Introduc)on to B2B Inbound Marke)ng

Transcription

1 Introduc)on to B2B Inbound Marke)ng An introduc)on to inbound marke)ng for B2B technology marke)ng managers, business owners and sales execu)ves who want to understand what inbound means and the opportunity it offers.

2 WHY INBOUND? FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW, THE TRADITIONAL TOOL KIT OF B2B TECHNOLOGY MARKETERS HAS BEEN LOSING ITS EDGE. Subjected to masses of advertising and other brand messages daily, your buyers have evolved. They ve become extremely effective at ignoring what they haven t asked to receive. Their eyes do not see banner adverts and they can spot the direct mail lurking amongst their post. Unsolicited is habitually, if not automatically, filtered out or deleted. And cold sales calls are the least welcome thing of all. Unsurprisingly, the ROI from all these activities, when used as lead generators, is in rapid decline. Meaning, you need a new tool kit. This may all sound like a big challenge, but actually it s an opportunity like no other. This is your opportunity to be an early adopter of not just a new marketing tactic, but of an entirely new marketing philosophy - inbound. Inbound marketing replaces interruptive, outbound forms of communication with content driven strategies that help you to attract, convert, close and delight modern B2B buyers.

3 INBOUND vs. CONTENT MARKETING YOU VE PROBABLY HEARD OF CONTENT MARKETING AND MIGHT BE WONDERING HOW IT DIFFERS FROM INBOUND. Both terms are relatively young and definitions of each vary. The way we think about it is that content marketing is a tactic, while inbound marketing is the strategy. Inbound is the answer to the question how do I use content to attract, convert, close and delight more customers? Inbound marketing Content marketing Lead generation Marketing automation Content marketing is the act of creating quality content that is aligned with your buyers needs as they travel the buying process. Inbound marketing integrates content with lead generation, marketing automation and other digital marketing tactics..

4 WHAT IS INBOUND MARKETING? INBOUND MARKETING IS THE PROCESS OF ALIGNING YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING WITH YOUR BUYERS NEW DECISION MAKING PROCESS. THE GOAL IS TO EXPOSE YOUR COMPANY EXPERTISE TO THEM, WHEN AND WHERE THEY ARE LOOKING FOR IT. THE B2B BUYING PROCESS All B2B buying decisions go through the same set of stages. Your buyer travels from a posi=on of having an as yet undefined problem, through researching it and solu=ons to it, to iden=fying and eventually choosing between suppliers of those solu=ons. While buyers may travel the stages at drama=cally different speeds depending on what they are buying, and may even move back and forth between stages, overall the model holds up. Inbound recognizes that B2B buyers have taken back control of their buying process, and of the flow of informa=on between you and them. It recognizes that, to earn their trust and the right to engage them in a conversa=on about what you offer, you re going to have to play by their rules. Playing by their rules means legng them do their own research, not interrup=ng them. And it means helping them to make good decisions, not selling to them. AWARENESS > CONSIDERATION > DECISION

5 THE INBOUND METHODOLOGY While your buyer is travelling their buying process, they need informa=on to help them move from one stage to the next, toward finding and implemen=ng a solu=on. The type and content of informa=on they need changes as they change stages in the process, as does their willingness to engage with poten=al suppliers. 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 inbound methodology, developed by HubSpot, maps your digital marke=ng with the stages of the buying process in a way that enables you to: ATract visitors to you online, while they are researching their problems Convert visitors into known leads as they dig deeper into their problems and seek richer informa=on about solu=ons Close customers by suppor=ng their decision making process and capitalizing on earned trust Delight closed customers by trea=ng them with care, turning them into promoters of your brand

6 DIGITAL MARKETING TACTICS When you understand your buyers preferred way of making decisions, and you see how these relate to the inbound methodology, it isn t hard to understand which digital marke=ng tac=cs play a role at each stage. The core principles are: ATTRACT: ATrac=ng new visitors to your website requires you to answer their ques=ons and be found where they are looking. Blogging is the single best method for driving new prospects to your site. Back this up with search engine op=miza=on and social media publishing and you can maximize your blog s traffic genera=on poten=al. CONVERT: Capture your anonymous visitors contact details, and gain permission to contact them directly, by offering them something in return. Content pieces like whitepapers and ebooks, that align to their stage in the buying process, are best for this. You ll also need call to ac=on butons, landing pages and forms to make this happen. CLOSE: Now that you are engaged in a conversa=on with your prospect, you need to nurture their interest in you and your solu=on. Content that is carefully selected to reflect their progress though the buying process, delivered by personalized , is effec=ve. So too is pre-filling web forms with known informa=on when prospects return to your site. DELIGHT: Inbound doesn t stop once your prospect becomes a customer. Making sure your customers always have access to the latest and most relevant content ensures they stay engaged and creates opportuni=es to upsell.

7 GOING INBOUND PUTTING INBOUND MARKETING TO WORK FOR YOUR BUSINESS, AND GENERATING MAXIMUM RESULTS, REQUIRES THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THREE CORE PRINCIPLES; CONTENT MARKETING, LEAD GENERATION AND MARKETING AUTOMATION. CONTENT MARKETING As you have seen, quality content plays a role at every step of the inbound methodology, driving up your traffic, fuelling lead genera=on and suppor=ng lead nurturing as well as post-sales marke=ng. A crea=ve and collabora=ve team effort is required to keep up the steady flow of blog posts and content offers that inbound requires. LEAD GENERATION With more visitors coming to your website and rich content to hand, lead genera=on is your next concern. Leads don t convert themselves, so you need to create conversion opportuni=es, lots of them, to help them along. Ideally, every page and post on your website will feature a call to ac=on (leading to a landing page) or a conversion opportunity. Calls to ac=on, landing pages, forms and the content offers themselves all need to aligned if you are to earn you prospect s trust and obtain their valuable contact data.

8 THE ROLE OF MARKETING AUTOMATION THE ROLE OF MARKETING AUTOMATION Marketing automation is the software that enables you to tie your content marketing and lead generation together with marketing, social media, analytics and sales. With marketing automation you can create data-driven, personalized and automated nurturing campaigns to a complete inbound strategy that attracts, converts, closes and delights customers. With the added ability to analyze every aspect of performance under one roof, marketing automation enables you to create a culture of continuous improvement.

9 BUSINESS BENEFITS OF GOING INBOUND Inbound marketing is all about generating leads. But when you market in a way that naturally aligns with what your buyers want, something great happens. Going inbound grants your business additional, bonus benefits that in turn enhance your lead generation capability even further: Improved ranking for compe==ve search keywords Growing reputa=on for thought leadership Higher customer conversion rates Larger, more engaged social audiences Greater ROI from events More collateral and resources for use by sales More value from CRM investments

10 ABOUT US The Agile Product Marke=ng Group is a customer-centric product marke=ng consultancy that works with B2B technology companies who target buyers of complex hardware and so^ware products. Our guiding principles are to take and maintain a customer-centric approach to developing strategies, programs, and content that minimizes the effort required to close sales. We help organiza=ons looking to adopt and improve Inbound Marke=ng and Inbound Selling. Our services include Go To Market Strategy Development, Messaging, Content, Lead Genera=on and Sales Enablement Liked what your read? Why not sign up for a free Inbound Marke=ng Assessment? CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE YOUR CONSULT NOW