Search for the Best Content Strategy Online: HubSpot

The Search for the Best Content Strategy Examples Online Continues

This is my third entry in a series devoted to discovering the best content strategy online.

So far my search has led me to GE’s highly touted ecomagination.com, the corporation’s microsite and brand concept devoted to imagining, discussing, and building innovative clean tech solutions, where I found top quality and visually imaginative content that lived up to the name, and marketing automation SaaS company Eloqua, widely heralded for award-winning content marketing that’s as visually stunning as it is perfectly suited for its audience’s needs.

This week, I’m turning my attention to another B2B marketing software company whose name is never far from any discussion on content marketing: HubSpot.

Bearing the torch for inbound marketing — the concept that marketers should earn or “publish your way in” by producing valuable content that attracts customers — HubSpot has developed into a prolific producer of free online resources including webinars, eBooks, reports, a weekly video stream, and a company blog that was named #2 on the Top U.S. Social Media, Internet Marketing & SEO Blogs by Cision and ranked #22 in AdAge’s Power 150 list of top marketing blogs in 2012.

Spot On: HubSpot’s Prolific Use of Content to Identify Leads and Guide Prospects Down the Sales Funnel

While its content may not be quite as visually arresting as ecomagination’s or Eloqua’s, HubSpot makes up for any lack of initial wow factor with the breadth, sheer volume, consistency, and organization of its offerings. Visitors to HubSpot’s website can navigate individual pages — appropriately called “Hubs” — supplying comprehensive lists of resources devoted to a variety of topics, including lead generation, social media marketing, business blog marketing, web analytics, and many more. The inbound marketing hub, for example, provides lists of featured blog articles (organized by subcategories), webinars, eBooks, reports, videos, and infographics on the subject, as well as links to tools and additional resources, as well.

Taking this helpful one-stop shopping organizational approach one step further, HubSpot also provides downloadable kits for various subjects, which can include multiple eBooks, videos, and presentations as well as templates and checklists to help get its audience started on different campaigns and efforts. While the kits are all free, HubSpot does require you to provide your email address and company information in order to download them, which provides the company with valuable fuel for its lead generation.

Another highlight of HubSpots organization and display includes its use of skill-level tags to indicate whether content is most appropriate for beginners in a subject (Introductory), marketers with some basic experience (Intermediate), or experts who are looking for an advanced, in-depth understanding of a subject and/or advice on how to teach it to others (Advanced).

While mofu (middle of the funnel) content may be the star of HubSpot’s website, the company does make good use of content designed to drive traffic, as well, and has had success with several viral videos such as this classic by “Sir Convert-A-Lot,” which I’ll leave you with until next week when I’ll conclude the series with a wrap up of the three content factories we visited, and a recap of the best practices you can adopt to build or improve your own successful content marketing strategy.

Factors that Make HubSpot’s One of the Best Content Strategy Examples Online

• Hubs and kits make the site a one-stop shopping destination for a variety of resources on individual topics
• Interactive webinars encourage participation and engagement
• Award-winning blog
• Always leading visitors further down the sales funnel: traffic generating content directs visitors to the site, top of the funnel content (TOFU) guides readers to middle of the funnel content (MOFU), and so on

Additional HubSpot Links:

Steve Gershik interviews Mike Volpe, Chief Marketing Officer at HubSpot, who offers additional insight into HubSpot’s content factory.

HubSpot Attacks Middle Of The Funnel On Its Quest To Dominate The Marketing Software Industry

From Business 2 Community, another take on HubSpot’s content factory and content marketing done right.

Daily Disruption profiles HubSpot cofounders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, offering insight into the launch of the company and its content factory.

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Best Practices content content factory content marketing content marketing strategy