Business Growth Blog

The days of email blasts to lists of contacts are coming to an end. The EU and California instituted more stringent privacy laws in 2018. More states and regions are soon to follow. If you use HubSpot, and email to contacts in the EU or California, here are some tips on using their GDPR functionality.

The number one benefit of HubSpot, in my view, is that the CRM is central to the entire tech stack. If set up correctly, it stores multitudes of valuable data about the one thing sales, marketers, and business leaders care about the most: target buyers. These are the people that will, hopefully, become their future customers. Taking time to set up contact, company, and deal record views in HubSpot is essential to use the tool effectively. Watch the video or download the slides to see how to do it.

We’ve rebranded! When we added Moon Marketing as a DBA back in 2013, we thought it had a nice ring to it. It’s alliterative, Moon is my last name, it’s descriptive, and it’s a fun theme to play off (space) - so why change it? There is one primary reason why we decided to make the shift.

You want to grow your business. You know you need to do more marketing to expand your reach and attract more customers. You also know that good marketing isn't cheap. It's scary because you're thinking of increasing expenses, but you don't have a clear vision of what you'll get in return.

I regularly talk to companies that are considering starting an inbound sales and marketing program, but they lack the technological capacity required to do the work.

While there's a variety of sales and marketing technology available, the tool we've had the most success with is HubSpot. They put all the necessary functionality required into one system, which improves data sharing, communication between the teams, and work efficiency.

The hardest part of implementing a content marketing plan is figuring out what to write about. Companies usually begin in the self-promotional phase: they write about upcoming trade shows, new hires, case studies, and press releases. The content is very company-centric.

While it’s great to showcase the company culture, products, and services, it’s kind of boring stuff. It’s not likely to pique the interest of many new potential customers.

The most successful content marketing strategies are customer-centric. The content is written to teach, inspire, and motivate. Prospects find it interesting and helpful and become followers and evangelists for the brand. Good content helps companies build a following, generate leads, and increase sales efficiency.

Here are eight steps to help you start developing a list of relevant, highly valuable topics for your content strategy.

I was talking with a client recently, and she told me an interesting story. She said people frequently email her to share that they really enjoy her daily email newsletter. Which is great, except for one thing: She only emails newsletters once or twice per week, not daily!

When she replies to thank them and shares that she only sends newsletters a couple of times per week, her readers are surprised. They really thought they were getting an email from her every day.

When I heard this story, it got me thinking about what this actually meant.

Sometimes I go an unsubscribe spree - I unsubscribe from almost every newsletter that comes into my email inbox. Even emails I like to read. After a while, I just get too many, and it becomes overwhelming. I never read half of them anyway. I hit the “select all,” quickly scan to see if anything stands out, then hit “delete.”

I tell my clients that email marketing is a crucial part of a business growth strategy. And here I am, opting out after opting out. So what's the deal? Is email marketing important or not? Here's my philosophy on what email marketing is really about.

There’s often minimal communication between sales and marketing teams about their corporate newsletter strategy. Publishing email newsletters is typically seen as a ‘marketing’ function, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

Email marketing is meant to build brand awareness, but it serves an even more important role: to support sales prospecting efforts. After all, the contacts on your email list are the same people that sellers are actively trying to convert into customers.

The first place most people go to find the products or services they need is Google. At a minimum, Google is the new phone book. For example, if I wanted to find out where I could purchase dry ice for a party I was having, I would type in, “Dry ice, Saginaw.” I’ll scan the first page and pick the most convenient and trust-worthy looking company.

Google also helps buyers self-educate early in the sales cycle — before they’re ready to talk to a vendor or sales rep. For example, if I was searching for information about types of office layout design, that could signal I’m considering an office renovation.