Mastering HubSpot CRM for Marketing, A Guide for MSP Business Owners

Nexa Lab Blog – Marketing wasn’t easy in the first place. You need to have a strategy, test it, and most importantly, be resilient to execute it day in and day out.

However, tools like HubSpot CRM will give you a better way of scaling your marketing effort and making it more data-driven.

They provide you with an all-in-one platform that can integrate sales, marketing, and customer service into a holistic approach towards customer relationship management.

Nonetheless, let it be noted that HubSpot, like any other software, is still a tool.

Today, we’re going to share with you some tips on how you can actually use the HubSpot CRM for marketing.

We hope this can help you, especially after having a solid strategy and starting to consider using a tool like HubSpot CRM.

How do you do it? Here’s how.

How to Use HubSpot CRM for Marketing

1. Creating and Managing Lists

One of the first steps in using HubSpot CRM for marketing is creating and managing lists.

Lists are crucial for segmenting your contacts and tailoring your marketing efforts.

Here’s how you can create and manage lists effectively:

1. Navigate to the ‘Contacts’ tab in your HubSpot dashboard.
2. Click on ‘Lists’ in the left sidebar.
3. Click ‘Create list’ and choose between ‘Active’ (dynamic) or ‘Static’ lists.

Active lists automatically update based on set criteria, while static lists remain unchanged unless manually updated.

• Name your list and set the criteria for inclusion.

You can filter based on various properties, such as company size, industry, or engagement level.

• Save your list and start using it for targeted marketing campaigns.

Remember to regularly review and update your lists to ensure they remain relevant and effective.

Creating well-segmented lists can help you deliver more personalized content to your prospects and clients. Ultimately, that effort will increase the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

For example, you might create a list of clients who haven’t engaged with your services in the past six months. This list could be the target for a re-engagement campaign, offering them a special promotion or valuable content to reignite their interest.

Another useful list could be prospects who’ve shown interest in a specific service you offer. You can tailor your marketing messages to address their specific needs and pain points, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

Don’t forget about your existing clients either. Creating lists based on the services they currently use can help you identify upselling or cross-selling opportunities.

For example, if you have a list of clients using your network management services, you could market your cybersecurity solutions to them, highlighting how the two services complement each other.

More on Nexalab’s blog: What is HubSpot Mainly Used For? Main Features and Integration Capabilities

2. Setting Up Workflows

Workflows are a powerful feature in HubSpot CRM that allow you to automate your marketing processes.

Here’s how you can set up a basic workflow:

1. Go to ‘Marketing’ > ‘Workflows’ in your HubSpot dashboard.
2. Click ‘Create workflow’.
3. Choose a workflow type. For marketing purposes, ‘Contact-based’ is often the most relevant.
4. Set your enrollment triggers. This could be when a contact fills out a form, joins a list, or meets certain criteria.
5. Add actions to your workflow. These could include sending emails, updating contact properties, or notifying team members.
6. Set your goals. What do you want to achieve with this workflow?
7. Review and activate your workflow.

Here’s an example of a simple nurture workflow for new leads:

• Trigger: Contact fills out a form on your website
• Action 1: Send a welcome email
• Action 2: Wait 3 days
• Action 3: Send a follow-up email with more information about your services
• Action 4: If the contact engages with the email, notify a sales rep to follow up

These workflows allow you to automate repetitive tasks, nurture leads more effectively, and ensure timely follow-ups.

Let’s explore a more complex workflow that could be particularly useful for an MSP business:

• Trigger: Contact downloads a whitepaper on cybersecurity best practices
• Action 1: Send a thank you email with the download link
• Action 2: Wait 2 days
• Action 3: Send an email with a case study on how you helped a client improve their cybersecurity
• Action 4: Wait 3 days
• Action 5: If the contact has opened both previous emails, send an invitation to a free cybersecurity assessment
• Action 6: If the contact books an assessment, notify the sales team and remove from workflow
• Action 7: If the contact hasn’t booked an assessment after 5 days, send a final follow-up email

This workflow nurtures the lead by providing valuable information, demonstrating your expertise, and offering a low-commitment next step. It also ensures that your sales team only gets involved when the lead has shown significant interest, improving efficiency.

Remember, the key to effective workflows is to provide value at each step and to respect your contacts’ preferences. Always include an option to opt-out of communications, and pay attention to engagement metrics to refine your workflows over time.

3. Analyzing Marketing Performance

HubSpot CRM provides robust analytics tools to help you measure and improve your marketing performance.

Here’s how you can leverage these tools:

1. Navigate to ‘Reports’ > ‘Analytics Tools’ in your HubSpot dashboard.
2. Explore the different reporting options available:
   • Email performance
   • Landing page performance
   • Blog post performance
   • Social media engagement
   • Website traffic
3. Use the ‘Campaigns’ tool to track the overall performance of your marketing campaigns.
4. Set up custom reports to track the specific metrics that matter most to your MSP business.
5. Regularly review your analytics to identify trends, successes, and areas for improvement.

For example, you might notice that your email open rates are low.

This could prompt you to experiment with different subject lines or sending times.

Or you might see that a particular blog post is driving a lot of traffic.

You could then create more content on that topic or promote that post more heavily.

Let’s dive deeper into some specific metrics that could be particularly relevant for an MSP business:

1. Lead Source: Understanding where your leads are coming from can help you allocate your marketing budget more effectively. Are most of your quality leads coming from LinkedIn ads, organic search, or referrals?
2. Conversion Rates: What percentage of website visitors are filling out your contact form? How many whitepaper downloads are turning into sales calls? Tracking these conversion rates can help you identify bottlenecks in your sales funnel.
3. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): How much are you spending on marketing and sales to acquire each new customer? HubSpot can help you calculate this by tracking your marketing expenses and new customer sign-ups.
4. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Understanding the long-term value of your customers can help you make informed decisions about how much to invest in acquiring and retaining them.
5. Retention Rate: As an MSP, your business model likely relies on long-term contracts. Tracking your customer retention rate can help you identify if you need to focus more on customer satisfaction and loyalty programs.
6. Service Adoption Rates: If you offer multiple services, tracking which ones are most popular among your clients can guide your cross-selling and upselling strategies.

Remember, the key to effective marketing is continuous improvement based on data-driven insights. 

Don’t just collect data – use it to inform your decisions and strategies. Regularly review your metrics, test new approaches, and always be ready to adapt based on what the data tells you.

If you feel you need a more comprehensive guide or tutorial in using HubSpot, no worries. Thankfully, HubSpot is known for their in-depth knowledge base and extensive resources, including webinars, tutorials, and customer support.

They even have HubSpot Academy, a free marketing course that includes how to use HubSpot CRM for your marketing efforts.

More on Nexalab’s blog: Why HubSpot? 6 Competitive Advantages You Should Know

Conclusion

As you become more comfortable with these basics, I encourage you to explore more advanced functionalities like lead scoring, A/B testing, and integration with other tools. Remember, effective use of HubSpot CRM is not just about the tools, but how you use them to build and maintain relationships with your clients.

Investing in CRM software like HubSpot is a smart move for any business looking to improve sales, marketing, and customer service.

But to get the most out of your CRM, it needs to work with your other tools.

Nexalab’s App Integration can help you integrate HubSpot CRM with other essential platforms, like PSA software, for example. This means you get a complete view of your customer data, automate repetitive tasks, and personalise your customer interactions. It’s a solution that helps you get the most out of your CRM investment. Contact Nexalab today to explore how App Fusion can drive your business forward.