Inbound Marketing Automation For Business Growth

  

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Is Your Company Taking Advantage Of Automated Lead Nurturing?

There's a lot of talk about inbound marketing and inbound marketing automation and all the 'if and how' questions that surround it as they relate to the potential for business growth from your corporate website. Some of its more appealing characteristics include the precise measurement of ROI because of it's integration with sophisticated analytics tools as well as the contribution it can make to the alignment of sales and marketing goals since it can break down the 'silos' between these two departments resulting in a cycle of constant improvement. Today we want to look further at inbound marketing automation and what separates it from some other internet based actions.

As it's core meaning, inbound marketing automation is the phrase that describes the process of developing leads at the top of your sales and marketing funnel and guiding them down through that funnel developing or extending that initial online relationship into a highly qualified prospect that's ready for your sales process, and all of this without having to lift a finger so to speak. How is this different from single source internet solutions like SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (pay per click ads), social media or email marketing? While these are important elements of a comprehensive inbound marketing program, they are individual inbound elements and if they're not integrated they don't achieve their full potential. As a result, many companies have spent time and money on these single solutions only to be disappointed by the results that have been achieved by way of measureable business growth and ROI. A well planned and executed inbound marketing automation program has reversed this frustration for thousands of businesses, is it the right time for your company?

What does it cost? As a general rule inbound marketing automation represents a larger investment than the single source solutions mentioned previously because there's more work involved but it delivers more. By carefully planning and implementing your corporate inbound marketing automation program you'll have put into place a powerful tool with full data capture for measurement purposes and that consistently and predictably delivers new opportunities that can then be turned into new business. On average companies who have adopted this approach achieve a 100-300% ROI. Two questions your company might want to ask:

1. How accurately can we measure our current marketing efforts and at what level of detail?
2. What is the ROI of our marketing efforts and are they sustained over the long-term or do they stop when the money stops flowing?

What's Involved In A Corporate Inbound Marketing Automation Program?

The short answer to this question is understanding. Your company needs to understand:

1. Who your company is and what solution you offer;
2. Who the target audience is both by the problems they have that you can help them with and further by the marketing or buyer persona;
3. What an ideally qualified prospect looks like for your sales process;
4. What the specific process that your target market goes through in selecting a solution provider;
5. What information they need as they go through their process that will support them;
6. What specific order or sequence best supports that inquiry and selection process;

(Note: We're not talking about general inbound marketing in this post. If we were we'd be including all the content, SEO, social media and other key inbound marketing elements that are incorporated in a comprehensive inbound marketing plan. Instead this post focuses on one aspect of such a plan, inbound marketing automation.)

Have you recognized the changes that are taking place in your target market behaviour? No matter what sort of sales and marketing funnel you've used to evaluate and process leads, the fact is that with more and more of your target audience using the internet for information gathering as part of their buying process, modern marketing strategies are using inbound marketing and automation for business growth. With this sort of understanding in hand you can now begin to create an inbound marketing automation program for your company that will gain website traffic from a more targeted audience, generate more top of the funnel leads that you can nurture in an automated way that delivers highly qualified prospects that are ready for the next level of contact with your companies sales process...and what company doesn't want that kind of result!

We're at the edge of the future!

Maybe we can help... Contact us now!

5 Key Points Of A Corporate Inbound Marketing Plan

  

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Is Your Company Debating Inbound VS Outbound Marketing?

You've probably noticed that the marketing world is changing at a rapid pace, is it having an impact on your business like so many other businesses? Whether through the media, your day to day conversations with peers and associates, or more importantly the fact that you find your company spending more money on conventional advertising to achieve...reduced results, you've become aware of the 'conversation' and 'discussion' that surrounds the inbound vs outbound marketing approach. Where outbound, interruptive approaches once dominated the marketing landscape, technology has fundamentally changed the relationship between buyers and sellers from a process controlled by the seller to a new paradigm where the buyer has far more control in the process. The ability of your target audience to easily research the solutions they're looking for that will address their problems in advance of selecting a provider requires that you and your company to provide them with easy access to the information they are looking for and need in order to make their purchase decision...enter the inbound marketing era.

The old marketing model which at its core was to outspend your competition to dominate your market is broken (evidenced by the decreased returns on your spend and increased budgets for inbound marketing) and the new model is to out inform your competition in ways that your target audience can easily find and then engage with your information. Inbound marketing requires that you out think your competition rather than outspend them...This is the new era of inbound marketing an era where any business that uses the tools available to them has the ability to grow faster and smarter by planning and executing effective inbound marketing approaches.

In a recent post on inbound marketing planning, we presented a 7 step process to an inbound marketing plan that was oriented around some specific actions to take and this post focuses on some further key considerations of your plan. The goal of inbound marketing is to gain website traffic, engage them with interesting offers to create internet leads, nurture those leads through inbound marketing automation into qualified prospects that are ready for your sales approach with the end goal of sustainable and predictable business growth. This is how the best lead generation websites successfully use inbound marketing and experience the associated business growth. With all of this as a background let's move right into...

5 Key Points Of Corporate Inbound Marketing Plans

1. Define who you are as a company: What is your 'brand'? This needs to be clearly defined as to what you do and how you're different from the competition.
2. Create your online presence around your brand: The content that you create for the web should always try to reflect your brand whether it's the website, in social media, videos, webinars etc. think of your brand as  your company creates this content.
3. Consider all the affected stakeholders of your efforts: As you build from your plan will there be other collateral impacts? Since your work is not happening in a vacuum there will no doubt be other stakeholders affected not just your target audience. Think, employees, suppliers, competitors etc.
4. Ensure that all the key elements of inbound marketing are integrated: Each element content, SEO, social media, web analytics, PR, lead generation etc. must be integrated both for data evaluation purposes and to achieve the synergy of these elements working together where each success drives your company forward.
5. Employ a flex-budgeting process that allows for re-allocation of resources: As you engage with your inbound marketing initiative the data you collect, when properly evaluated, will provide you with direction on future tactics, don't be rigid in your budget, put the resources behind those actions that are delivering the results.

The question is do you want to be among the best lead generation websites? One of the most powerful characteristics of a well crafted and executed inbound marketing plan is the long term impact on business growth. Unlike outbound campaigns that stop when the money stops, your inbound marketing plan will pay off long into the future. Make no mistake, there's work involved, but the ultimate payoff is a web presence that's an invaluable corporate asset as an integral part of your company's future business growth...24/7/365.

We're at the edge of the future!

Let's find out if we can work together, contact us to discuss your inbound challenge(s).

Inbound Marketing Automation And Online Lead Nurturing- 5 Steps

  

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Or...Moving A 'Lead' Through The Funnel To 'Qualified Prospect' Status

Who is your ideal qualified prospect? What's their title? How big is the company they represent? What budget do they have for your solution? What's their timeline for engagement or implementation?...and the list goes on. These are all questions that you know the answers to for your company's business offering, the question is, how are you using the internet to qualify your top of the funnel leads in to a fully qualified prospect? Is it working for you? Is it cost efficient? What are you doing to improve the results? A possible solution is inbound marketing automation and specifically we're going to talk about the value of online lead nurturing in this post.

What is exactly is lead nurturing and how does inbound marketing automation help? Lead nurturing is a process and system that results in the creation of a fully qualified prospect that's ready to be handed over to your sales group for the final stages of developing a new client. It revolves around a series of emails designed to support the inquiry process of your target audience as they seek out a solution to the problem they have. By using inbound marketing automation your company can sort through the leads generated and develop highly qualified prospects and be at the top of their list as a potential solution provider.

When your company marketing efforts generate a lead, it requires follow-up in order to clarify what the problem is and to establish whether or not the solution you offer is appropriate. Of course this can be done manually. Your company can invest in having someone do research and call the lead, battle with gatekeepers, leave messages on voicemail and of course, this can and does work, the problem is it's time consuming and expensive. As the above graphic shows, "Only 25% of leads are legitimate and should go to sales." A well executed and fully automated internet lead nurturing campaign will allow your company to save money by sorting and qualifying your leads so that your sales team is spending time with qualified prospects ready to buy. All things being equal, this should result in shorter sales cycles, better closing results and improved profitability. So, what are the steps in planning an online lead nurturing campaign?

5 Basic Steps To Creating An Online Lead Nurturing Campaign

1. Establish your goals- This process will direct your entire campaign including the specific target audience, the content that's appropriate to use, and how you'll measure your success.
2. Specify the target audience and the problem your offering can help them solve- Your company may already have a clear marketing/buyer persona, if not, you may want to read this blog post for help on this subject. Be as clear as possible, this action really clarifies the content of the campaign. 
3. Select the content for the campaign- This doesn't mean that you create new content necessarily because you may already have content ready in house, what's really important is that you offer value. Don't try to make a sale, support your leads inquiry process with further information that you think will truly help them. Some examples are case studies, webinars, videos, previous blog posts, podcasts, etc. Your campaign can include special promotions and demo offers as well, but these shouldn't be your first follow-up contact.
4. Determine a timeline for sending your emails- This will vary depending on what a typical sales cycle is for your company, the shorter the cycle the more closely you can space your follow-up and the longer the cycle, you may want to space them further apart. Don't rush the sale, let it take it's course, patience is a virtue! As an example, if your cycle is 60 days, you might want to space your campaign for days 1, 15 and 25 after an initial lead conversion.
5. Measure and refine- Although it's the last step in this process it's perhaps the most important for ongoing inbound marketing automation and lead nurturing. Your analytics program shows what's working and what isn't is critical to reaching the goals you've set back in step 1. Make certain that you can track what happens with each email, so that you can continually modify your campaign for improvement.

What should you expect from your inbound marketing automation initiative? First off, it's important to realize that this is a process not an event. If you think you'll start off with a bang!...you might be disappointed. Be prepared to stay the course and work at improving each step along the way. Over time you'll see that the investment you make will pay off with:

1. More leads turning into qualified prospects
2. Lower client development cost
3. Shorter sales cycles
4. Real business growth from your web actions!

One of the most powerful aspects of using inbound marketing automation is it's long term value. Once you've developed a successful campaign it will continue working for you well into the future. Of course you may want to tweak along the way based on the data from your analytics, but basically once it's set up, your lead nurturing will continue to work for you, with no pay raise, no holiday time, no complaints, 24/7...now, who doesn't want that?

We're at the edge of the future!

Do you want to see if inbound marketing is right for your company? Contact us and let's see if we can help! 

How To Do SEO To Get Found For Business Growth On The Internet

  

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Getting Found by Your Target Audience With SEO

Soooo many websites...how are you going to get found on the internet highway? This is where SEO plays it's key role as part of an inbound marketing program. SEO is made up of two primary components, the actions you take on a specific webpage called on page SEO which accounts for roughly 25% of your SEO score, and the actions you take to get 'backlinks' from another websites pages, called off page SEO which makes up the remaining 75% of the score. On page actions reflect the 'relevance' of the webpages information and off page actions the 'authority' of your company's information. Both are important and taking time on both can dramatically boost the number of visitors to your website...but how do you do it?

Do you know who you want to visit your website?

This is an important consideration as you embark on your SEO program because all of your actions will be targeted to answering that specific question. As an example, at Inbound Marketing Experts Inc. we work with and help companies achieve business growth from their website using inbound marketing. In many of the conversations we have with company executives, they express to us the frustration that they've had spending money with companies to gain website traffic or generate internet leads and...nothing (or not much) happens. Have you had this experience? In response, we target our content to answer these challenges, case in point, today's post "How To Do SEO" directly targets those companies that want to gain website traffic. Who do we want to visit our website? Companies that want information about how to improve website traffic and generate internet leads that they can ultimately turn into business growth. That's the problem we work with companies to solve.

How does your target audience 'search' for a solution to their problem?

Getting the answer to this question requires some thought. Again, referring to this post on how to do SEO, we know that we want our information to reach people who want business growth from the web, we know that SEO is a key element of inbound marketing and getting found, and we know that a lot of companies have expressed frustration around the lack of results they've achieved so what's the question they need answered to solve their problem? We came up with the title "How to do SEO to get found for business growth on the internet" because it tells the visitor what this page is all about and, if the webpage is legitimate, then the content of the page should offer information that's relevant to that subject. Of course we've all had the experience where we type in a search and when we click on one of the results it has nothing to do with what we're looking for, this happens for a variety of reasons, none of which represent best or sustainable practices. It's critical that your company spend time thinking and researching how the target audience is looking for the solution you offer, be creative, brainstorm, ask customers, prospects and do research on other competitor websites, your work will pay off. 

Some tools to help in your research:

• Keyword Discovery
• Word Tracker
• Google Keyword Tool

Without going into detail on the subject of long tail keywords, (you can do that through this link), this title includes many keywords that we think are relevant to our audience:

• how to do seo
• business growth
• business growth on the internet
• how to do seo to get found
• of course...how to do seo to get found for business growth on the internet

The search engines see each of these individually and the complete keyword title, and when all the on and off page efforts are aligned, they pick your information for position in the search engine results. Remember, what search engines want to do is give the best response they can find to a search query so make sure your company has taken the appropriate actions to 'get found' first by the search engines, then by your target audience. Of course, it would be great to be number 1 in the results for the term SEO...huge traffic volume! But, not very targeted. The title that we've chosen for this post is very targeted. We may not get a million visitors from it, but the visitors we do get will be interested specifically in what this post offers them by way of information, and maybe they'll be a little more interested in checking out some of our other information...we'll see!

In our next post we'll be covering more on some inbound marketing topic to help your company successfully use the internet for business growth. In the meantime you might want to take advantage of our free on page SEO guide which takes you through the basics of making sure your SEO efforts will return the best results. Come back soon...

We're at the edge of the future!

Get a head start on some of your on page SEO actions today!

An Inbound Marketing Plan In 7 Easy Steps

  

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For Business Growth From the Web Make a Complete Inbound Marketing Plan

Inbound marketing offers your company the opportunity to get found by targeted visitors and convert those visitors into top of the funnel leads which can then be nurtured into highly qualified prospects that are ready for your sales team...what a great addition to your marketing program! One of the most powerful aspects of creating and implementing a comprehensive inbound marketing plan is the transformation you'll see in your website from an:

Make no mistake, there's a lot of work involved, but the results...do they justify the work? That's for you to decide, however, as we see the use of the internet continue to grow, it makes sense to maximize it's use for business development...doesn't it? When an inbound marketing plan is well constructed and implemented with full automation it's like creating a free marketing employee that doesn't take vacation or sick days or ask for a raise, it works 24/7 and delivers new leads without ever complaining, what a concept!

Too often when we speak with company executives we find that they've spent money on their website with little by way of results. There haven't been traffic increases or they haven't generated new leads (of any consequence), and most importantly there's been no real business growth that they can attribute to their effort and expense. Sound familiar? To avoid this requires a comprehensive inbound marketing plan, an approach that combines the key inbound marketing elements in a meaningful way and achieves the results your company is looking for like a gain in website traffic and increased internet lead generation. While each companies plan will differ as far as emphasis and tactics are concerned, each plan should include these basics to ensure success.

7 Steps of a Comprehensive Inbound Marketing Program

1. Evaluate the current situation- Inbound marketing includes 6 key elements, content, social media, SEO (search engine optimization), lead generation, lead nurturing and analytics. Look at how your company is currently approaching these and what the results have been. A great tool for this is Hubspot's Marketing Grader.
2. Define goals- As a starting point this should be a quantitative set of measureable results that you want to achieve over a given period of time such as 'x' increased number of visitors, 'y' number of top of the funnel leads, 'z' number of middle of the funnel leads etc.
3. Create strategies- For each inbound element determine how you will use them to achieve your goals, for example, Content: "As a company we will develop 1-3 new pages of content weekly that our target audience will find interesting or useful because the content is relevant to the problem they have that we can solve. We will do this using both internal and outsourced resources." (A recent poll on Linked In showed that many companies overlook the value of new and relevant content.)
4. Brainstorm tactics- Every strategy that you created in step 3 needs to have specific actions attached. If your strategy for social media was something like, "We will use social media to promote our content development and encourage interactions with interested parties.", and one of the goals from step 2 was 100 new twitter followers in one month, then your tactics might include, a) implement content promotion automation, b) search twitter for people in our industry vertical and follow them, c) create 'specials' that are easily shared and promote them on social media...and the list goes on. (Speaking of social media, most companies who have had success in this area begin with small goals as related to their social media initiative.)
5. Assess and task resources- After completing step 4 you will have an outline that will look like a lot of work, make no mistake, there is work to be done! As you break it down you'll see that it's not complex work, in fact a lot of it is very easy but it has to get done so look to your internal team for people who can take on various tasks or look to outsourcing as appropriate. Many companies find working together with an inbound marketing agency to be a good fit because these companies can fill in the gaps in your team and can provide guidance on the overall program.
6. Implementation- Depending on how you've decided to task the work to be done, it may be that you move forward on all the key inbound elements at once. If you're working with an outside inbound marketing agency, they should advise you that content creation and development is critical and the strategy for this should be executed as quickly as possible. In addition, you will want to get your internet lead generation program underway as soon as possible so the creation of an industry overview whitepaper, or general guide such as "10 Key Considerations When Buying ______ For Your Company" are good top of the funnel lead generation offerings.
7. Measurement- This is important! The most powerful characteristic of the internet is that everything you do can be measured. Unlike outbound marketing where the old saying is "We know 50% of our marketing efforts are generating results, we just don't know which 50%.", each inbound marketing action you take can be measured and evaluated for it's effectiveness. With this data transparency your company is in control of where to focus your efforts as to future development initiatives. (Another recent Linked In poll showed most companies are ignoring analytics data.)

What's outlined here is a basic framework for your company's inbound marketing plan. Use this as a starting point and keep in mind that it's a living document that you should review and modify as your business grows. Obviously goals that you set at the beginning will change over time and your plan needs to respond to these changes. One thing we'd like to finish with, companies like yours that are using comprehensive inbound marketing for business growth are achieving the results they want. It requires time and effort, but once your company's website begins this transformation, the results you observe will motivate further actions. You'll see real results, gain in website traffic, increase in internet lead generation and ultimately business growth that you can attribute to the web...what will that mean for your company?

We're at the edge of the future!

Want a little help? We're here...contact us today!

Is 2012 The Year Of Inbound Marketing For Your Company?

  

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Is Your Company Ready To Get To Work On Inbound Marketing?

Looking back on 2011 and the world of inbound marketing it was a year of massive progress for many companies as they ventured forward into the new era of inbound or permission based marketing on the internet. What kind of results did they achieve? No doubt they were varied, but for those companies that decided they were going to make the bold step and implement a comprehensive inbound marketing automation program, they observed some very powerful results by way of business growth. With that as the backdrop, why is it that we hear from so many companies that didn't achieve the business growth results that they thought they were buying into? Is there one reason that stands out as the source of the problem? We would argue that the answer is yes.

Inbound Marketing Is An Integrated Approach...

NOT a single solution! Most of the companies that we speak to and end up working with have tried hiring for SEO (search engine optimization), social media, lead generation or any of the key inbound marketing elements as a single source solution and have been very disappointed by the results. Why? The internet environment is more complex than a single source solution can resolve over the long term and requires a fully integrated approach to fully capture the opportunity it offers. Look at your competitor websites, the ones you're aware of that are doing well with the internet and it's very likely that you'll find:

• regular installations of new content
• calls to action on offers of interest to their target audience
• those calls lead to landing pages that expand on the value of the offer
• a lead nurturing campaign that follows up those initial leads with further valued information
• web pages that have gone through an SEO process to ensure the greatest visibility to search engines
• a social media presence that promotes their content and engages their target audience
• a comprehensive analytics program running in the background that provides the data needed to effectively measure results and with proper evaluation, guide further development

and these are the fundamentals, the key inbound marketing elements that can and will transform a website into a powerful business generation tool and valued marketing asset of your company. What's that worth to your company? If your website was getting found by your target audience who were then converting into leads that were further nurtured into sales ready prospects that were ultimately converted into new business in a predictable and sustained manner, how would that impact your business?

That's the power of a comprehensive inbound marketing approach and 2012 is a better time than ever to really sink your corporate teeth into it. Why? Simply put, because the tools and understanding are better than ever before. So, if your tired and frustrated by the lack of results you've seen so far, don't be discouraged...take action and begin the real transformation to inbound marketing in 2012.

We're at the edge of the future!

Get started on your company inbound marketing with a free SEO report!

Your Website Sucks! What Are Ya Gonna do?

  

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6 Key Questions About Inbound Marketing To Answer Because Your Website Sucks!

Arrrrgh!

It's true! Of course it's not true for every website, but of the roughly three hundred million (300,000,000!) websites that are online, if you're not in the top ten million, your website is probably doing nothing more than taking up internet real estate. Let's be clear on what we mean by 'your website sucks' because some of you reading right now are thinking things like "Are these guys crazy?" "Where do they get off saying something like that about our website!" Don't get all defensive, let's qualify what we've said.

The internet today can provide your company with opportunity like never before. The good news is that the tools that are available for business growth from the web are better than ever before and the understanding of how people and businesses use the web to find what they want and need is growing daily so that the online world represents perhaps the best opportunity for business growth available. But to take advantage of that opportunity requires more than just an untended piece of real estate on the internet highway! If you want visitors to your site and you want them to turn into leads from the visit, leads that can then be nurtured into sales ready prospects, there's work to do, it's not difficult, but it is work. If your company website is not contributing to your business growth then by modern marketing standards...your website sucks!

We are just a few days away from 2012 and a new year, and we'd like to offer you some questions that are helpful in determining if your website sucks so...

6 Key Questions To Establish If Your Website Sucks

Aaaaah!

1. Does your company regularly and frequently add new content to the website?
2. Does your company website go through regular SEO (search engine optimization) updates?
3. Does your company use social media as a tool to promote your content and business?
4. Does your company have a lead generation strategy that includes offers, calls to action and landing pages? (not just 'Contact us'!)
5. Does your company have an automated lead nurturing program in place that will convert those leads into qualified, sales ready prospects?
6. Does your company have site analytics in place that are reviewed regularly and evaluated for insight on further development?

These are all closed questions (yes or no answers) intentionally to keep it simple and yes, they're all about the basics of inbound marketing. Of course there are varying degrees that would be answered through questions that start with "how much", "what is", "when does" etc. but the purpose here is to give you a snapshot. If you answered NO to all of the questions then, sorry to say it but, your website definitely sucks! In fact, if you answered no to all the above and your website is regularly contributing to your business growth we really want to hear from you! Alternatively, if you answered yes to all of the questions above there's a very high probability that your company's website is a valuable asset with a strong ROI, that delivers sustained and predictable business growth, congratulations! Keep up the excellent work. (By the way, if that's not the case, please contact us, we'd like to help. You're doing things right, maybe there's just a little tweaking that's needed.)

Ahhhhh...

We're not going to cover all of the possibilities (1 yes-5 no, 2 yes-4 no etc.) you know the answer that you've arrived at, and there's meaning behind that answer. If your company website isn't part of your business growth...it's just costing you money! If you want a website that:

• attracts targeted visitors;
• converts those visitors into leads;
• nurtures those leads into sales ready prospects that you 'close' as new business;
• is an integral part of your company's business growth providing reliable, sustained and predictable results;
• is a valued asset of the company with a strong ROI;
• is like having a free marketing employee that works 24/7 without vacation, asking for a raise, never has a sick day and never complains;

 ...what are you going to do about it?

We're at the edge of the future!

What IS your company going to do about it? Contact us for a free phone conversation to see if we might be able to help. Nothing to lose...so much to gain!

Member of Linked In? Share your voice in our current poll on social media!

Single Solution PR, SEO, Social Media Companies: They Don't Deliver!

  

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Think Inbound Marketing Agency For A Comprehensive, Integrated Modern Marketing Approach! 

As more companies learn about what they're missing as related to their website and all of the different possibilities that the internet offers for business growth, they want to find solutions that build brand, gain website traffic and generate internet leads generally. While there are many different solution providers to choose from, the constantly changing world of the internet's possibilities, the evolving tool set that's available and the time involved in the process can make it a challenge to decide what the best option(s) are for your company that will generate the business growth that you want from your investment. You might actually be feeling a little overwhelmed and it may be causing some paralysis, or you may have spent a considerable amount of money with very limited results...at least that's what we find when we speak with company leaders. Simply put, you want to work with a provider that's going to deliver results where you gain website traffic, generate internet leads, build brand and ultimately achieve business growth from your internet investment right? What to do oh what to do!

Yesterday as part of our ongoing development at IME we listened to a webinar by PR2020's founder and CEO, Paul Roetzer titled "10 Rules for Building a Hybrid Agency" based on his newly released book "The Marketing Agency Blueprint". Paul's company is one of the original Hubspot partners and has built a quality company that provides inbound marketing services to many clients, in fact his firm is a leader in this growing space. What I want to present here is a glimpse of Paul's insight about why a 'hybird' agency and why now, my hope being that it will help you unclutter some of the decision making that your company is going through. I also hope you find this controversial because marketing IS changing and if you're listening to potential service providers that are either stuck in the previous paradigm of an outbound marketing world, or are one dimensional in their approach delivering a single solution such as SEO, PR, social media or content development, then there is a high probability that you'll be missing out on the full potential of the web to drive your company's business growth plans. Would those sorts of companies push back on that last comment? Of course they would! If somebody held up a light to your business that showed not only the holes but how the 'holy' approach is outdated and not delivering the best value to a client wouldn't you push back? Bottomline? As a company working with clients to help them achieve business growth from the internet, you'd better be continually learning and evolving otherwise you will not be providing your clients with the best possible results for them, period!

8 Reasons To Choose A Hybrid Inbound Marketing Agency

1. These agencies provide you with a comprehensive approach that includes all the key elements of inbound marketing, SEO, content, social media, lead generation, lead nurturing, analyics and...repetition;

2. Digital is engrained in the firm's DNA;

3. Their teams are made up of people who understand the growing importance of the internet to business growth;

4. These people are passionate about what they do and the results they achieve for clients;

5. A hybrid inbound marketing agencie's service offerings are integrated, silos are removed;

6. They evaluate analytics data for intelligence not just metrics;

7. They're disruptive and will push you in areas and actions you might be uncomfortable with...some of these may not workout, others will be stars!

8. They're driven by purpose not just economics.

 5 Reasons That NOW Is The Best Time To Work With Inbound Agencies

1. The tools available to implement this work have evolved and deliver better results faster;

2. The inbound methodology and process is better understood again delivering better business growth results in a shorter timeline;

3. All of these companies are 'new', none of them are older than 5 years (approximately) and most of them are less than 2 years old and are looking to establish a reputation of excellence;

4. To do this they bring passion and a strong desire to deliver results...to your benefit! 

5. Mediocrity is NOT an option.

If you want to work with a company that is committed to the outcomes you want, is nimble, creative and versed in what works today to capture and engage your target audience, think seriously about companies that offer inbound marketing agency services, chances are very high that you'll achieve more business growth with less money than using conventional marketing companies...hmmm, more with less, what a concept!

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Free Offers And Inbound Marketing Automation...Gotta Have 'Em!

  

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Don't Rely On "Contact us" For Your Internet Lead Generation

Do you remember when there used to be 'free samples' that would come in the mail? Maybe toothpaste, soup (the dehydrated kind that you just add water to), soap, moisturizer, shampoo or something that was likely used regularly in your home. It was cool wasn't it? The reason behind those marketing tactics? Pretty obvious, branding, generate some product interest, and of course, win over some new customers. It still is neat when you get something free, but it seems tp have been a long time since I got something like that in the mail. However, in the online world there's all sorts of cool stuff available for 'free' and your compnay needs to have something to offer your web visitors too for the very same reasons. The most powerful aspect of this is that when this sort of campaign is done right with inbound marketing automation, your campaign can last and last, and, after you've done the initial work to set it up, it's 'free' marketing for your company. Since most companies that we speak with want more internet leads, our series on inbound marketing automation continues today by talking about how to set up and use a free offer to generate internet leads...automatically!

A 'Lead' Is Not A Qualified Prospect

First off, let's be clear about the difference between a lead and a qualified prospect because they're not the same thing! Many companies get very excited when the first leads start coming through from a campaign and want to jump on the phone and 'close' them. Bad idea probably. A lead is just an expression of interest. In fact, what we propose for internet lead generation may mean that all you'll get is an email address...pretty hard to call an email address! It may be that there is more than just casual interest but you don't know that...yet. The whole idea behind generating internet leads is to find people who are interested in finding the sort of solution that your company offers, for whatever reason, and follow these leads up with automated lead nurturing (more on this in a future post) to qualify those leads into prospects who are actively looking to buy your solution. A lead becomes a prospect after you've got the information that you need that qualifies their interest such as budget, timeline, decision maker, decision process etc. Ok, so let's generate internet leads!

Assumption:

• From the previous recent posts on inbound marketing automation you've assembled some information that is of general interest to your audience and it's formatted for the web. General interest information may be an industry report, a "How to" guide, a calculator of some sort, a free service etc. As a 'top of the funnel' lead, this information shouldn't be sales oriented, or talk about your company and how you are 'the best' solution, all of that comes later. (Be patient!)

 6 Basic Steps To Generate Internet Leads With Inbound Marketing Automation 'Free Offers'

1. Create a call to action (cta)- A cta is a simple button or display that links to further information. For example:

 are both examples of simple cta's.

2. Create a link from the cta to a special 'landing page' that expands on the offer. If you click on either of the links above you'll be taken through to pages that describe more fully what the offer is, and also notice that there isn't a navigation menu on them to distract the visitor. You should also be sure to apply basic SEO actions to this page.

3. Insert or create a form for the visitor to fill out on the landing page and only ask for the information you need in order to fill the request. This is an exchange where you provide something for free (information, sample service etc.) and in return your visitor allows you to begin an online relationship, the fewer questions you ask the more likely the visitor will take advantage of the offer. Remember, what you're looking for are 'interested people' and a way to continue a relationship with them. The lower the barrier, the more likely that the visitor will go over it. The simplest form would require just an email address.

4. Link the form (think 'Submit' button although there are better words) to your offering. This could be direct, or it may generate a notification or email that contains the link to the information.

5. Make certain that the information you're gathering is being collected and stored for future communication. Remember, the idea is that this process provides your company with information at the top of the sales/marketing funnel and you will nurture this lead into a qualified prospect with future information offerings. (we'll be covering lead nurturing in an upcoming post, stay tuned!)

6. Position your cta on your website pages that are relevant to the free offer. When a visitor is on a page that is talking about 'X' provide a free offer that's related to 'X'. If your offer is about 'Y' there's less of a chance that they'll be interested since what brought them to the page in the first palce was their interest in 'X'.

 If you're ready and have the resources lined up, don't wait, do this today and you may be surprised to find new leads in your funnel very quickly. One final word. A lot of companies have been disappointed by poor results. What we've laid out for your company here are the very basic steps to start generating internet leads, but there are other factors at play for every business and we don't know what those are in your case. Without the more specific knowledge that you have about your business, all we can offer you here are general guidelines, but by testing and re-testing you can come up with a program that's right for your company. It's not a matter of luck, it's a matter of time and effort.

We're at the edge of the future!

If your interested in talking with someone about how your business can use inbound marketing automation, we'd like to help!

Inbound Marketing Will Come To A Screeching Halt In 2012!

  

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IME Predicts The Trend Towards An Inbound Marketing Approach Will Stop In 2012

Like so many other cycles, the growing shift in marketing expenditures to inbound marketing approaches is about to turn around. This may come as somewhat of a surprise since most marketing industry professionals would agree that over the last 5-10 years as the internet has become a more dominant part of consumer and business life that the payback from conventional sales and marketing approaches has decreased. However, that is all about to reverse in the coming year.

Whether it's print, TV, radio, or direct sales through cold calling, among others, modern technologies have interuppted the effectiveness of these previously successful marketing vehicles. Newspaper circulations are down replaced by online news sources and social media networks where the news is...now! TV, while still a popular form of entertainment, now has personal digital video recorders so that the audience can record and skip over the commercials. The introduction of satellite radio services that provide targeted commercial free programming has meant that more and more radio listeners have tuned out from the noise of radio commercials and cold calling for business? Now you have to find ways to successfully navigate voicemail and get through caller ID and call blocking features. Again, we will see that all of these clear trends will begin to correct and even reverse in 2012...You heard it here first and...You likely won't hear it ANYWHERE else! Why? Because no one else believes it!

Whoa! Really, think about it. Why oh why wouldn't inbound marketing continue to gain market adoption in 2012? Did you read the previous paragraph? It's getting more difficult and expensive to reach your audience with conventional marketing tactics. A modern marketing approach must include inbound marketing because...that's where your audience is found and where they can find you! Using inbound marketing automation you can get found, get leads and ultimately get business. Sorry, but if you're thinking otherwise, we'd argue strongly that you are, well to put not to fine a point on it...wrong! A comprehensive inbound marketing approach will:

1. Drive more targeted traffic to your website;
2. Lower your average cost per lead;
3. Provide an automated process that refines leads into qualified prospects;
4. Keep your sales group happy, productive and stable dealing with quality leads instead of dealing with the frustrations of conventional approaches;
5. Transform your website and web presence into a valuable company asset instead of a static brochure;
6. Deliver predictable results that contribute to business growth;
7. Result in effectively creating a free marketing employee that works 24/7 everyday, no holidays, no complaints, no raises.

...so inbound marketing MUST be on your to do list in 2012.

If your company isn't looking carefully at how you will use inbound marketing automation , you're likely missing out on what is probably the greatest opportunity for business growth currently available. Why else would thousands of other companies be moving in this direction? This trend towards inbound marketing automation will continue it's explosive growth in 2012, and in an upcoming post we'll offer you the real insight we have on some of the specifics of what we anticipate for the coming year. The timing to begin couldn't be better. The tools available have improved, the pool of knowledge and understanding of the processes and tactics is wider and deeper and the results can be achieved at a pace suitable for your company's capacity for growth. If your company is serious about business growth from the web in 2012, inbound marketing is a must have as part of your marketing actions. Plan now!

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