBook, for example, will be nurtured with additional content and an offer which moves them further into the buyer's journey.
If you can automate it, automate it - but ensure you configure your automation - in this instance, workflows - correctly. HubSpot's workflows are incredibly effective at nurturing leads and can give you more time to focus on other marketing and sales activities.
4:00-4:30PM
Getting the best website templates
Keeping your website up to date and fresh is just as important as your content – but you don’t want to spend hours redesigning web pages now, do you?
Instead of building pages from scratch, I (and the rest of the team) use HubSpot’s pre-built web page templates. These templates work in the same fashion as the HubSpot blog editor – you can build and see your web pages as they would be if they were live!
Using HubSpot’s pre-built web page templates can save you a considerable amount of time when it comes to building new web pages. Did I mention they are responsive on every device?
Don’t spend hours building new web pages – HubSpot’s pre-built web page templates are responsive and easy to use. You can edit them as you like and on the fly.
4:30-5:00PM
Building landing pages and setting new content live
For the new eBook we’re launching, the setup of the landing page is the final objective of the day.
Building a landing page – as well as its associated elements; thank you page, form, list and follow up email – shouldn’t take longer than an hour. We – myself included – actually follow a simple process, we upload the eBook we want to promote, create a thank you page, create (or insert) a form, create a list (if necessary), set up a follow up email and link all of them together.
HubSpot also encourages you to do it in a similar way:
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Upload eBook to HubSpot File Manager
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Create Thank You Page
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Create Form
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Create List
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Set up Follow Up Email
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Create Landing Page, linking all the above items together.
By following this process we ensure consistency and by being consistent we can gradually reduce the amount of time it takes for us to build landing pages.
Have a process in place for building landing pages. If you have a process and everyone follows it, it will be easy to build landing pages in no time at all.
5:00PM
Final correspondence
I try to have one final look at my emails at 5:00PM just before leaving the office. I open all the emails that I need to respond to that day, and then reply to them on my train journey home.
We work closely with our colleagues in Singapore and Chicago, so sending these emails at this time catches our team in Chicago at the end of their day, and our team in Singapore just before they start work for the day.
Thanks to HubSpot streamlining every marketing process, I can get things done in less time than it would take someone without HubSpot. This means I have more time to focus on other activities!
Whilst this is just an outline of my day, it gives a glimpse into how HubsSpot can help you and your team. Using HubSpot ensures that every day is productive and that you are performing at your optimum level without wasting time in between. HubSpot removes the need for additional tools, ensuring that you and your team are all working from the same blueprint and towards the same goals, giving your business the competitive advantage it needs.
If you want to find out more about HubSpot and how it can help to improve your productivity, why not come and speak to us? We host quarterly HubSpot User Groups and they are free to attend! Just click the button below!
