The Inbound Marketing Story: A Visit To Hubspot
Posted by Sunniya Saleem on Mon, Apr 12, 2010 @ 07:42 PM
Today, I met Mike Volpe (@mvolpe), VP Inbound Marketing at Hubspot and it was a very educational experience. Having moved here recently I have been trying to expand on my network of friends, colleagues, industry experts etc. Social media marketing is both an online and offline endeavor. It is all about forming that link, that connection with individuals whom you interact with daily in the online space. And as I mentioned in my last article inbound marketing channels have helped me connect to many people, discuss industry specific issues and gain greater insight. Mike Volpe is one of those few individuals who have helped me expand on my knowledge of inbound marketing.
The reason I call this article 'the inbound marketing story' is that today's meeting stemmed from online interaction with an industry expert. Having taken the inbound marketing exam in February, I started following a number of people from Hubspot on Twitter. One of them was Mike Volpe. Mike and I started discussing the latest in tech gadgets on twitter. The discussion went from iPad to HP netbooks to eee pcs to coffee.
I was very excited about meeting Mike as I had seen him on Hubspot TV, had read his articles on the hubspot blog and had been talking to him on twitter. He was this contact on my screen whom I loved sharing ideas with. Meeting him offline meant taking the whole online marketing experience to real life. And a part of me wasn't sure how this experience would translate. After having waited two weeks I finally met him today. And I was impressed at how down to earth he was and with what ease he translated the whole inbound marketing experience from the online space to everyday life.
The important thing I gathered from today's meeting was that inbound marketing ethos and guidelines need to be communicated and established across the board - from our online activities to our everyday life. There needs to be a point where it all comes in sync and reflects the same brand attitude. Come to think of it the 'online space' is just a channel where we can further our everyday activities and businesses. It provides us with opportunities to reach out to a wider audience. And helps us create platforms which enable us to interact without having to be physically present in the same room. But if someone was to ask what inbound marketing would like if moved from the online space to the real world? I would say it would very much look like the hub of activity at the Hubspot offices.
The Hubspot offices seemed like an interactive maze to me where everyone was busy communicating on some level or another. From an outsiders point of view this communication was very much in sync. Even though each individual was carrying out his/her own task yet it all came together under one umbrella. It was hard to set rigid boundaries around groups or to say that one part was different from another. To be honest it was reflective of how hubspot carries out their online activities. They may do different webinars, have different twitter accounts, write different blog posts but they all speak the same language - the language of inbound marketing. The culture at their corporate offices reflects this too. What was most amusing was that I saw copies of the 'inbound marketing' book by Brian and Dharmesh on the desks of their employees too.