Your HubSpot Marketing Hub Onboarding Checklist

Getting started with HubSpot’s Marketing Hub can be a game-changer for your business, but it helps to have a clear roadmap to make the most of the platform. 

Like any technology, the process can feel jargon heavy. So, here’s a clear onboarding checklist to help ensure you have the information needed to get started and fuel your lead pipeline faster.

Why Choose HubSpot’s Marketing Hub?

If you’re considering Marketing Hub, you likely realize the need to combine your efforts to stay ahead of competitors with up-to-date insights into your lead generation strategies and tactics.

We’ve found that HubSpot and in particular Marketing Hub offer user-friendly tools to help you accelerate personalized, automated marketing and start hitting your numbers month after month.

Sure, we’re an early HubSpot adopter and a Diamond-level Partner with expertise helping hundreds of companies optimize their platforms, but we didn’t develop a systematic approach to marketing and lead generation by sticking with tools that don’t work. 

Here’s what to know about the transition and onboarding process before you jump in. 

Step One: Power Up

Start by getting your account ready:

1. Make sure everyone who needs access has their user accounts set up. It’s like giving out keys to your new digital office.
2. Link your subdomains and tweak the settings to match your business needs for a fast, efficient start.
3. Install the HubSpot Tracking code on your website to start collecting valuable data. 
4. Ensure your emails are properly authenticated and compliant with regulations to avoid ending up in the spam folder.
5. Bring your existing marketing data (leads, deals, etc.) into HubSpot. Don’t do this in dribs and drabs – you want all your stuff there from day one so the rest of onboarding goes smoothly.
6. Configure and connect your email types, lists, social media accounts and any CRM integrations.

Step Two: Leads, Leads, Leads

One of Marketing Hub’s superpowers is helping you capture, engage and convert leads more effectively. Before you dig into the platform, have thought-out buyer personas and campaign strategies that bring in your target audience. You’ll want some lead criteria in mind, too, to optimize Marketing Hub’s features. 

Got that organized? Here’s how to get going. 

1. Evaluate your current lead capture methods to see if you’re collecting the information you need to qualify and convert.
2. Optimize HubSpot’s forms and pop-up forms (sparingly!) to gather essential lead info efficiently.
3. Develop a lead-scoring system to rank leads as marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) or sales-qualified leads (SQLs) based on their engagement and potential value.
4. Review your lead assignment processes so leads are assigned quickly and accurately to the right team members. 
5. Set up automated email workflows to nurture leads based on their actions and lifecycle stages. (More on automation below.)
6. Use segmentation to tailor your communications to different groups, improving relevance and engagement.
7. Develop or import your email campaigns to activate that lead pipeline.

Step Three: Automate and Personalize 

Marketing Hub’s automation tools can save you time and boost your marketing’s effectiveness. I’ll bet you a dollar* that’s why you’re making the transition in the first place. Many options exist for customized automation, but before you go there, here’s where to start:

1. Incorporate any existing email or other automations.
2. Look for repetitive tasks to automate, like follow-up emails or social media posts.
3. Create workflows to automate processes from lead nurturing to event promotions.
4. Set up dynamic email content to personalize emails based on defined characteristics, such as industry, buyer journey stage or past interactions.

* Currently I am only able to offer Monopoly money.

Step Four: Complete the Transition

Once you’ve completed initial onboarding, it’s time to plan for the long term. Review your goals and what progress you’ve made so far, then set up a regular schedule to analyze and assess how Marketing Hub is driving growth – or how it could be optimized to do even more. 

Just a note: If you’re consolidating your marketing efforts into a single platform for the first time – or if your team doesn’t have the time or expertise to tackle the items on this checklist – you’ll save yourself time, money and headaches by reaching out to a HubSpot expert with a proven track record of successful onboarding and execution projects. (Not sure if you need that level of support? Here are some factors to consider.)

What This Checklist Doesn’t Cover

Every business is unique, so your onboarding process might need some tweaks:

• Your unique sales process may require specific configurations in HubSpot. This could involve setting up custom deal stages, automation workflows or detailed reporting dashboards to align with your sales strategy.
• The tools and systems your business already uses can affect your onboarding process. For example, integrating with your existing CRM or marketing platforms might require additional steps or customizations.
• How you handle your data will influence your setup. If you have complex data structures or large volumes of data to migrate, you’ll need to plan for extra time and resources to ensure a smooth transition.