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Marketing Strategies for Small Business:,[object Object],Why Using,[object Object],Inbound Marketing Strategies ,[object Object],Make Sense Today,[object Object],Know How, Strategies, Content,[object Object],Mike Years,[object Object]
Why Inbound Marketing
They Call it a Paradigm Shift,[object Object]
The Way We Market our Goods and Services is Going Through a TRANSFORMATION,[object Object]
  A Classic Trend Pattern,[object Object]
A Simple Concept,[object Object]
What is Inbound Marketing?,[object Object],Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy that focuses on getting found by customers. It is transforming the way in which companies perceive of themselves, publish content, and sell their products and services.,[object Object],GET FOUND ONLINE		,[object Object],CONVERT VISITS & LEADS	,[object Object],MEASURE, TEST, IMPROVE,[object Object],Become VALID ,[object Object],Build INFLUENCE,[object Object],BE A TRUSTED SOURCE.,[object Object]
You Are,[object Object],Kidding, Right?,[object Object],“Getting Found,” is That Really Transformative?,[object Object]
It’s Transformative When…,[object Object]
You launch a new attraction at your theme park by talking to 7 bloggers…,[object Object],24 Hours Later…    ,[object Object],7=350,000,000,[object Object],Example Cited From David Meerman Scott,[object Object]
You grow a small liquor store in New Jersey into a $50MM business using video blogging.,[object Object]
You publish an eBook and later stop advertising in the Yellow Pages. Your business grows from $150KK to $1.5MM.,[object Object],Example Cited From David Meerman Scott,[object Object]
Each of Those Examples… ,[object Object],is representative of the third Great Era of the Web: ,[object Object],VALIDATION and INFLUENCE. ,[object Object],The examples illustrate  thought leadership and valuable content that is  self propagating  and link worthy. They ,[object Object],embody in content what an Inbound ,[object Object],Marketing strategy is built around…,[object Object],becoming a trusted source, ,[object Object],worthy of being seeked,[object Object],out, followed (opting-in), ,[object Object],and not wasteful of ,[object Object],your time.,[object Object]
And It’s Transformative Because of Simple Math.,[object Object],261% More.,[object Object],The Cost to Produce a Lead ,[object Object],(Outbound vs. Inbound),[object Object],Rise In Costs,[object Object],2010 to 2011,[object Object],Outbound 12.4%  vs. Inbound  6.7%,[object Object],2011 - AVG COST/LEAD: $373,[object Object],2011 - AVG COST/LEAD: $143,[object Object],The Budgets,[object Object],Traditional Outbound Marketing,[object Object],Media Buying Drives Cost. ,[object Object],Inbound Marketing,[object Object],Self Publishing Reduces Cost,[object Object],Source: Hubspot, The 2011 State of Inbound Marketing. March 2, 2011,[object Object]
Why is This Happening?,[object Object]
REASON #1 We Remain Human,[object Object]
REASON #2The Way Search Engines Work, Changed.,[object Object]
And It Is Still Changing…,[object Object],2011,[object Object],RANKING,[object Object], ALGORITHM,[object Object],f(n) =,[object Object],Context + Authority,[object Object],f(n) =,[object Object],Context + Authority ,[object Object],+ Engagement Metrics,[object Object]
REASON #3 - Social Media Took Off(See Reason #1),[object Object],Blogs,[object Object],Micro Blogs,[object Object],Online Chat,[object Object],RSS,[object Object],Widgets,[object Object],Social Networks,[object Object],Social Bookmarks,[object Object],Message Boards,[object Object],Podcasts,[object Object],Video Sharing Sites,[object Object],Photo Sharing Sites,[object Object],Virtual Worlds,[object Object],Wikis,[object Object],(...just to name a few),[object Object]
REASON #4 We Are Increasingly Finding Ways to Filter The Media We Choose to View ,[object Object]
What is the Takeaway?,[object Object]
The old communication model was a MONOLOGUE,[object Object],And it is Mostly Dying,[object Object]
The new communication model is a DIALOGUE,[object Object]
THE PHYSICS OF MEDIA HAVE CHANGED (forever),[object Object],Limited Distribution,[object Object],Abundant Attention,[object Object],Unlimited Distribution,[object Object],Attention Scarcity,[object Object],(Limited Channels),[object Object],(Unlimited Channels),[object Object],(Audiences were Concentrated),[object Object],(Audiences are Dispersed),[object Object]
New Physics Means New Rules,[object Object],OLD RULES:,[object Object],BUY your way in with Advertising.,[object Object],BEG your way in with PR.,[object Object],BUG your way in with Selling.,[object Object],NEW RULES:,[object Object],EARN Attention by Publishing your way in.,[object Object],INFLUENCE People by “Word of Mouse”,[object Object],INSPIRE People with Thought Leadership,[object Object],MAKE stuff people want.,[object Object],Be HELPFUL &GENEROUS.,[object Object],APPEALto your community (use Keywords & Buyer Personas),[object Object],GIVE great DIRECTIONS, links, landing pages, calls to action.,[object Object],LISTEN andEXPERIMENT, learn by doing, TEST andMEASURE,[object Object],Become VALID – Build INFLUENCE,[object Object],Check out David Meerman Scott for more on his Old Rules and New Rules:,[object Object]
It’s Totally Relevant, Too.,[object Object]
We’re Online in Massive Numbers,[object Object],77.3% ,[object Object],UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,[object Object],239,893,600 Internet Users as of June 2010.,[object Object],Source: ITU Feb. 2011      ,[object Object]
We Search,[object Object],15.4 Billion,[object Object],searches were conducted by Americans in March 2011. Google averages over 10 Billion searches every month.           ,[object Object],comScore March 2010 U.S. Search Engine Rankings,[object Object]
We Connect,[object Object],155 Million.,[object Object],The number of Facebook users in the USA.,[object Object],That’s HALF the population of the country.,[object Object],Source: Internet World Stats, March 2011.,[object Object]
We Share and Follow,[object Object],140 Million. ,[object Object],The average number of Tweets sent per day last month.,[object Object],177 Million. The number of Tweets on March 11, 2011. ,[object Object],Source: KISSmetrics Marketing Blog,[object Object]
Getting Started(Some Tips),[object Object]
#1 LEARN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN,[object Object],Rome wasn’t built in a day.,[object Object],EDUCATE YOURSELF,[object Object],Make a COMMITMENT to Change and TRANSFORM Your MARKETING with a PLAN and Steady STEPS.,[object Object]
Don’t Trust That Guy,[object Object],#2 No One Has a Magic Switch…  DON’T THROW IT OVER THE WALL,[object Object]
#3 Don’t Mistake INBOUND MARKETING AS JUST Social Media,[object Object],Social Media is just a piece of the pie.,[object Object]
Inbound Marketing Strategies can easily co-exist with traditional outbound strategies. This makes adoption and transitioning easy.,[object Object],Most companies start to see significant improvements in about six months if they commit to a plan. You earn interest with valuable useable content, that can be found.,[object Object]
Getting Started (how to start),[object Object]
The Inbound Marketing Process,[object Object]
Research  PlanLISTEN,[object Object]
Your Website is the Anchor Point,[object Object]
If You Are Not Blogging… START,[object Object]
Engage Social Media,[object Object]
 Think Great Offers, Landing Pages, Forms, Calls to Action & Opt-In Email,[object Object]
Keeping it all on Track: Lead Scoring, Nurturing, and CRM Integration,[object Object]
Improve: Use Analytics,[object Object],Screen Capture from Google Analytics,[object Object]
Getting Started[ some help ],[object Object]
FREE,[object Object],The information is free…,[object Object],the knowledge is priceless. ,[object Object],It is ALL out there… Everything you need to know about Inbound Marketing. Why not start by talking to an expert? For Free!,[object Object],Click below and book a time online. Select the day and time that works for you… No phone or email tag.,[object Object],We’ll use the hour to focus specifically on what you want to know. We’ll leave with some good ideas!,[object Object],INTELLECTUAL,[object Object],PROPERTY,[object Object],c. 2008,[object Object],Let’s Talk!,[object Object],(click here),[object Object]
www.ledgen30.com,[object Object],INBOUND MARKETING,[object Object],We Provide Know-How.,[object Object],Guidance, Content and Strategies…,[object Object],That will Transform your Marketing,,[object Object],Generate Leads, and Increase ROI.,[object Object],mikeyears@ledgen30.com,[object Object],561-819-8179,[object Object],Skype: mkyears,[object Object]

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Why Inbound Marketing

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Hinweis der Redaktion

  1. I believe we are entering the third Great Era of the Web: VALIDITY and INFLUENCE. The first Great Era of the Web was Commercialization. It was represented by the dotcom craze and large IT budgets. The second Great Era of the Web was Democratization. We no longer need a huge IT budget to have a presence on the web – literally anyone who wants to, can afford to be on the Web and interact. We called this change Web 2.0 and it was represented by the influx of Social Media where we became the mass media. This second Great Era of the Web has and still is creating a giant swell of content. As a result, we ever increasingly need to filter what we watch, read or hear, or we will suffer from information overload. We filter content based on its validity, we look at new content based on the recommendations of influencers. Inbound Marketing Strategies seek to leverage the third Great Era of the Web so that companies can become a trusted source. Inbound Marketing strategies by their namesake, help your customers find you, follow you, and recommend you to others. If you don’t like the changes you’ll need to make to effectively market your products and services in the third Great Era of the Web… you are gonna like irrelevancy even less!
  2. We filter out virtually everything these days. We want the juice, not the orange.
  3. When you start to research this “stuff” (and I hope you will) you might become a little confused as to what this “stuff” is supposed to be actually called. I would like to agree that we call it Inbound Marketing. You might come across terms like permission marketing, internet marketing, social media marketing, search engine marketing, and more. Certainly a name you will come across is Hubspot. Hubspot champions Inbound Marketing and one of their founders, Brian Halligan, is largely credited with having coined the term. Inbound Marketing represents a holistic approach (over used phrase, I know) that accounts for the differences of all other said terms and others I haven’t mentioned. If you were making a modern marketing strategy stew it would be called Inbound Marketing, minus the onions of course (traditional Outbound Marketing).
  4. People form groups, tribes, communities. They conduct commerce, exchange knowledge, based on norms. In this sense there is no distinction between the physical and digital world. Our core sense of being social remains intact. What we value does not change either - the exchange of information must have perceived benefits and value…
  5. This by the way is your new business card. The difference with Google was that they started out with a guiding principle (a HOW) that they would "do no evil" – When combined with their WHY (Belief/Purpose/Cause) “To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", it resulted in theirWHAT. What Google did and still does is to produce more relevant search results that are not compromised or misleading.The small change in technology they made (keywords/tags + page rank - which differed from a hierarchical index + keywords/tags) was significant – but it was their early on commitment to deliver corresponding relevance of search terms to results that really drove their adoption.
  6. The way search engines are looking at the relevance of your content in relation to any given search term is changing. It is believed, and all indications are pointing towards a heavier weighting on Engagement Metrics. What are engagement metrics? Engagement Metrics are things like comments on a blog post, or a “like” on Facebook, or an article being Tweeted, Digg’d, etc. Some people refer to this as your Social Graph.
  7. To be honest, social media is nothing new. User generated content has been a staple of the online experience since the dawn of the digital age and even prior to that in terms of print media. The earliest digital forms arrived in 1980 with Usenet, a global discussion network that allowed users to share comments and experiences on a hierarchy of subject matter. Early versions of Prodigy, a computer network launched in 1988, also facilitated user discussions and comments – as did early versions of AOL and Compuserve.The late 1990s saw the rise of “rating sites,” which allowed users to rate subjects on any number of criteria – from the product pages on Amazon.com to the physical appearance of individuals – such as the wildly popular “hot-or-not” website that invited visitors to rate pictures of people on a scale of 1 to 10. But it has really been in the last five years that we have seen an explosion of tools and vehicles – the list you see here – that can be used for self expression on the Internet. Essentially all friction has been removed from the process of publishing content on the Internet. What was once the domain of individuals who had specialized knowledge of computer servers, network protocols, and programming languages - can now be mastered by the elementary school teacher, the auto mechanic – and maybe even by lawyers, but I’m not sure.As a result there is an ever increasing swell of content breaking on the shores of the Web.
  8. Some say that the technologies of today like mobile broadband networking with smart phones, tablets, netbooks, etc. and an increasing array of platforms that encourage and allow for constant connections (via alerts, notifications and IMs) to social networking sites and subscription to news and posts is causing information overload. There is a statement that I can’t attribute to anyone but no doubt you have heard, “In the last 30 years mankind has produced more information than in the previous 5,000.” Basex, an information worker analyst and consulting firm out of New York City determined that knowledge workers spend their days accordingly: 28%-Unnecessary interruptions followed by "recovery time" to get back on track25%-Creating content-productive!20%-Meetings-some productive, some not15%-Searching for information (and an estimated 50% of searches fail)12%-Thinking and reflectingThe economic costs are high, Basex estimates well over $900BB a year in direct economic impact to the United States alone.Is it INFORMATION OVERLOAD or is it FILTER FAILURE?As a result people have become more selective about how they select and monitor the huge swell of content that is a result of the democratization of the Web. From an Inbound Marketing perspective the exercise is in understanding how not to be filtered out by your target audiences. It comes down to producing content that is relevant and useful to your buyer personas, and publishing that content into streams (or channels) that people can opt-in to. It has everything to do with the third Great Era of the Web we are now entering into: Validity and Influence. If you are valid and wield some influence you will not be filtered out.
  9. So before looking forward, let’s look back for a second. It used to be that marketers tried to get the word out about their products and services in any way they could – newspaper and magazine ads, billboards, radio and television commercials. Each new medium added something. Magazines added color and national distribution to newspaper advertising. Billboards were in your face as you drove along the highways. Radio added sound and music. Television added movement and, even more than billboards or radio, intrusiveness.The marketer controlled the message, and we – the audience – had very few choices. We could change the channel or go get a sandwich. We had very few filters at our disposal. That has changed…
  10. So in this new media ecology, having a dialogue is the way to influence people. You do this by creating and publishing content that has value. Valuable useful content makes you valid. Make your content valuable and you will not be filtered out. You will instead be discussed, shared, and seeked out as a source for opinion and more.
  11. The physics of media have changed, which in turn has changed the economics of media. To paraphrase Marx, the proletariat now truly owns the means of production. We are the media in as much as we choose to participate in it. People cannot find you if you are not participating or choose to market yourself along traditional means. You are going to be more difficult to be found. You will not earn the coveted title of a trusted source. You will not be able to rise above the huge swell of content being produced. And if you choose to continue to message and present yourself as a brochure, the community is less likely to opt-in (give you their information) and they certainly will not follow you. Today you must publish content or you will become irrelevant to the conversation.
  12. The old way of doing things is becoming less and less effective. We should have an understanding of that now. People are people, they adhere to norms and conventions – the difference between the digital and physical worlds is negligible. People look to their peers, want to make similar decisions as their peers and look around to see what they are doing, what they are buying, they ask for recommendations, they look for validity and people with influence. We conduct research and collect information largely from the web, so understanding how the search engines determine relevance is key – increasingly relevance is going to be determined by engagement metrics or a social graph. This makes engagement on social media platforms increasingly important not only from the traditional search optimization approach but now also from an engagement approach. Social Media is not a fad, it appeals strongly to our sense of being human because once again we are inherently social in nature and there is little to divide the digital and physical world. Because there is so much content out on the web, largely because of the proliferation of social media, we are becoming more adept, and tools more abundant, to filter what we read watch or hear. We must use a new set of rules focused on publishing valuable useful content. We must focus on earning influence by encouraging and allowing people to share our content within their social networks. You must provide the ‘stuff’ people want – you do this by putting yourself in their shoes by creating a buyer persona. Your content must be helpful – you should look at providing content that focuses on eliminating pain points, inspires, and has benefits that are clearly stated. Help them to find this content by providing links, landing pages, simple instructions and forms, and always use a call to action to tell them what to do next to get there.
  13. Americans conducted 15.4 billion searches in March, up 7 percent from February. Google Sites accounted for 10.0 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites (2.6 billion), Microsoft Sites (1.8 billion), Ask Network (593 million) and AOL LLC (380 million). Can you now see how a marketing strategy based on getting found (and followed) is transformative?
  14. The best advice is that we start to educate ourselves, and relax. Inbound Marketing is something you will need to understand soon, but fortunately, the basic concept is simple. You might even find you already practice some of the tactics, SEO might come to mind. Don’t just take a stab at it. Let’s Involve ourselves in building the strategy. Now that we know what we are looking for, we can use the web as a learning resource. Start by Googling “inbound marketing.” Find out what is happening around your industry by setting up Google Alerts. Use Google reader to track relevant blogs. Learn who you think the influencers in your social world are. Use tools like twitter, blogs, and social media sites like Facebook to start following the companies and people you believe have influence in your industry, and then LISTEN. Observe what they are doing and develop your plan to start engaging after you understand the strategy. The point is that we can’t manage what we do not understand. Let’s ease into it by educating ourselves… but commit to it by jumping in with both feet – the world has changed there really is no other choice.
  15. There is no easy solution. Most small businesses make the mistake that an Inbound Marketing Initiative is something they can farm out, or that they just need to hire some interns that are really into that “Facebook” thing. You’d never give the intern permission to build the presentation for a quarterly investor’s meeting, so why would you hand over the reins to an entry level intern that thinks social media is really cool but doesn’t have the first idea of who your customers are and has never sold your products. Don’t do this because someone tells you it is the next cool thing to be doing… Do it because making more money is cool. Understand what you are getting into and develop some objectives of how you are going to measure performance and how much you are willing to spend in time and money to get there.The content you produce surrounding the Inbound Marketing concept should embody WHY you are in business, and what your values and guiding principles are, it’s the face of the first impression that you will be making hundreds and thousands and even millions of times. It is going to take your input and direct involvement. An Inbound Marketing Program should be planned out, have objectives, and should produce measurable results against revenue.So what about a professional marketing agency? Absolutely, you are probably going to need some help and guidance. But avoid the similar mistakes that can occur with the hiring of an intern. Look, it may sound simple (the concept is) but a lot of Inbound Marketing is based on subtle nuances and gaps that only you can explain or fill in. You are going to have to put the time in to work with whoever you hire to help you out. An agency can’t simply hit a switch, and charge you a monthly fee to keep the magic flowing. In fact some of your most valuable resources for content and ideas are your own employees – something an agency just can’t compete with. Every employee that has customer contact is in “marketing". Customer service is a marketing function and Inbound Marketing strategiesmagnify customer touch-points for businesses. Having employees who understand your business and the customer are critical to success with Inbound Marketing strategies.So don’t throw it over the wall. Use a professional agency or consultant for guidance, collaboratively develop your strategy and content with the agency or consultant, remain in a management role, which includes managing and encouraging your employee’s participation as resources. And don’t make a decision based on agency cost alone (you can’t price shop this stuff… it goes deeper than that) – make your decision about who to engage with when: (1) There is a clear agreement about the amount of activity needed to accomplish your objectives, (2) The role between the agency/consultant and you is clear, (3) you have a planned budget for at least six months, and (4) there is a written plan.
  16. Social Media in and of itself can suck big time. If you are boring in real life, you will be boring on Social Media. If you treat it as just another Outbound Marketing Medium you’re gonna be really disappointed. Most small businesses make the mistake of being boring by talking about their products and services. This is typically not what the reader needs or wants – they want information in all of its various forms – that solves problems, answers questions, provides vicarious relief (storytelling), etc. Typically the granular details of your products or services – are, well, boring. Don’t make that mistake. And don’t get me wrong, either… there is a place for that information and you certainly don’t hide it. What you will find though is that it is a lot less important to your customers than you think - it’s a checklist item that some will only look at after they make up their mind to follow or buy from you. If you are going to engage then engage with thought leadership, share tips, tell stories, give a how to, give your followers something to follow. Along the way, as customers choose to opt-in , then show them how you can save them money, and make them some great offers, but don’t mimic your competition, instead give them the inspiration to do business with you based on your thought leadership. When social media is used as a tool to share and publish valuable content, voila! Success. Social Media is just a piece – in fact it is more of a content tactic than an Inbound Marketing strategy. Be aware though, that it has to be valuable content, not fluff… always think in terms of answering the “So what?” question of your buyer personas.
  17. The specifics are too many to list here. The goal is simple… get found and followed by publishing valuable content and engaging customers through various forms of social media and channels of communication. It is ultimately about being a valid source of information, products, and services – Ultimately you can use your influence to increase sales through referrals and an expansion of customer touch-points. It does not mean you abandon all of your current marketing efforts – it means you will add ways to help your customers find you, instead of you having to find them. Being found leads to converting visits and leads which you can then analyze and improve upon (a closed loop). You will reap the benefits of being an early adopter. Your brand, your relevance stands a much better chance of sticking around if you do.
  18. Inbound Marketing is not a thing you purchase. It is not a type of marketing campaign. It is a strategy built on multiple activities that overlap one another. If you increase the amount of activity you increase the effectiveness of the strategy.
  19. There are two objectives with this step of the Inbound Marketing Process Flow:1st OBJECTIVE: Develop your Inbound Marketing Strategy – define the activities, activity levels, content plan and tools you will use to engage in an Inbound Marketing Strategy. Returning to the “Rome wasn’t built in a day” theory, and assuming you don’t have the large marketing department to hand this off to, then you’re going to have to do a little research. Look you wouldn’t just throw the dice and put your money down on any old house, would you? It’s the same thing with building an Inbound Marketing Strategy. You need to check the neighborhood out and make sure you speak the language of the natives. That way you can find the right General Contractor to work with and have a say (and a management role) with the subs (specialists) whom together you choose to hire. Also be thinking about who within your organization is in a position to participate – start engaging these people now, ask them to conduct their own investigation, and request that they identify areas where they can contribute, especially in regards to content creation. Content drives Inbound Marketing Strategies more than anything else… A content plan will be key to developing your strategy.It all starts with listening and research. This presentation is certainly not enough to develop a full understanding of how an Inbound Marketing Strategy will work within your organization and it is important to remember that this will be an ongoing step in the cycle… you should be continually researching and adjusting your tactics, as your business changes, and as new tools and channels emerge. The Web is ripe with information about marketing – and Inbound Marketing as a topic continues to grow. As you research and listen – start to take note of content ideas – start to layout your content plan. Think of how you can build content and repurpose it (or multiplex it) so that it can be distributed in multiple formats across multiple channels. If you need some help getting started engage a consultant to show you the ropes and tools they use to stay abreast of developments and to build content plans.2nd OBJECTIVE: Build Buyer PersonasAs you research and listen – start to take note of content ideas – start to layout a content plan. Think of how you can build content and repurpose it (or multiplex it) so that it can be distributed in multiple formats across multiple channels – but all of that means little if you have not built buyer personas. Buyer personas represent the audience you must appeal to – the people your content should appeal to so that it is not filtered out. Build a picture of these people – what do they want? What do they look like? How do they spend their time? Who do they look up to? How old are they? Get the idea? You may think you know who your customers are, but is your concept being shared with your employees? Is it being discussed? Is it written down and sharable with your web developer, graphics designer, content developers, and blog contributors? How do you know you are listening in the right places? Buyer personas can help you to focus your content on the right audiences at the right stages of the buying process. Remember, for most, the buying process is 80% research and information gathering – just as much of your content needs to be focused on what your buyer personas need during this stage. An effective approach is to build a content matrix with your buyer personas in a column and stages of the buying cycle in the other columns (you can group services or products in rows). Roughly a buying cycle can be broken down in to three phases – Awareness, Consideration, and Decision. Awareness & Consideration are the stages that take up 80% of your buyer persona’s focus – you will want to identify the channels (social media) within your matrix that your buyer personas will use to access your content.Above all else, determine what an Inbound Marketing Strategy is going to look like for you. Research and read articles on the subject, watch videos, listen to webinars, read some books. Put yourself in a position to manage the process – DO NOT ATTEMPT TO THROW IT OVER THE WALL – if you do, you will fail.
  20. You will need to think of your website as the central management point of your Inbound Marketing System. Your content either needs to be on your website or pointing back and linking to your website. If you are not using a Content Management System that allows you to make updates frequently and under your control, then YOU WILL HAVE TO CHANGE or settle for being frustrated. You need this control to implement on-page SEO. You need this control to post timely updated content. You need this control to create landing pages and more. If you are not comfortable doing this on your own, or you cannot find the resource in house and your current web developer will not oblige you or perform the necessary functions timely, you will have to replace them. Additionally, you will need to be able to monitor your website – the most popular (and freely available) tool to accomplish this is with Google Analytics. If you are not monitoring and tracking your website’s performance, then YOU WILL HAVE TO CHANGE. As you start to transition and bring your updates, self publishing, and monitoring under your control then you might consider investing in a tool such as Hubspot to really dial in your Inbound Marketing activities. But the key takeaway is that activities must take place on a consistent planned basis. The activities determine performance – and at the foundation is creating content. You have to have a content plan, and you have to plan to multiplex your content and spread it out upon multiple platforms, beyond your own website. Of course key to this is a Blogging platform – preferably as part of your website. Again, another good reason to use a content management system, or to be in control – since blogs don’t work if they stay static and infrequently updated. A website’s content is the foundation – a Blog is the cornerstone of an Inbound Marketing Strategy. To get a baseline statistic of how well your website ranks – use Hubspot’s website grader tool @ www.websitegrader.com
  21. To get found you need content.To get found you need to self publish.To get found you need to appeal to your buyer personas with valuable content.To get found you need to have keyword density.To get found you need SEO – which means you need link worthy content and multiple pages of content.To get found you need people to share and link to your content (to have your posts shared and followed add social media buttons and RSS)To get found you need to have fresh content.After you get found you want people to interact with and follow you, you want to give them a way to opt-in.Blogs allow you to get found, shared, followed, and opted-in.
  22. When we say engage social media, we’re talking about publishing content as well as listening. How you will engage, and what platforms you choose to engage on should be thought out and included as part of your content plan. Your engagement on social media includes your blog effort, but it is important to expand your presence beyond your blog (to help you get found) and social media affords many opportunities to do this since it is not all of one type and is made up of multiple channels that allow you to be found by today’s dispersed audiences. Content in most cases can be repurposed or multiplexed. An example might be a presentation that is posted to SlideShare is turned into a video that is posted to YouTube. A whitepaper could be broken out into multiple pdf documents and shared on Scribd. A press release might be shared on Twitter. A blog post might be turned into an eBook. A planned event might be shared on a social calendar. One common rule is that you stay away from talking about your products or services. This is not easy for a lot of us, and it is understandable how this is frustrating and perhaps a little counterintuitive. Think about it in terms of having validity as a trusted source. An example might be two car dealers. The first dealer is actively on social media but he is not engaged. He posts information about his upcoming sale citing available inventory, he posts information about service pricing, he posts information about services available, i.e. “Did you know we offer a full restoration auto body department?” The second car dealer is engaged on social media. He’s been out listening to what is happening in the community and has tapped into his WHY – a belief that a car dealer serves the community first. He posts information about his upcoming sale but barely mentions it, focusing instead on how the sale will be used to raise awareness of a playground restoration (in building his buyer personas he realized that a large segment of his buyers are parents with small children), he talks more about his belief to support the community than his need to sell cars or WHAT he does. Instead of posting service specials or pricing he posts a document about how to spot repairs before you need them and get stranded. Instead of posting information about available services he posts a document on how to read an auto body repair order and avoid unnecessary charges. All of this content points back to his website, and where appropriate he includes a call to action and a link to further information. Along the way he encourages people to ask him questions whether or not they are an existing or potential customer, he serves the community first. BTW, all of the information posted by Car Dealer #1 can be found on Car Dealer #2’s website. He has online photos of the cars for sale, service hours, pricing and all the usual stuff – he just doesn’t monologue about it on his social media presences or blog. Who are you more likely to do business with? More likely to follow? More likely to spend time with? Car Dealer #1 or Car Dealer #2?
  23. Great offers to some may create visions of 50% Off Sales, and Buy One Get One Free and certainly this might drive sales but it does not drive lead conversions and such offers would certainly cut into profit margins. They are not the kind of great offers, we should have in mind as Inbound Marketers. You want to be driving leads since today’s buyer spends nearly 70% to 80% of the buying process researching and gathering information before they engage with sales. It is because the buying process is focused on research and information gathering, that your presence on social media is so important. We want to become part of that research they are conducting. If you’re doing inbound marketing correctly, you’re creating great offers on your website such as free downloads containing eBooks, whitepapers, case studies, valuable tips and tricks. If you are doing this effectively you are eliminating pain points by delivering high value content that answers questions, solves problems, provides a how to, and is in someway a takeaway that can be shared and further distributed. Each of your great offers can yield a lead conversion that welcomes another member to your community. Your Great Offer could appear in a number of locations… it could be placed as an ad in the sidebar of your blog, it could appear as a text link in a description of your product or service, it could appear as a pop-up (there’s some debate about this since it is considered an interruption), it could also appear off site within content you posted – and always be careful to resist promoting your products or services directly, instead promote your content, your knowledge, through the use of a call to action. A call to action is brief, but distinct and compelling. Most often they are combined with a button that links to a landing page.A landing page is exactly what it sounds like… it’s the page where your website visitors arrive after clicking on a link (usually your call to action button). It could be any page in your site, but for obvious reasons a landing page works best when it is optimized to the context of the offer. How you optimize your landing page has to do with a lot of factors, graphics, the size of elements, colors, and copywriting can all have an effect (to see samples of landing pages and how variations in the format affect performance, check out whichtestwon.com). Landing pages should always have two key elements: benefit statements in support of your offer and a lead form to collect the visitor’s contact information. You’ll need to collect a name and an email address – while collecting more information might seem wise, the less friction the better. One other tip: The lead form is most often submitted with a button – avoid syntax with a negative connotation, i.e. “submit.” In exchange for their email they receive your offer… this can serve the basis of creating an opted-in email list.
  24. For the small business owner this is by far the most difficult aspect of an Inbound Marketing strategy. Systems require a commitment to their use, training, and a bit of troubleshooting to get the processes working with one another. Although not desirable long term, a manual approach in the beginning can build the necessary knowledge for an automated approach in the near future. The common fear is that an investment in an automated approach could quickly turn into a dust collector as the more immediate concerns of tending to the business at hand puts off the commitment to the new and unfamiliar system – nowhere is this more true than with the small business owner. To get to the point where an investment in an automated system is not feared, means that a manual small scale system may need to come first. If basic analytics for website performance are not in place, you’ll want to start there first, especially if you are not currently generating a lot of leads. In terms of process flow it might seem odd that one should come before the other, but if you are literally starting from scratch this is the case. You’ll need the baseline statistics of how your web presence is performing to understand how people are finding you so that you can get the leads in the first place.At a minimum, a small business can take advantage of the many email marketing platforms that offer managed email distribution to subscribed lists. These platforms are often low cost and many offer pay as you go pricing, so you can start with very small subscriber lists. Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, and Campaign Monitor are but a few of the choices. An integrated management package like Hubspot has additional capabilities (like lead scoring) built right-in. It would be a good choice for those small businesses looking to automate their Inbound Marketing strategy and who already have a handle on how their website performs (they are producing leads). An easy to use, and inexpensive tool that can be deployed by any small business, regardless of where they are at in building their Inbound Marketing strategy is to use an online appointment setting service. If we could possibly reduce the sales friction, wouldn’t we? For people who are ready to speak to you – they can avoid the phone tag game – and the email back and forth. The added benefit is that you can specify staff, type of appointment etc. so that your customers are always talking to the right person. It saves time and shortens the sales cycle for your ready buyers. Most systems can be tied into a merchant account which means services that are paid for by appointment, like a tax accounting service, pool cleaning or dog grooming can be paid for at the time of booking. The real benefit to you is higher conversion rates and self qualified leads. It can also be used in a drip email campaign as you get them further down the sales funnel – a convenient and easy to use trigger to encourage sales and conversions.
  25. Today, analytics are wide ranging. Want to see how you stack up to your competition in terms of mentions on Social Media? There are tools to do that. Need to optimize a post for keywords? Text analysis tools allow you to do that. Want to understand how your website ranks in comparison to your competition? There are tools to do that as well. Want to see a heat map of where people spend their time on your site? Well, you can do that too.But most importantly, shouldn’t your website’s performance statistics be readily available? Where is your traffic coming from? What are the top keywords delivering site traffic? Where are you receiving referrals? At the most basic of levels you need to be able to know what your website is doing – how else would you be able to measure and improve?For many this means having a Google Analytics account. But Google is not your only choice. There are many analytics platforms that can be installed for free or at a nominal cost. Assigning an unique incoming URL to the link in an offer can quickly help you determine which offers are working best. Analytic tools can be used to measure those unique sources. You will want to create a number of baseline statistics as well (site visits, traffic sources, time on site, bounce rate, etc.). As you become more proficient you can add to the number of statistics you track. If you don’t start using analytical tools, you are essentially flying blind.