6 Tips for Generating More Content For Hubspot Blogging

by Gregg Crystal Aug 16, 2014

Expressions-7Over the past few years, I've worked with multiple companies that purchased Hubspot for their marketing initiatives.

Some work with partners, but Hubspot reports that up to 80% of Hubspot users do not, so there are a lot of these small businesses out there that fall into this category.

While I've seen them make mistakes in their inbound marketing campaigns, one of the most common is; not having enough content.

Content is the life blood of inbound marketing. It establishes authority, expertise, trust and loyalty with visitors. It automates marketing tasks and saves the sales team hours of time prospecting or juggling leads that could already be nurtured.

So, what is the #1 cause of lack of content-

Not enough time for the CEO to write the content and not enough people involved to provide the content.

Today, let's talk about how you can get past this hurdle to provide the serious amount of Hubspot blogging your company needs to be successful with inbound marketing.

Interviews with the CEO

During a 15 minute phone call with your CEO you should be able to pick up on several ideas for blog posts. He can give you topics that just need to be fleshed out. In fact, having a weekly meeting with the CEO should naturally spark ideas for blog posts, such as the following:

Industry news - has anything changed in the last week that greatly impacts your industry?

Product/Service changes - what changes need to be made - let your customers know in a blog post.

Employee changes - new hires or top professionals that are advancing within the company - keep these positive.

Tips and Suggestions - feedback received for suggestions or tips that can be used in blog posts to help educate customers for better results.

Have Multiple Contributors

The CEO may not have the time to write the content himself, he might need you or someone else on the team that can write. He may even need someone else to edit it if he can't find the time.

Connect with other people in the company that can either edit or proof the content to check for industry errors.

Get Ideas From Other Departments

Customer service is probably the best department within your company to provide ideas for blogging.

They know the issues customers have with your products and services, within the industry and any general complaints regularly received. All of these are great ideas for blog posts that can answer customer questions. 

The sales department would be a great place to find out what inquiries visitors or leads are asking prior to making a purchase.

When you can answer these questions on your site, visitors get important information on demand which allows them to control the sales process until they are ready to buy.

Social Media Monitoring

As an inbound marketing company, you should have multiple social media profiles set up. Ideally, you should be currently active on these profiles, nurturing future leads, providing great content and sharing knowledge.

Social media is packed full of conversation, on literally EVERY topic. Use the Twitter search and find topics about your industry, your products and services, or competitors. When someone asks a question, note whether it is something that can be answered on your blog.

Competitors & Industry Leaders

Your competitors that are blogging or others in your industry have likely put a lot of thought into their blog topics. While I don't recommend stealing their ideas, pursue their titles on a regular basis to see if there is something you should represent on your company's blog.

Each post needs to be unique, no copying or pasting someone elses' content, but you can absolutely generate your own ideas from their content.

How Much Content Does My Company Need?

Hubspot suggests writing content regularly for the blog at least once a week. While this is a common practice amongst companies just getting started with inbound marketing, it isn't common for those that are successful. Successful companies are blogging several times a week - at least 3x.

Blogging alone isn't all you need though, you need landing pages, emails and appropriate giveaways. These pieces should be added constantly, if not on a weekly basis - monthly for sure.

It's understandable if you can't generate 3 blog posts a week, but you should honestly strive for posting 2. Adding only one page to your site per week will result in a very slow moving campaign that is equally slow to produce results.

Summary

We use inbound marketing and Hubspot just like you and understand the hurdles to success. Content is a huge part of success when practicing inbound, and we encourage you to make it the priority it needs to be to bring you results.

As always, if you have questions feel free to ask, we look forward to helping you!

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