HubSpot: Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0

Thomas J. Steenburgh; Jill  Avery; Naseem Ashraf Dahod

Case | HBS Case Collection | May 2009 (Revised January 2011)

HubSpot: Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0

by Thomas J. Steenburgh, Jill Avery and Naseem Ashraf Dahod

Abstract

This case introduces the concept of inbound marketing, pulling customer prospects toward a business through the use of Web 2.0 tools and applications like blogging, search engine optimization, and social media. Students follow the growth of HubSpot, an entrepreneurial venture which, in its quest for growth, faces significant challenges including the following: developing market segmentation and targeting strategies to decide which customers to serve and which to turn away, configuring pricing strategies to align with the value delivery stream customers experience, and determining whether inbound marketing programs can generate enough scale or whether traditional outbound marketing methods need to be employed to accelerate growth.

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Entrepreneurship; Price; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Communications; Social and Collaborative Networks; Segmentation; Web;

Format: Print

21 pages

Educators Purchase

Citation:

Steenburgh, Thomas J., Jill Avery, and Naseem Ashraf Dahod. "HubSpot: Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0." Harvard Business School Case 509-049, May 2009. (Revised January 2011.)

Shiseido was in the midst of a six year corporate turnaround, trying to reverse the effects of decades of under-investment in R&D and marketing which had led to a cycle of declining customer support and brand value. Would the CEO’s VISION 2020 plan, centered on four strategies: 1.) increasing R&D spending from 1.8% to 3% of sales, 2.) investing an incremental ¥120 billion in brand-building marketing, 3.) moving to a “think global-act local” matrixed brand management structure, and 4.) rethinking brand portfolio strategy, be enough to achieve aggressive 8% per year sales goals while simultaneously increasing the company’s operating margin from 8% to 10% in the highly competitive and slow growing beauty industry?

As 2018 neared its end, Laetitia Toupet, international general manager of L’Oréal’s La Roche-Posay brand reflected on the brand’s achievements over the past year. At €1 billion in revenue, La Roche-Posay had recently become the number one dermocosmetics brand in the world. While Toupet was pleased with this feat, she believed that the brand was at a critical juncture. It was time to make some significant marketing decisions related to brand positioning to try to accelerate La Roche-Posay’s future growth trajectory as dermocosmetics moved from serving a niche market to the mainstream.

A 16th century Renaissance masterpiece, missing for 137 years, believed by many to have been destroyed and then rediscovered less than a decade ago, becomes the most expensive painting ever sold, all the while surrounded by controversy. Did the buyer of Leonardo da Vinci's painting pay too much? Was it real? Did it matter? The sale of Leonardo's painting allows students to reengineer brand equity to understand from what it is derived and how marketing actions influence changes in it. Methods for brand valuation can be discussed and issues related to branding in contemporary times, such as authenticity, legitimacy, authorship, craftsmanship, and storytelling can be used to show how brand value is built and destroyed. Brand partnerships, particularly between and among Leonardo, Christie's auction house, the sellers, the experts who attributed the painting to Leonardo, and the celebrities used to market it, are dissected to understand how brand meaning and value transfer from one partner to another.

Faculty & Research

HubSpot: Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0

Abstract

Citation:

About the Author

More from the Author