What you need to know about Marketing Strategy and Inbound Marketing

Transcription

1 What you need to know about Marketing Strategy and Inbound Marketing

2 Contents What is Inbound Marketing? The PHILOSOPHY: Why Inbound Marketing works The METHODOLOGY: How Inbound Marketing works The TOOLS: The way to do Inbound Marketing that works FAQ s to clarify how Inbound Marketing fits into your current marketing strategy: 1. What is a Persona? 2. What is Google AdWords and how does it tie in with Inbound Marketing? 3. What is SEO and how does it fit in with Inbound Marketing strategy? 4. Why Social Media? 5. Why do we use in Inbound Marketing? 6. Is there a difference between Inbound & Content Marketing? 7. Can Inbound Marketing be DIY ed? And will it be cheaper? 8. What s the story behind Wild Pursuit and HubSpot? Page: 2

3 by reading this ebook you will grasp how Inbound marketing fits into digital marketing and marketing strategy in general Page: 3

4 Let s start by making sure we re talking about the same thing Digital marketing would typically include: Websites Blogs (a blog is halfway between a website and a weekly magazine) Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) fine tuning a website so that Google places it top of the list Social media LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook Paid for Digital advertising (e.g. Google AdWords, Facebook Ads) Digital marketing can technically include any forms of marketing performed through electronic channels, and would also technically cover, things like mobile apps... For the purpose of this ebook we will confine the definition to the above bullet points. Page: 4

5 WHAT IS INBOUND MARKETING? Instead of buying ads, buying lists, or cold calling, inbound marketing focuses on creating educational content that pulls people toward your website where they can learn more about what you sell on their own accord. Page: 5

6 INBOUND IS AN APPROACH TO MARKETING THAT REACHES TODAY S CONSUMER. Get found by qualified leads online with content (website pages, blog articles, social messages) optimized for search and social media. Understand what content pulls your buyers through the sales funnel, and use that context to personalize your marketing at scale. Page: 6

7 INBOUND MARKETING CAN BE UNDERSTOOD IN THREE WAYS: 3. Inbound as a tool set the PLAYBOOK Page: 7

8 Inbound marketing in a nutshell: Market with a magnet, not a sledgehammer. Page: 8

9 INBOUND AS A PHILOSOPHY. Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why Inbound marketing is a philosophy based on the truth that consumers buy differently today than they did 10 years ago. Page: 9

10 THINK ABOUT IT. Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why PRE-INTERNET. Buyer: Relatively uninformed. Buyer Journey: Linear. Marketing Playbook: Interrupt (cold calls and advertising). TODAY. Buyer: Well-informed. Buyer Journey: Fluid and random. Starts with Google. Marketing Playbook: Thought leadership through content creation. Page: 10

11 HOW DID THIS TRANSFORMATION TAKE PLACE? There are three major reasons why consumers are skeptical about brands, and why interruptive advertising and cold calling are NOT nearly as effective as they once were 3Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why Page: 11

12 WHY INTERRUPTION DOESN T WORK: REASON NUMBER ONE. Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why 1. The Proliferation of Media: The media landscape has become insanely cluttered. There s a magazine, TV channel, radio station, and a gajillion websites for every conceivable interest. Page: 12

13 Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why Advertising was proliferating faster than laws were implemented to regulate it, which leads us to... Page: 13

14 WHY INTERRUPTION DOESN T WORK: REASON NUMBER TWO. Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why 2. A History of Deceptive Advertising: Consumers are accustomed to false claims and deceit in advertising, so even when clever ads are seen by consumers, they re thought to be dishonest. According to the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, 63% of consumers need to hear company claims 3-5x before they ll actually believe them! Page: 14

15 Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why Interruption. False claims. Over-promising. Under-delivering. Increased regulation. Brand egocentrism. Exploitation. Lawsuits. }This changed everything. Page: 15

16 WHY INTERRUPTION DOESN T WORK: REASON NUMBER THREE. Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why 3. Technology Empowered the Consumer: Consumers gained access to tools and information that enabled them to dodge interruptive brand messages and instead seek out information when they re ready. Page: 16

17 Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why Video Machines Do Not Contact list. Spam software. Fibre/Broadband internet. Smartphones. Social media. This changed }everything. Page: 17

18 Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why THAT S WHY PERMISSION BECAME MORE EFFECTIVE THAN INTERRUPTION. By aligning the content you publish with your customer s interests, you can earn permission to market to prospects. With permission you can convert them into leads and close them into customers, and ultimately delight them to the point that they become promoters of your brand. Page: 18

19 There are five major themes of inbound, permission-based marketing. Let s talk about them. Page: 19

20 1. CONTENT CREATION. Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why You create targeted content that answers your customer's basic questions and needs, and you share that content far and wide. Page: 20

21 2. LIFECYCLE MARKETING. Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why You recognize that people go through stages as they interact with your company, and that each stage requires different marketing actions. Page: 21

22 3. PERSONALIZATION & CONTEXT. Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why As you learn more about your leads over time, you can better personalize your messages to their specific needs. Page: 22

23 4. A MULTI-CHANNEL PRESENCE. Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why Inbound marketing is multi-channel by nature because it approaches people where they are, in the channel where they want to interact with you. Page: 23

24 5. INTEGRATION. Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why Your publishing and analytics tools all work together like a well-oiled machine, allowing you to focus on publishing: the right content in the right place at the right time. Page: 24

25 IN SUMMARY, INBOUND MARKETING IS ABOUT... Inbound Marketing as a philosophy the why Building trust, not skepticism among your prospects. Being loved, not ignored by your customers. Outsmarting, not outspending your competitors. Page: 25

26 THE METHODOLOGY. Inbound Marketing as a Methodology the how The inbound philosophy is backed by a methodology that helps brands attract, convert, close, and delight visitors, leads and customers through a variety of channels such as social media, blogging, SEO, landing pages, forms, and . Page: 26

27 Inbound Marketing as a Methodology the how The methodology facilitates the buyer s journey through the sales funnel from strangers to promoters of your brand. Page: 27

28 Inbound Marketing as a Methodology the how LET S GO THROUGH THE METHODOLOGY STEP-BY-STEP. The actions a company must take to obtain visitors, leads, and customers Attract Convert Close Delight Strangers Visitors Leads Customers Promoters Blog Social Media Keywords Pages Calls-to-Action Landing Pages Forms Contacts Workflows Lead Scoring CRM Integrations Social Media Smart-Calls-to-Action Workflows The tools used to obtain visitors, leads, and customers several tools, like , can be essential in several stages of the methodology. Page: 28

29 STEP 1: ATTRACT STRANGERS AND TURN THEM INTO WEBSITE VISITORS. You want to attract people that will potentially become leads. Attract your ideal customer or buyer persona by creating content that s valuable and easy for them to find. Inbound Marketing as a Methodology the how Page: 29

30 STEP 2: CONVERT THOSE WEBSITE VISITORS INTO LEADS. Once you ve got visitors to your site, the next step is to convert those visitors into leads by gathering their contact information. In order to get this valuable information, you need to offer something they value in return. Inbound Marketing as a Methodology the how Page: 30

31 STEP 3: CLOSE LEADS INTO CUSTOMERS THROUGH LEAD NURTURING. Once you ve attracted the right visitors and converted the right leads, you need to transform those leads into customers with targeted, automated nurturing and social media interaction. Inbound Marketing as a Methodology the how Page: 31

32 STEP 4: DELIGHT CUSTOMERS TO TURN THEM INTO PROMOTERS OF YOUR BRAND. Using context and personalization to deliver tailored messages, continue to engage with, delight, and (hopefully) upsell your current customer base into happy promoters of your company. Inbound Marketing as a Methodology the how Page: 32

33 Now that we ve covered the methodology, we re ready to dig deeper into the tools you need to get visitors (traffic), leads, and customers. Page: 33

34 THE TOOLS TO ACHIEVE STEP 1: ATTRACTING STRANGERS AND TURNING THEM INTO WEBSITE VISITORS. Tools to attract strangers to your site include: Attract Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK Blogging Social Media Keyword Optimization Strangers Visitors Your website Pages Blog Social Media Keywords Pages Page: 34

35 Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK We re going to take a moment to emphasize the importance of blogging because it s that important... Companies blog because it s one of the most effective ways to attract potential customers to your site. Seriously. Blogging works. The average company that blogs generates: 55% more website visitors. 97% more inbound links. 434% more indexed pages. Source: HubSpot Page: 35

36 Blogging isn t the only tool that effectively attracts customers to you, though. Page: 36

37 YOU NEED TO BE ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES, TOO. Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK You must share remarkable content and valuable information on the social web, engage with your prospects, and put a human face on your brand. Page: 37

38 Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK YOU SHOULD CREATE CONTENT AROUND TARGETED KEYWORDS AS WELL. You need to carefully, analytically pick keywords, optimize your pages, create content, and build links around the terms your ideal buyers are searching for. (Psst! HubSpot s software gives you SEO advice as you type). Page: 38

39 KEEP YOUR WEBSITE FRESH WITH EASY-TO-DEPLOY SITE PAGES. Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK Search engines and users like frequently updated websites, so you need to transform your site into a beacon of helpful, fresh, and optimized pages to appeal to your ideal buyers without having to rely on IT. Page: 39

40 THE TOOLS TO ACHIEVE STEP 2: CONVERTING WEBSITE VISITORS INTO LEADS. Convert Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK Tools to convert visitors into leads include: Calls-to-Action (CTA s) Landing Pages Forms Contacts Database Visitors Calls-to-Action Landing Pages Forms Contacts Leads Page: 40

41 ENTICE YOUR VISITORS TO CLAIM AN OFFER WITH CALLS-TO-ACTION. Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK Calls-to-action (CTAs) are buttons or links that encourage your visitors to take action, like Download a Whitepaper or Attend a Webinar. If you don t have CTAs or if they aren t enticing enough, you won t generate leads. Page: 41

42 Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK DRIVE VISITORS TO LANDING PAGES WHERE THEY CAN BECOME LEADS. When a website visitor clicks on a CTA, they should then be sent to a landing page where the offer in the call-to-action is fulfilled, and where the prospect submits information that your sales team can use to begin a conversation with them. Page: 42

43 USE FORMS TO GET THE INFORMATION YOU NEED ABOUT YOUR PROSPECTS. Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK In order for visitors to become leads, they must fill out a form and submit their contact information. Optimize your form to make this step of the conversion process as easy as possible. Page: 43

44 HOUSE ALL OF YOUR CONTACTS IN ONE PLACE. Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK Keep track of the leads you're converting in a centralized marketing database so you can make sense out of every interaction you ve had with your contacts be it through , a landing page, or social media. Page: 44

45 Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK THE TOOLS TO ACHIEVE STEP 3: CLOSING LEADS INTO CUSTOMERS THROUGH LEAD NURTURING. Tools to close leads into customers Close include: Lead Scoring Marketing Automation Closed-Loop Reporting Leads Customers Workflows Lead Scoring CRM Integrations Page: 45

46 Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK USE LEAD SCORING TO DETERMINE WHICH LEADS ARE READY FOR A SALESPERSON. You ve got contacts in your system, but how do you know which ones are ready to speak to your sales team? Using a numerical representation of the sales-readiness of a lead takes the guesswork out of the process. Page: 46

47 SEND TARGETED S TO LEADS TO PULL THEM THROUGH THE SALES FUNNEL. Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK What if a visitor clicks on your CTA and fills out a form on a landing page to download a whitepaper, but still isn t ready to become a customer? Nurture them with a series of s focused on useful, relevant content until they re ready. Page: 47

48 GO BEYOND BY USING AUTOMATION INFORMED BY CONTEXT AND LIFECYCLE. Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK If a visitor downloaded an ebook from you in the past, you might want to send that lead a series of related s. But if they follow you on Twitter and visited certain pages on your website, you might want to tailor the messaging. Page: 48

49 Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK CLOSE THE LOOP BY INTEGRATING YOUR MARKETING TOOLS WITH YOUR CRM. Know which marketing efforts are bringing in the best leads and whether your sales team is focused on the most qualified leads by integrating with your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Page: 49

50 Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK THE TOOLS TO ACHIEVE STEP 4: DELIGHT CUSTOMERS TO TURN THEM INTO PROMOTERS OF YOUR BRAND. Tools to delight your customers Delight include: Smart Calls-to-Action Social Media and Marketing Automation Customers Promoters Social Media Smart-Calls-to-Action Workflows Page: 50

51 DELIGHT CUSTOMERS TO TURN THEM INTO PROMOTERS OF YOUR BRAND. Using context and personalization to deliver tailored messages, continue to engage with, delight, and (hopefully) upsell your current customer base into happy promoters of your company. Page: 51

52 Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK We re done with the tools Here s how the inbound methodology and tools all come together to get you leads. Page: 52

53 How will we get leads? Inbound Marketing tools the PLAYBOOK 1) ATTRACT: GET TRAFFIC Create blog content, search engine optimize (SEO) that content, and promote it on social media sites. 2) CONVERT: GET LEADS Place calls-to-action throughout your website, blog, social accounts, and to drive visitors to landing pages with forms. 3) CLOSE: GET CUSTOMERS Send leads targeted, automated s to drive them through your buying cycle. Provide your sales team with lead intelligence for more effective sales calls. 4) DELIGHT: ANALYZE & OPTIMIZE Analyze the success of your marketing campaigns, and determine which areas need further optimization or personalization for future success. Page: 53

54 Frequently Asked Questions FAQ s Now that you understand Inbound Marketing: Philosophy the why Methodology the how The Toolset You might be wondering how Inbound Marketing fits into your current marketing strategy. So we prepared 9 of the most frequently asked questions: 1. What is a Persona? 2. What is Google AdWords and how does it tie in with Inbound Marketing? 3. What is SEO and how does it fit in with Inbound Marketing strategy? 4. Why Social Media? 5. Why do we use in Inbound Marketing? 6. Is there a difference between Inbound & Content Marketing? 7. Can Inbound Marketing be DIY ed? And will it be cheaper? 8. What s the difference between HubSpot, SharpSpring & Infusionsoft 9. What s the story behind Wild Pursuit and HubSpot? Page: 54

55 What is a Persona? FAQ - 1 Marketers segment the universe of potential customers into groups based on some unifying characteristics. They choose the segment or submarket which the company are best able to serve or satisfy with their product. This chosen group of possible customers becomes the target market. The Persona is a critical evolution of marketing thinking: A persona is a fictitious person which is built to describe and communicate the characteristics of the ideal customer [which thus falls with-in that target market we selected.] Target Market vs Persona While the target market is the broad group of people who would buy your product or service, The persona is the IDEAL person in that group. Persona s are the lowest common denominator in marketing. As part of Inbound Marketing, we hence study and describe the persona in terms of what they read, their pain points, their challenges, and their needs. SO that the marketing and content is interesting and relevant to them and most importantly REMARKABLE enough for them to share and endorse. Page: 55

56 What is Google AdWords and how does it tie in with Inbound? FAQ - 2 Google AdWords and Inbound Marketing Strategy: AdWords is the opposite of inbound it s just paying to get to the top, as opposed to earning your way to the top. AdWords is like renting a house (When you stop paying you get kicked out) vs owning a house (stay there as long as you want AdWords is a broad net - so you will get many enquiries but also many of the less attractive enquiries, inbound is like spearfishing for a specific species of fish. (see Personas) In the long run, inbound delivers better results at a lower cost per lead than AdWords. Inbound Marketing replaces the need for AdWords however Since AdWords is effective at getting quick results, it s sometimes used to turbocharge the first few months of an Inbound Marketing rollout. Page: 56

57 What is SEO and how does it fit in with Inbound Marketing strategy? QUICK DEFINITION: SEO (Search engine optimization of a website) The process of improving the user experience of a website in such a way that Google places your website page high on their search results. SEO starts by applying smart market research and combining this with technical keyword research. This research is then implemented under the hood of your blog and website. Done right, the website will rank at the top of the Google search results (organic and not paid for), leading to increased website traffic/visitors. Inbound replaces the need for stand alone SEO FAQ - 3 SEO and Inbound: SEO is an important aspect of inbound marketing. Each web page, blog article, post, tweet is carefully SEO ed and the keywords are researched just the same way as in stand alone SEO. However when SEO is part of an inbound marketing strategy it is more effective because it generates synergy between the SEO, the content strategy, the buyers journey, personas and the need to excite customers to the point they will endorse your valuable content. Which is all far beyond the scope of stand alone SEO. Page: 57

58 Why Social Media? FAQ - 4 It s the only way to prospect (for new customers) which comes close to Google search It s remarkable content that gets remarked on by people. BUT remarks, comments and sharing alone are worthless when not used to further a marketing strategy or migrate prospects down a planned buyers journey to a purchase. Inbound includes all the things a standalone social campaign would cover. Inbound adds effectiveness through integration; because at the heart of inbound marketing is a strategy that entices, encourages and seamlessly facilitates the progression of a prospect down a sales path. Page: 58

59 Why do we use in Inbound Marketing? FAQ - 5 There are three layers of marketing sophistication: Layer 1: Basic. Sent using Outlook to a group of contacts Layer 2: Bulk. Sent using a bulk software system which manages the database of contacts. Typically used to send specials, distribute pricelists, advertise an event. For most companies bulk is a way to communicate with EXISTING contacts. Layer 3: automation. Taking advantage of bulk but doing two things to it: Layer 3 a) an sent automatically based on a contact s action (eg submitting a form) or Layer 3 b) sequencing- sending a series of s in a pre-planned sequence Inbound Marketing combines automation and sequencing to deliver content that it is more relevant to the recipient because it s sent based on: what they are interested in AND when they are interested in it AND Is triggered from where they are interested. Inbound operates across all the social media platforms, websites, blogs and s your company uses to market itself. The increased relevance of sequencing and automation through Inbound, is a powerful tool which cannot be mimicked by bulk or standalone automation. Page: 59

60 Is there a difference between Inbound & Content Marketing? FAQ - 6 On the surface both Inbound Marketing and Content Marketing both involve the producing of content for people to read With the logic that If prospects are hearing or reading the right content it will lead to a sale Inbound Marketing differs in that it uses content as a sub-component in its engine. Inbound couples the content to systems and processes that turn the person consuming the content into a lead. Content marketing on its own is much like a car with no wheels. There s nothing that can be done with all that potential. Since many people are more familiar with the term content marketing, it is often used interchangeably with Inbound Marketing. BUT be clear on this: content marketing is a sub-component of inbound marketing and is not effective when used alone. Page: 60

61 Can Inbound Marketing be DIY ed? And will it be cheaper? FAQ - 7 Individual Components you would be DIY ing: Marketing Strategy Keyword Research SEO Social Content writing and posting and optimizing Automation (through a standalone app) Menu-less landing pages Call To Action buttons (CTA) and automated smart versions of the CTA button Persona Identification Multiplatform tracking ie track social and website traffic and performance on one platform integrating the data Some parts can be DIY ed and are free, but making them work for you costs time and money and they wont be passing data across to each other a critical ingredient in Inbound Marketing success For each contact: a way of seeing a timeline of each digital touch point across all digital platforms So, No it s not really possible, and it will be expensive in the end to try Page: 61

62 What s the story behind Wild Pursuit and HubSpot? FAQ - 8 It was way back in about 2010 that David Peake discovered HubSpot. Working as marketing manager for an industrial wholesaler he was frustrated with the way that traditional marketing just couldn t be measured. Traditional marketing was also an expensive way to market the company, AND it couldn t be proven that it was delivering return on investment. Turning to Google (like we all do) he searched for a way to improve his marketing and ultimately deliver sales for the organization. He stumbled on a HubSpot article. The article lead to a free ebook on exactly what he was trying to solve. They sent him follow up s and he subscribed to their blog. He found value in consuming their blog posts, and started to understand the principal of Inbound Marketing and its power to grow a business and he was hooked. Over the following years David applied the principles of Inbound at the companies he marketed. He was using different Marketing Automation products at various companies he consulted to, but they just weren t the same as HubSpot. He realized that Inbound Marketing can t be DIY ed and hasn t been matched by anyone else. So he decided to focus on the pursuit of one thing: doing Inbound Marketing with HubSpot software. Out of that realization, Wild Pursuit was born in June 2011, gaining momentum until in November of 2015 Wild Pursuit was registered as a PTY LTD and we started promoting ourselves with the full HubSpot inbound marketing solution Which is how you came to be reading this. Page: 62

63 Why Wild Pursuit? We have been in marketing for more than 10 years building websites, and online shops we built our first AdWords campaign in 2009 more than a year before they launched Google Engage in South Africa. By 2013 we had our first marketing automation implementation under the belt and now in 2016 the South African market is shifting rapidly towards Inbound Marketing. Page: 63

64 In this ebook you have: Learnt what you need to know about Marketing Strategy and Inbound Marketing, covering: The PHILOSOPHY: Why Inbound Marketing works The METHODOLOGY: How Inbound Marketing works The TOOLS: The way to do Inbound Marketing that works You ve also clarified some of the questions you may have had regarding how Inbound Marketing fits into your current marketing strategy by browsing our faq s section. Which leads us to the question: what is your next step? Page: 64

65 David Peake Cell: +27(82)