---
description: If you're wondering how to learn the fundamentals of inbound marketing, there are many resources that can help. In this article, I show how I...
title: How I Learned Inbound Marketing
image: https://www.leanlabs.com/hubfs/blog_post_imgs/learn-inbound-marketing.jpg
---

[Blog](https://www.leanlabs.com/blog)/ [Growth Marketing](https://www.leanlabs.com/blog/topic/growth-marketing) 

# How I Learned Inbound Marketing

1 min read time 

![How I Learned Inbound Marketing](https://www.leanlabs.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blog_post_imgs/learn-inbound-marketing.jpg?width=765&height=430&name=learn-inbound-marketing.jpg) 

I spent the last 5 years building a successful rental equipment business in the Midwest. When the majority partner sold out, the search for my next success began. Prior to May '15, I had never heard of Inbound marketing. So what does managing operations for equipment firms and studying process improvement have to do with inbound marketing? Nothing! So when I started as Head of Operations at Lean Labs, I had a lot to learn... here's how I did it!

Reading the book _In_ _bound Marketing: Attract, Engage, and Delight Customers Online_ by Halligan and Shaw. From the first couple chapters, I was hooked. I knew this inbound methodology was "bound"(pun intended) to succeed wherever it was applied, no matter what industry.

Subscribing to the HubSpot [blog](http://blog.hubspot.com/). As if the book wasn't enough, how about ongoing tips and the latest innovations from the pro's sent right to my inbox every week.

Reading our _[Conquering the Inbound Marketing Mountain](//www.lean-labs.com/conquer-the-inbound-marketing-mountain?%5F%5Fhssc=200632625.1.1444860341233&%5F%5Fhstc=200632625.66b7fa4b58e97a19045330685d036578.1436411420229.1441309429469.1444860341233.5&hsCtaTracking=7a3cd443-b0fe-4913-95f1-963302b60fa1%7Cbd88a042-f0e8-43a5-a58e-98fc9fda083c)_ ebook: By reading this ebook you'll learn:

* How to develop compelling marketing offers
* How to drive visits to your offers and convert them into leads successfully
* Ways to nurture leads and make them more qualified
* What metrics to track to evaluate performance

[![inbound-marketing-mountain](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/275827/367c8116-5457-4d10-b63f-48eca429056b.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/275827/367c8116-5457-4d10-b63f-48eca429056b)

## Latest, related and recommended posts 

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[ ![How to implement loop marketing: the 90-day roadmap](https://www.leanlabs.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2022%20blog%20featured%20images/32%20(1)%20(1).png?width=500&height=500&name=32%20(1)%20(1).png) Growth Marketing How to implement loop marketing: the 90-day roadmap Read more ](https://www.leanlabs.com/blog/how-to-implement-loop-marketing-90-day-roadmap) 

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            "https://x.com/leanlabs?lang=en",
            "https://rocketreach.co/lean-labs-profile_b5f5471df42d3400",
            "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/lean-labs-eed8"
        ]
    },
    "wordCount": 322,
    "datePublished": "2015-11-06 06:12:40.000Z",
    "isAccessibleForFree": true
}
```
