Review: Hubspot Academy – Inbound Marketing

This time I’m reviewing the Inbound Marketing class from Hubspot Academy.

I chose this class because I wanted to see how this class compares to the Inbound class I reviewed previously. Will I find it redundant or will it build on the class I already took?

• Class: Inbound Marketing
• Author: Hubspot Academy
• Published Duration: 4 hours and 12 minutes plus 1 hour exam.
• Certification: Yes

The class is made up of 34 videos broken into 10 separate lessons. The lessons cover topics such as Inbound Marketing Basics, different marketing strategies, how to create different marketing content types, and how to align your marketing efforts with other departments, especially sales.

While the class is advertised as being a little over 4 hours, which is the length of all the videos, I took longer to complete the course. From my experience with the Inbound class and it’s certification test, I knew detailed notes were key to understanding the materials and completing the exam. I paused the videos frequently to write down my notes.

Overall, it took me a few weeks to complete the class by going through the lessons here and there when I had time. The breakdown of the lessons made it easy for me to take a break and pick things back up. I rarely felt lost or confused when I came back to the class. If I completed the class in one sitting, I estimate that it would have taken me about 8 hours to complete all the videos and take the exam.

Like all Hubspot Academy classes, there is a study guide that I found extremely useful for taking notes.

As an example, here are the study guide and my notes from Lesson 7: Understanding Conversion Strategy:

I did run into an issues with the study guide for Lesson 6, Developing a Conversational Growth Strategy, which mentions SLOPE and TTL as topics that would be covered in the lesson but actually never came up in the videos. I found this information in a Hubspot blog post, Why You Need a Conversational Growth Strategy Now. Questions about SCOPE or TTL did not come up in the certification exam. Either Hubspot forgot to update the study guide when they updated the class or there is a video or two missing from Lesson 6. It is one of the shortest lessons, so that’s a possibility.

Class Content

As stated above, the class is broken down into 10 lessons covering a wide variety of topics. Every class was useful and gave me tangible things I could do right away to improve my marketing efforts. There were only a few suggestions that I felt were outside my experience with Product Marketer, such as business model changes or discount plans, which would fall under the purview of another department, such as Product Management or Business Development.

The lessons flow together well but are fairly independent. I feel like I could have take the lessons in pretty much any order and have understood the content without any problem. Topics included developing a content strategy, how to create blog, web, and social media content, campaign optimization, lead nurturing, understanding customers and prospects, and aligning with Sales.

There are some gaps that I would like to see closed in future versions of the class. Email marketing is referenced throughout the class, but it would be useful to include a lesson dedicated to email marketing. Also, while the class was appropriately focused on understanding customers and prospects, I would have liked to have seen a little more focus on researching your company’s industries and competitors.

I am glad I completed the Inbound class first. That class dived more into the Inbound methodology fundamentals, such as SMART goals, that was only briefly touched upon in this class. Therefore, the Inbound Marketing class does build off the Inbound class, even though I do not think that was their intention.

This class is not for the novice marketer. It would not replace a Marketing degree or an MBA as it is does not cover some of the fundamentals of Marketing, such as the 4 Ps. Nor do I think it should. This course provides a practical guide for practicing marketers to adopt the Inbound Methodology to improve their marketing efforts.

Final Thoughts

I encourage every practicing marketer to take this class. I had put off taking this class for years because I thought I was too busy. Now that I’ve taken this class, I believe this class is essential to becoming a better marketer. I would require any new marketing hire to take this class (and the Inbound class) in their first 30 days.

If there is a Marketing training class or any other topic that you would like me to cover, put it in the comments below or contact me on Twitter @kachelriess.

Review: Hubspot Academy – Inbound

This time I’m reviewing the Inbound class from Hubspot Academy.

I chose this class over the Inbound Marketing class because I thought that this would be a good introduction to the Inbound methodology before diving into the more focused Inbound Marketing class.

• Class: Inbound
• Author: HubSpot Academy
• Duration: 2 hours plus 1 hour exam
• Certification: Yes

While this class provides a good introduction to the Inbound methodology, I do not feel like it is a class that’s required before taking one of the Inbound Marketing, Inbound Sales, or Inbound Services classes. This class is targeted more to the executive in charge of Marketing, Sales, and Services/Operations.

The class gives an overview of the Inbound methodology (Attract, Engage, Delight) and covers some business basics, such as mission statements, goals, personas, and buyer’s journeys. The class is divided into multiple sections. Each section has several video lessons and a quiz to help you understand the material. They provide a study guide that is mainly an outline. I recommend that you take a lot of your own notes.

I like how the class promotes a simpler buying process than the Pragmatic system (3 steps vs 5 steps). Awareness, Consideration, Decision. The steps are a little counterintuitive to what I’m used to and had to readjust my brain a bit. Awareness isn’t gaining awareness of my product or organization, it’s the persona gaining awareness that a problem exists. Consideration isn’t the persona evaluating my product and organization, it’s them identifying all the possible solutions to their problem. Decision doesn’t start with the decision being made, it ends with it. Evaluating solutions occurs in the Decision step, not the Consideration step.

At first, the Inbound buying process, like with many others, seems to miss the post-decision step of the buyer’s journey. The part where you turn customers into advocates and potential upsell opportunities. However, they address this with their flywheel concept, which not only shows how to turn existing customers into new prospects and drive growth but also shows how Sales, Marketing, and Services/Operations should work together for the benefit of the customer. I’m looking forward to seeing how the Inbound Marketing class expands on the flywheel concept.

The Inbound buying process may feel like goes against the traditional buying process taught in other classes, I like how it brings a focus to on the persona is solving their problem instead of focusing on how they interact with my product and organization. I believe marketers need to look at both angles of the buyer’s journey to be effective.

This class comes with an exam for certification. It was 60 multiple choice questions and 45 correct answers are needed to pass. They say it’ll take an hour to complete the exam and you’re given 3 hours to complete it. If you do not pass, you have to wait 3 hours to take the exam again. The exam wasn’t too difficult. I completed it within 45 minutes and got 55 correct. I recommend that you take a lot of notes during the class. You’ll need to understand the concepts of the class to pass the exam, not just regurgitate facts.

Overall I think this class is pretty good. There are only a few times where it felt like I was watching a sales pitch. It doesn’t go into the Hubspot software, which I appreciate. Too often when I attend a webinar to learn about a specific industry, audience, or marketing technique, I found out that it’s just a sales pitch for some company’s product or service.

I do wish that the class description was a little more direct as to who this was for. I thought this class was an introductory classes that needed to be taken before the more focused Inbound Marketing/Sales/Services classes. Instead it was more an overview class for the executive level who would not be taking one of the more focuses classes.

I would recommend this class to executives looking to rollout the Inbound methodology to their organization and small business owners looking to get started with business and marketing fundamentals.

Review: Sustainable Business – Marketing Strategy for Sustainable Products and Services – Revised

Since today is Earth Day, I wanted to start with a training course about environmental marketing.

I found this course, Sustainable Business – Marketing Strategy for Sustainable Products and Services – Revised from the Saylor Foundation on alison.com.

Right off the bat, I’m not sure what to make of this course. The title makes it sound like the course is to teach sustainable businesses about marketing. However, the description says that the class is about “sustainable marketing”, how it is different from “traditional marketing”, and it will guide me on how to put together a “sustainable marketing strategy”.

Class: Sustainable Business – Marketing Strategy for Sustainable Products and Services – Revised

Author: Saylor Foundation

Duration: 2-3 Hours

Certification: Yes

These are my thoughts while taking the course. Some of them are ideas that I learned from the course, some are my own thoughts about the course’s topic that may not have been mentioned in the course.

This course is about putting together a marketing plan to promote a product to an environmentally conscious audience. It’s a pretty straightforward course; pretty much text on slides without audio.

The idea of the course seems not to replace traditional marketing with “sustainable marketing” but to include sustainability messaging in your traditional marketing activities and to conduct your traditional marketing activities in a sustainable manner. For example, use digital materials instead of printed materials. If you do use printed materials, do so sustainably (smaller size, biodegradable dyes, recycled paper, etc.).

Some of the the ideas in the course go outside what Marketing traditionally controls, such as operations and supply chains. I agree that a truly sustainable marketing campaign is meaningless if the company as a whole does not integrate sustainability and environmental consciousness as one of their core values. Otherwise, any such marketing can easily backfire.

It feels like a catch-22. Environmentalism thrives under grassroots conditions. However, a front line marketer should be hesitant about implementing their own sustainability focused marketing campaign if the higher ups do do not adhere to environmental principles.

This course is speaking to the true believers. It assumes that you already see the benefit of targeting an environmentally conscious audience. If you’re just considering targeting this audience and looking for reasons to do so, you’ll find them here; you just have to look. It’s not going to go out of it way to convince you.

The course consists of 4 modules: an overview, a review of the marketing mix, an overview of the sustainable market focused on risks and barriers, and an assessment.

The second module provides a introduction of the marketing mix, a.k.a. the 4 Ps of Marketing. There is a focus of how these marketing fundamentals apply to a company with an environmentally conscious audience. I found myself skipping through the content.

The third module I found more interesting. It included some good examples of how various companies tried to “go green” and where they succeeded and where they failed. Most of the case studies were around developing and marketing a new product for the sustainable market, which is something that many front line marketers are unable to do. I would have liked to see some examples of how companies adapted their messaging and campaigns of their existing products for the environmentally conscious audience.

The assessment consists of many questions. Some fill in the blank, some multiple choice. I did run into some bugs that caused correct answers to be marketed wrong. 80% is required to pass. I passed on my second attempt.

This course didn’t really teach me how “sustainable marketing” is different from “traditional marketing”. It more was a course to teach Marketing using the backdrop of green products. I would recommend this for someone just starting out in Marketing. An experienced marketer looking for insights into the environmentally conscious audience would do better reading an industry report or market overview.

This is my first review of an online marketing course. Let me know what you think in the comments below. My goal is to review at least one course a week. If there is a course out there that you would like me to review, let me know that in the comments or reach out on Twitter @kachelriess.

Laid Off! What Now?

A few weeks ago I was laid off from my position as the Product Marketing Manager for EagleView’s imagery products and services.

To keep my skills up while job searching, I’ve decided to finally start taking all those free online marketing training classes that I’ve been meaning to take but just never had the time. However, I want to do more than just take a few classes and throw them on my resume and LinkedIn profile. I am going to review these classes for you.

Which of these classes are really worthwhile? Which ones provide insightful useful information that can really help you be a better marketer and which ones are just disguised sales pitches?

Hopefully, I will be able to help you navigate the many online courses out there. If there is a particular one you would like me to look at, let me know in the comments below or reach out on Twitter.

 

Redefining Open Data – Public Sector CIO Summit Presentation

I was a featured speaker at the 2016 Esri Public Sector Summit.

While it’s data that drives the government, it’s open data that drives the community.

In my presentation, Redefining Open Data, I argued that open data means so much more than making the data available for the public to use. It’s about helping the public do something with that data.

While data drives the government, it’s open data that drive the community. Citizens, businesses, students, nonprofits, and other governments all rely on open data to make their community a better place to live.

The slides from my presentation are available on SlideShare.

ArcGIS Open Data Site of the Week: Alberta Geological Survey

I worked with the great people at the Alberta Geological Survey to put together this blog post about their ArcGIS Open Data implementation.

What’s really cool is how they’re integrating their Open Data site with their web maps. For example, when you click on a feature on their Alberta Interactive Minerals Map (AIMM), which is a joint project with Alberta Energy, a pop up opens up with a link to that feature’s entry in their Open Data site.

Read about it here:  http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2015/09/27/arcgis-open-data-site-of-the-week-alberta-geological-survey-canada/.

Top 10 Reasons to Share Your Data with ArcGIS Open Data Blog Post

My new blog post, Top 10 Reasons to Share Your Data with ArcGIS Open Data, was published this morning. Go read it on the Esri Insider blog.

Esri Insider Blog Posts

I’ve had a couple blog posts published on the Esri Insider blog.

• When Open Data Isn’t Useful Data – September 19, 2014
• Top 10 Esri Insider Blog Posts of 2014 – January 13, 2015

I plan to start updating this blog again. Just need to sit down and figure out what to do with it.

Batkid Saves Gotham City Story Map

Batkid Saves Gotham City! is a story map about Batkid (Miles Scott) that I put together with Jennifer Jacob by using one of Esri’s story map templates. Miles story is amazing and inspiring and we couldn’t help but tell his story. The story map includes a link to The Batkid Fund, which Miles’ parents set up to help the local charities that had done so much to help Miles.

Re-experience Batkid’s journey as he saves Gotham City (San Francisco).

iOS 6 Apple Maps Sucks and No Google Maps App!? So What? Try These.

That Apple’s new Maps app included with iOS 6 is subpar isn’t news. In fact, it’s been done to death. You can read/watch some of the complaints here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, etc. Just as bad are the complaints that the Google Maps app is not available for iOS 6 and the only way to get driving directions on the iPhone 5 is to use Google Maps on the phone’s web browser.

These complaints are so widespread that Saturday Night Live even did a sketch about it on last night’s show, which you can watch the hilarious video here.

I just don’t get the uproar. Sure, it is annoying that the default iOS 6 mapping app is half-baked and that a Google Maps app isn’t available right now. But you know what? Apple’s going to get the kinks worked out,  Google would be insane to not be developing Google Maps for iOS 6, and there are plenty of other navigation apps available for the iPhone. To all you iPhone 5 owners out there, look at this as an opportunity to try out one of the other navigation apps.

After doing a quick search of the Apple App Store, I’ve put together a list of free alternative navigation apps for the iPhone (all these links go to the app’s page on itunes.apple.com).

• Waze
• MapQuest
• Maps+
• GPS by TeleNav
• Navfree GPS Live USA

A complete list of navigation apps for the iPhone (free and otherwise) is available from itunes.apple.com here.

Note: I use an Android phone, so I haven’t used any of these apps on an iPhone. That being said, I use the Android version of the Waze app, which just blows the Google Maps app out of the water.