If you clicked on this title, you most likely fall into one of two categories. Either you’ve just bought HubSpot and you’re suddenly worried you’ve made a terrible mistake and you’re going to waste thousands of dollars; or, you’ve had HubSpot for a while and are starting to think maybe it isn’t the answer to your marketing prayers, because you’re not getting the results you want. Despite the negative title of this blog post, HubSpot is the top 1 or 2 marketing automation software solutions available (depending on where you look), according to G2Crowd, Capterra, TechnologyAdvice, and TrustRadius. However, just because it’s an excellent software doesn’t mean it’s going to provide your company with excellent results.
Why HubSpot users are failing
As an account manager with Alaniz Marketing, I’ve heard a wide range of complaints from our clients about not getting the results/ROI they expected from HubSpot. After hearing these struggles over the past few years, I was able to define the three main reasons marketers don’t get positive results from HubSpot:
- Bad/no strategy
- Lack of processes
- Lack of training in how to effectively use HubSpot
We’ve discussed how poor strategy and processes give you poor results. If you want to learn more about developing strategy and processes, check out the links above, as well as the ones below:
- 6 Steps to Building a B2B Inbound Marketing Strategy that Works
- 5 Marketing Plan Must-Haves to Avoid a Wasted Marketing Investment
What we’re talking about today, however, is HubSpot training.
Why Hubspot training is important
When I started 7th grade, I decided that I wanted to play in the school orchestra. The only problem was that I didn’t know how to play any stringed instruments. Not one to be deterred, I decided I was going to play the violin. Through hard work, I learned the string order, how to bow correctly, and where to place my fingers to make some semblance of music. I had fun, but a couple years into my orchestral adventures, I realized I had hit a plateau and couldn’t improve anymore without proper lessons. I had learned how to play, but not how to make really beautiful music.
HubSpot, in many ways, is like learning to play an instrument. You can learn where the buttons are and how to do the basics, but the software is capable of being so much more than a blogging and email tool. Not only are you selling yourself (and business) short by only understanding a fraction of the software, but it’s easy to make a BIG mess of your HubSpot portal.
Who needs to be trained?
Anyone who uses HubSpot on a regular basis and is going to have editing privileges should be well versed on the ins and outs of marketing automation platform. This includes your marketing team, maybe your sales team, and possibly even your CEO. The reason getting everyone trained in the same way is important is because, after your training, you’ll want to create some guidelines as to how and when things get created and reviewed, and how to name/organize blogs, landing pages, emails, contact lists, workflows, images, and documents.
Pro tip: Developing a consistent naming convention is critical to keeping a clean, easily searchable HubSpot portal. We once worked with a client who, over the last 3 years, had developed hundreds of automated emails, and because their marketing team changed every 6 months to a year, the old emails were never reviewed and practically impossible to find because none of it followed any naming convention.
How to get trained
There are more options than ever before to get fully trained in HubSpot. The route you take will depend on your teams’ needs and time availability.
HubSpot Academy Certifications
We recommend this to all HubSpot users, whether they are brand new to the software or have lots of experience. HubSpot Academy has tons of different certifications and are adding more all the time, but the two most fundamentals ones are the Inbound Certification and the HubSpot Certification. To find and learn more about these options, log into your HubSpot portal, click on the graduation hat in the upper right corner, and click ‘Certifications.’ You can see which certifications are available to you, which ones you passed, and find out which ones are right for you and your team. Plus, they’re free!
HubSpot Classroom Training
If you need a little more hands-on learning, HubSpot now offers a few in-person training courses, focusing on building inbound campaigns, lead management and automation, and developing content. The courses run for two days and are fast-paced so you can get the information you need and bring it back to your organization with little time lost. We haven’t tried this ourselves, but you can learn more here.
Live Team Training by an Agency
There are some HubSpot partner agencies that provide training as a service, either in-person or online, via Skype or GoToMeeting. This is often a cheaper option than HubSpot Classroom Training because you’re paying one person/team to come to you, rather than to send your team elsewhere.
Depending on the agency, you can find short, intensive training that lasts 2-3 days or more paced out training, taking an hour or two each week for 4-8 weeks. The main benefit of this is that you have the option to customize your training to the aspects that your team needs most.
Alaniz Marketing has provided training for years, both to new HubSpot clients and experienced users who needed refreshers in best practices.
We’re constantly telling ourselves to go, go, go, and produce great results along the way; but without the proper foundation, you will struggle. Even the most naturally talented musicians can only get so far without learning to read music, understanding some music theory, and learning best practices for posture and position. When you take the time to get your team fully trained and equipped for the job, your team’s talent will blossom and results won’t be far behind.
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