Ok, before you jump down my throat, let me just say that excellent execution in Inbound Marketing was one driver of success for Hubspot…
But many companies execute well on the Inbound approach of producing “great content” and getting it in places that drive inbound leads, but they don’t see nearly the success that Hubspot has, so what was their real secret to success?
My view is that it was really driven by Category Creation and Leadership Positioning, which is what truly set them apart, and powered their Inbound Marketing.
Why else would so many people proudly display these certifications on their LinkedIn and other profiles (I just did a quick Google search to find these, but have greyed out the names for privacy)?
More…
I’ve always taken it for granted that Hubspot’s success was driven primarily by Inbound Marketing, which is the perception the company has created since they sell software to help with Inbound Marketing, but this made me realize that Inbound Marketing was just a part of their success. After reading this, I totally agree that they would not have been nearly as successful if they didn’t create a category and build a leadership position for themselves within it. Of course, once they executed on this strategy, Inbound Marketing was a key tool to help support the strategy, but it was just a component of the overall approach.