Hub Mentality™

Download our 100-page book on Hub Mentality to explore our marketing methodology in depth.

Implement Hub Mentality to increase website traffic, leads, sales, referrals, customer retention, and word-of-mouth marketing.

The Problem: Because of new social technologies (social media, blogs, etc.), interrupt advertising is increasingly difficult and expensive to use.

  • According to the marketing research firm Yankelovich, consumers have gone from being exposed to about 500 marketing messages per day in the 1970’s to an average of 5,000 per day today.
  • Consumers have more choice and control than ever before.
  • Consumers are more immune to ad-speak than ever before.
  • In a 2009 survey of more than 25,000 Internet users from 50 countries, Nielsen Company found that “recommendations from personal acquaintances or opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising.”

hub 300x258 Hub Mentality™ The Solution: Leverage these new social technologies and use online marketing strategies to build a loyal community of customers who give you permission to market to them.

Cultivate that community over time and build genuine relationships. Give them valuable, relevant content. Be transparent and authentic with them. Deliver on your promises.

Shift from business transactions to community interaction.

The Results: You increase revenues and profits while making your marketing dollars more efficient. Your marketing materials spread far and wide across the web — without you having to pay for it.

You build trust in a skeptical marketplace. Casual customers become raving fans and they start to market for you. You become known and respected as a thought leader, which increases your credibility.

This is Hub Mentality.

Does it Actually Work?

One of our clients increased her sales by 16.7% in one month with just a few emails to her database, and her sales have continued to increase every month since then.

Hub Mentality was used to refine the lead generation process of another financial services client, which increased their qualified leads from a few per month to 248 per month on average.

We helped another client, a real estate investment firm, build a website to give away a digital copy of the founder’s book. Without even marketing it — other than one email to their database when it was launched — the website has generated 168 leads per month for 10 months straight, and still going strong.

Explore Our Hub Builder Packages

The 10 Elements of Hub Mentality

community 212x139 custom Hub Mentality™ Hub Mentality is contrasted against sales mentality. The old model was to use interrupt advertising, hype and pressure to transact sales. The focus was on continually bringing new people through the door, rather than serving and leveraging existing customers.

The core of Hub Mentality is interaction and relationships by leveraging technology. In a word, the core revolves around community.

Building a hub, or a technology-facilitated community, requires the following ten elements:

1. Interactivity through new technology media.

Hubs are crafted primarily through technology, beginning with a top-notch website, lead generation and data capture systems, customer relationship management (CRM) software, and email marketing software.

There are also a number of social media and social networking tools that may be appropriate for your business. These platforms facilitate interactivity.

2. Database building and management.

It’s imperative your business world revolve around building a database of customer information. Personal information in a central database, as derived through permission marketing, is worth more than money in the bank.

thumbsup 228x151 custom Hub Mentality™ 3. Permission.

Stop yelling at people who don’t care about you through the use of mass, intrusive media.

Subtly and effectively demonstrate to them why you add value to their lives. Then, invite them to give you permission to market to them.

4. Trust and authenticity.

When potential customers give you permission to market to them, you capture their information and guard it tenaciously. People must feel absolutely secure that their personal information is safe with you before they’ll give it to you.

Furthermore, they need to know that they’re dealing with the reality of your company and not hype, gimmicks, or cover-ups. They want authenticity.

5. Free content.

Relevant information is the new power. You’re no longer trying to make one-time sales through hard closes. You’re trying to cultivate trust and friendship.

This is done by giving prospects massive amounts of free content in the form of blogs, videos, digital downloads such as e-books and podcasts, white papers, books, etc.

strategizing 227x150 custom Hub Mentality™ 6. Coherent strategy.

You can’t just throw free content against the wall and hope it sticks. All of your efforts must fit into a macro picture where each part supports the greater whole.

One step must build on the other and everything must lead toward increasing the quantity and quality of your database.

7. Balance.

It’s a delicate balance to strike between cultivating the database and making sales. Be strategic about what you send and how often you send it. Too little contact and community members lose interest; too often, they feel bothered.

8. Flawless execution.

It’s critical that you execute on your promises and deliver what customers expect.

Systems must be in place to ensure perfect delivery. If you don’t execute and keep your promises, these customers will tell everyone about it, and they have the web to spread their bad experience.

9. Gradient approach.

Gradient marketing means to gradually pull customers through increasing levels of engagement and commitment.

You start by giving free content to catch their attention and establish trust. Then, you offer low-price, low-commitment products. The more interaction you have, the higher the commitment, through money and time, from your customers. The content you give them throughout is designed to educate, rather than sell.

gears 237x183 custom Hub Mentality™ 10.  Customize your Hub to make it profitable.

All of the above elements must be customized to your particular niche. And let’s not forget that you must be profitable for all of this to work. You must be completely clear on what drives your economic engine.

How can you synchronize giving the customer what they need and pulling them into your profit centers? How many emails can you send them per month without them getting annoyed and unsubscribing? What is the right balance of value and sales?

All of these questions need to be answered as you transition your company to Hub Mentality.  

Get a Free Consultation