I received an email from Hubspot Academy around the 3rd week of December 2015. The email offered a free online programme to learn all about Inbound Marketing. After undertaking the programme, in short intervals over a few days, I successfully took the test and received my Inbound Certification as per badge on sidebar. This post is to thank Hubspot Academy for putting a superb programme together and to highlight some areas that I found useful. Overall, I found it very interesting and would highly recommend the programme. UPDATE – In October 2017, I found the time to retake the course to retain the certification. Again an easy process as have up to date with the methodology.
Welcome Email
After I registered for the Inbound Certification course, I received an email explaining how to get started:
- Learn inbound marketing.
Learn at your own pace. Watch five 25-45 minute video lessons featuring expert HubSpot Academy professors. I’ll check in in a few days to see how you’re doing.
- Take the inbound exam.
Once you pass, you will receive your badge and certificate. Already know about inbound? Take the exam today! If you don’t pass, study up and try again in 48 hours.
The email included a link to a really good study guide which explained the areas to be covered:
â–º12 Self Contained Sections that build a complete picture of Inbound
â–º4.5 hours of Video.
The slides and transcript are available for download. The time of each video is clearly displayed as per images below. As such it is easy to keep track and plan when you can watch each class. Each section also included a Case Study /real world example. There is also a Quiz to test yourself after each section.
I watched the videos on a browser on my iPad. I took several screenshots when something simple but noteworthy was mentioned and this blogpost just happened. I have decided not to change the images!
What I liked about the Programme Content
I have selected 5 items to highlight under this heading (no real reason except that these were parts of the programme that were particularly thought provoking):
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 #.1 Consistent reference to Hubspot Inbound Model
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#.2 Focus on Customer Personas
Customer Personas are introduced immediately as part of the first class called ‘Essentials of Inbound Success’ – and almost every other class referenced and added to the topic.
I wrote a blogpost on Customer Personas some time ago which provided an example and listed some questions to consider as you formulate a description of your Bullseye customer. I really like the Hubspot Academy definition to include the use of the description ‘semi-ficticious’. Hubspot also provide for download a very good template for creating Customer Personas for your business.
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#.3Â Search Engine Optimisation
[spacer height=”20px”]#.4 Calls-to-Action
A CTA is a button that promotes an offer and links to a landing page.
The section on Email is also excellent in making the case that targeted email that is permission based remains a top strategy in terms of generating results.
#.5 Smarketing
Conclusion
The Hubspot Academy Inbound Certification programme is very good. I would recommend that you check it out further – please note that I have no relationship with Hubspot except that I have permission to display the Inbound Certification badge on my website for one year [instructions provided for that too – very professional].
Donncha, your post/recommendation has convinced me to take the exam and get the badge. But, can I ask you how much of this inbound marketing actually generates concrete results for you, in the form of Leads or Sales? I am a fan of the whole concept of Inbound Marketing but I fear it has a very long lead time before it delivers any results and I also fear it is more for the big brands. Hats off to Hubspot, however, for complete domination of the niche.
Lisa.
Lisa. Good question. I write most of my blogs as I am a trainer as I have things to say that add value to workshops that I deliver. As such I am an unintended inbound marketer. The market I target is very well known to me – 50% of all revenue is from annually recurring training. If you look at my website, I have very few calls to action. This is intentional as I offer a bespoke service. So I don’t expect or need too many Leads for Sales. But in saying that I get a few calls/ emails every week requesting my assistance. So, I would not like to be relying on inbound marketing as my primary lead generator but if I ever decided to offer Online Training then it would be more effective. I say this as Hubspot includes email marketing as part of the inbound approach. If you are an expert in your area you can build your authority in that specific field and reap the inbound reward – which is an advantage you may have over big brands. Best of luck with the programme and exam. Best regards. Donncha