Jeff Bennett's Blog

HubSpot is a very cool company that is the brainchild of Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah.  The goal was to build a platform for the many disparate elements of inbound marketing so that small and medium sized busiensses could be more efficient.  HubSpot today integrates all of these services in a unique SaaS suite of services.  They have also built some very cool tools like Website Grader and Twitter Grader to complement their offerings.

Inbound Marketing is for real.  It is transforming how everyone markets products, services and themselves in this world.  It is changing the game radically right now.  Beyond their great work at HubSpot, Brian and Dharmesh have teamed to write a book called “Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, And Blogs.” I got an early copy and poured through it.  It is a very good guide to what is happening, how anyone can become proficient and compete in this new era.

A couple of poignant quotes from “Inbound Marketing:”

“Just as the rules from door-to-door marketing did not translate to outbound mass marketing, the rules from outbound mass marketing do not apply to inbound marketing.  You can’t simply move your advertising budget and 30-second TV spot online – it doesn’t work .  Pushing a message at a potential customer when that message has not been requested will fail as a major source of new customers, and by extension, revenue, for most companies.”

Halligan and Shah continue:  “Seismic shifts like the one we are living through pose an amazing opportunity for new entrants into markets and an amazing threat to incumbent leaders.  New companies in markets with remarkable offerings can easily take advantage of the changing landscape to rise up to the top.”

I thought that “Inbound Marketing” was a good read.  Brian and Dharmesh laid out a good map for how to become proficient at Inbound Marketing and included some great case studies.  I am pleased to add “Inboiund Marketing” to my recommended reading list.