Why I Believe in HubSpot

This is a guest blog post written by Dan Moyle, Multimedia Marketing & Communications Specialist at AmeriFirst Home Mortgage, and HubSpot customer.

My Time at HUGS

The first thing I noticed about HUGS2011 is the community. In fact, I noticed this at the Inbound Marketing Summit before the HUGS event. HubSpot had an "Inbound Lounge" set up, and Dan Tyre invited me in for a cup of coffee. We didn't play ping pong (though there was a table set up!) but we did chat. It turns out I was talking to one of HubSpot's first sales people and its first sales manager - one of the early visionaries of the company. He was welcoming, friendly, nice and generally excited about my passion for the company and inbound marketing. It was the same all over. HubSpotters I follow on Twitter would come up and say hi. And they'd know me. Now, I'm no Chris Brogan or Guy Kawasaki. I'm an average guy with a few followers. But because I'm part of the HubSpot family, they treated me like family (minus the name-calling that happens with my family).

Although the company I work for is a customer, I've become more than a HubSpot "user." I consider myself a mouthpiece for a revolutionary way of doing business. Every chance I get, I tell someone about HubSpot and inbound marketing. My wife can attest - she could do the same now that she's heard it so often. But I do it because I believe in it. I'm part of the family. We at AmeriFirst Home Mortgage fully believe in HubSpot.

In fact, a Twitter user recently asked me about my HubSpot usage. I said I was a fan, and she asked why, citing the fact that was “on the fence” about becoming a customer. 140 characters can't cover it, so I sent her this email:

Why I Love HubSpot

HubSpot allows us to blog using keywords to optimize for inbound marketing. As you choose keywords, HubSpot software grades them on several factors, and helps monitor your progress for ranking for them. HubSpot customer service is unmatched. They are always available and have the answers, or get them quickly. They offer all kinds of material like blog articles, eBooks, webinars and more to help you succeed.

We've seen our web traffic increase more than 400% in about 8 months. Our lead conversion is increasing every month as well.

HubSpot tracks online traffic for each customer/lead so we know where we need to focus our efforts. Time and effort are no longer wasted on paid advertising that may or may not (likely not) works. Add to that the other efforts we're putting into our inbound marketing, and HubSpot is helping AmeriFirst take our customer service into the next phase of business.

Without HubSpot, we would have to use a myriad of software platforms to keep track of all of this. Google analytics, Twitter Counter, Facebook insights, email lead nurturing...it's all within the HubSpot platform.

This is why I am a firm believer in inbound marketing, and HubSpot in particular.

A few resources to consider:

Inbound Marketing by Dharmesh Shah & Brian Halligan

The New Rules of PR and Marketing by David Meerman Scott

Also check out www.blog.HubSpot.com

All of those will point towards the benefits of HubSpot and inbound marketing.

And again, I'm just a customer. They don't pay me to say this! :)

Back to my time in Boston: while at HUGS, I had the chance to hear instructions and examples directly from the folks who live this everyday. The Inbound Marketing Consultant (IMC) who handles our account, Sam Mallikarjunan, told me how he built several websites and optimized them and marketed them with very little money, and that's how he ended up getting recruited by HubSpot. These folks, top to bottom, believe in this and practice what they preach. So the opportunity to meet them and hear from them is priceless. You have to get to HUGS sometime.

Side note - even the founders take time to talk to folks and snap photos. Thanks Brian and Dharmesh...for the community you've built. The folks at HubSpot have really made an amazing ecosystem.

Here's to the future!