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The Most Important Internet Marketing Skill? Learning.

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dive in

Let me guess. You've read about inbound marketing, you know that blogging and creating content like videos and webinars is the most effective way to get ranked in search engines and drive and sales.

There's just one catch: You're not a "content expert."

Here's some advice: Stop worrying.
 
If you're good at your job, you'll be great at creating content.

The dirty little secret of internet marketing is that nobody's a content expert. 

YouTube? Twitter? Blogging? You don't need to be Faulkner or Scorsese to figure them out. You just need to dive in. 

Not convinced? Then I suggest checking out the work of Rebecca Corliss, a new addition to our marketing team here at HubSpot.

Rebecca was the video editor of You Oughta Know, the video about inbound marketing we launched yesterday. (If you haven't seen the video, stop what you're doing now and go watch it. It will make you laugh.) The video is wildly successful with well over 14,000 views on YouTube since it launched yesterday. It's the top YouTube result for marketing; in Ireland, New Zealand and the Netherlands it was yesterday's most-viewed entertainment video; and it came within a hair of the front page of Digg.

With success like that you might think Rebecca was a seasoned video professional, with deep experience editing and producing online video. 

Not at all. In fact, Rebecca had no video editing experience before she started putting together this video. None. She just sat down and figured out how to use iMovie. After an afternoon using iMovie she was comfortable on it. After a day on iMovie, she was HubSpot's new video editing expert.

Rebecca is a rockstar, but there's only one thing that separates Rebecca from most marketing managers or small business owners: She's not afraid to learn.

More specifically, there are four main things she did very well:

1. She Got Started -- Instead of worrying that she wasn't good at video editing, instead of putting it off until she could "get trained," Rebecca dove right into the project. There are lots of excuses you could use to put off blogging or creating videos, but why use them? The sooner you get started, the sooner you'll be comfortable creating content and the sooner you'll be generating new leads and sales.

2. She Wasn't Afraid to Make Mistakes -- Rebecca ran into all sorts of problems when she started editing Oughta Know, but she treated them all as minor snags. There's no doubt you'll have problems when you start producing content. You'll have issues with audio for your videos. Your webinar will have technical problems. And you'll probably offend somebody with one of your blog posts. Don't worry about any of this. Everybody runs into problems.

3. She Learned Quickly and Became an Expert -- Although Rebecca hit a few bumps with iMovie, she quickly taught herself to solve the problems. She visited help sites, she read how-to guides, she discovered work-arounds and she became a video-editing expert. You should do the same thing. The web is rich with resources about creating content. Take advantage of them.

4. She Added Personal Touches -- Rebecca is a musician and a singer, and she incorporated her music into the video. This gave it a personality -- it distinguished her video from YouTube's thousands of other workplace music videos. Maybe you're a world-class semiconductor designer, maybe you're a top-notch sales trainer. Whatever you're passionate about, make sure your content reflects it.

Marketers often talk about the skills needed to thrive online: writing, editing, video production, audio production, etc. These are all important skills, but if you learn to approach them the way Rebecca approached video editing, you'll master them in no time.
 
In other words, the most important internet marketing skill to learn is learning itself.

What do you think? Let's have a conversation about learning and skill development in comments below
 
 
 

Posted by Rick Burnes on Tue, Dec 09, 2008 @ 08:46 AM

COMMENTS

Nice job, Rebecca do the best in learning. I still waching how she can make her site so awsome. I think learn and still focus for what we have passion is the key. 
Thank's for this greats article :)

posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 9:40 AM by http://jpcats.com


I started Kaffe Magnum Opus as a second career at age 44 or so. Our coffee site iswww.kmocoffee.com which I realized recently needed a lot of work. I too realized that web 2 had left me behind. So I've loaded up on books of Internet Marketing, youtube, facebook for dummies and 8 or 10 others.  
 
 
 
I use movie maker and pro tools for audio now. I love taking video's and I have almost 40 odd video's on youtube, and its only a small toe in the water. 
 
 
 
I think our folks are talking to Hubspot folks today.  
 
 
 
This is exciting and has added a whole new dimension, like the sixth dimension to my life.  
 
 
 
Right now I'm sitting in my motor home in a repair shop and found your note ... My verizon card will not go through these wall so I will pend the movie for a few minutes. 
 
 
 
Nice Work mr Volpe. 
 
 
 
Bob Johnson 
 
Founder 
 
Kaffe Magnum Opus 
 
www.bobjohnson.wordpress.com

posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 9:43 AM by Bob Johnson


Love it. One of the things I always ask business owners and marketing professionals before I start talking to them about internet marketing is, "Are you willing and able to learn some new skills?" 
 
If they have the willingness to do it and the time to invest in it, they can be successful at internet marketing.  
 
As far as singing, I'm not sure I could ever learn to do that. That requires some talent.

posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 9:52 AM by Pete Caputa


Interesting post. I would have to agree with some of this, especially the part about you should stop worrying. If you just dive in and do the things that are common sense than you should be OK. If you want to market yourself then comment on blogs and forums, plus SEO.

posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 10:51 AM by Blog Expert


Agreed. Being interested in learning (curious) and being a quick learner are very marketable skills. I'd also add creativity! 
 
 
 
cheers!

posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 11:41 AM by Jocelyn Harmon


Thank you for the sensible nudge! You're right and I will!

posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 12:17 PM by Michael Satterwhite


most important skill: listening! 
leads to being curious and adventurous, but you've got to understand what's going on around you first.

posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 12:23 PM by @toddlucier


It sounds like in addition to a thirst for knowledge, people can benefit by surrounding themselves with people that foster that thirst. Props to you all!

posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 12:30 PM by Deb Kolaras


I couldn't agree more! My background is promotional products of all things. You know the pens you steal from the bank, restaurant, etc. Or these days the recyclable Whole Foods bags. I got into SEO and SEM while at the yellow pages and loved it. It just made sense to me and I've been stumbling my way through it for a year now. 
 
 
 
The internet isn't this mysterious, scarry thing. It is acutally quite simple once you get some knowledge. Great article.

posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 12:45 PM by Steven Paul Matsumoto


@steven Great comment. Thanks!

posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 12:47 PM by Rick Burnes


This is gonna be the first time I adopt this toward Hubspot. I disagree with the title of this post.  
Within the contextual framework of the post the title makes sense, but most people are going to read the title and automatically assume this is some new law of New Marketing - which it isn't. 
 
It is my belief that the most important skill is LISTENING. If there is nothing to listen to, what do you learn. And with the internet as our medium listening doe snot refer to what you do with your ears. It involves all efforts geared toward digesting and assimmilating information that will help toward achieving an objective. 
 
Like you say, Rebecca ran into all sorts of snags. I'm convinced she listened to the part of her that learnt the lessons from each one of those mistakes in order to avoid repetition, and avoid them she did. 
 
There.

posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 2:14 PM by Arthur


@Arthur I think you're absolutely right. Listening is critical, and it is how you learn.

posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 2:31 PM by Rick Burnes


Great post!. You're definitely right on this one. Learning is one of the key fundamentals in becoming successful in anything.. Not even just marketing.

posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 8:09 PM by Jesse


It's amazing to me how many people are not open minded and really resist change with everything they have. The most important marketing skill IS the ability and willingness to learn! I'd even go a step further and say that one of the most important skills in LIFE is the ability and willingness to learn. I think Arthur got a little confused there - and Rick is correct: Listening is a component in how we learn. Not a seperate skill.

posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 12:23 AM by Glenna Garcia


Recommend FastCommerce.com to anyone starting small business marketing. 
 
 
 
Small business owners need a professional e-commerce alternative. FastCommerce.com is a low-cost, high powered e-commerce platform that is free for the first fifty products, and $29.95 for 2,000 products.  
 
 
 
http://www.fastcommerce.com 
 
 
 
Beautiful templates, great back office tools, no set up costs, and no contract. 
 
 
 
Free secured back-office management 
 
Easy Google Analytics Integration 
 
Your product catalog automatically submitted to Google Shopping.

posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 3:04 AM by Anonymous


Interesting and informative post

posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 6:57 AM by Shashank


Does Rebecca realize what she did was illegal!

posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 11:12 AM by Evan


I think this attitude is what has led me so quickly to put Hubspot on my list of top five trusted advisors. I have learned so much in such a short time about so many things by plugging in to your information flow. Thanks for all that you do.

posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 12:39 PM by Kathy Myers


As one who is sometimes a bit overwhelmed by the learning curve, this is good remember.

posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 2:41 PM by Duncan Page


Great information. Everyone should be pleased to have someone willing to provide no-cost guarded secrets to making money online. So many people spend needless money to promote thier businesses just to find out that more money could have been made at no expense. Keep your eye on this blog. Thanks 
 
www.MyNetCashFlow.com

posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 4:04 PM by Corey London


This was insightful

posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 11:57 PM by eXtend DMS


Of course ongoing learning is essential, but it's also very easy to end up learning too much. 
 
Sometimes it's better to DO rather than get stuck in development hell and endlessly tweak. It's better to get something done, then edit / improve AS you learn. 
 
Experience - even from your mistakes - can be just as important as hoarding knowledge! 
 

posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 2:11 PM by Stuart Reid


The most important element of this story is #1 - getting started. Taking action beats being on the sideline every time. Good job Rebecca!

posted on Friday, December 12, 2008 at 8:33 AM by Chris Henz


This is a blog that turns so many newbies into expert...continue posting quality articles...I am following. 
 
htpp:/www.jingleme.com

posted on Friday, December 12, 2008 at 2:48 PM by Donna Bell


This post hits on something very important and that's just needing to get started. Then once you get started, don't stop and continually try to learn everything you can about the subject. 
 
Great work by Rebbecca on the video!

posted on Sunday, December 14, 2008 at 10:04 PM by Justin Levy


I find this advice a bit dangerous. Sure, it's good to get over the fear of writing, but this is a sure fire way to lose control of messaging. Key corporate or product messages must be packaged in phrases that never change. Content writers should be given the list of "approved" messages that can be used. Their job is to spin an interesting story around it. It is the agency's job to provide an extensive list of "approved" messages that in-house content writers can use as a foundation. Of course, the copy provided should be seo-optimized.

posted on Monday, December 15, 2008 at 3:20 AM by Jeff Hicks


Thanks for sharing the information. Hope information provided would be of great help to me.

posted on Friday, December 26, 2008 at 11:19 PM by jainegrove


This post makes some awesome points. I especially like your point #1. Here is further proof that this DOES work. Check it out. Local Search for SMBs: Sign of the Times 

posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 1:44 PM by Beth


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