Inbound Marketing for Small Businesses A guide to know if this approach is right for you Presented by:
Traditional marketing is telling the world you re a rock star
Inbound marketing is showing the world you are one. adapted from Joe Pulizzi, Epic Content Marke9ng
Is this book right for me? Introductory YOU ARE HERE Introductory content is for marketers who are new to the subject. This content typically includes step- by- step instruc9ons on how to get started with this aspect of inbound marke9ng and learn its fundamentals. Intermediate Intermediate content is for marketers who are familiar with the subject but have only basic experience in execu9ng strategies and tac9cs on the topic. This content typically covers the fundamentals and moves on to reveal more complex func9ons and examples. Read our intermediate ebook, Closed Loop Marke9ng. Advanced Advanced content is for marketers who are, or want to be, experts on the subject. In it, we walk you through advanced features of this aspect of inbound marke9ng and help you develop complete mastery of the subject. AMer reading it, you will feel ready not only to execute strategies and tac9cs, but also to teach others how to be successful. More on this coming soon! 4
Table of Contents Inbound Marketing for Small Businesses By Abby Campbell FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: @CL3V3RF0X Abby is the principal and founder of Clever Fox Consul9ng. She is a Cornell University alum (ILR 03) with over 10 years of experience in the world of marke9ng, branding and somware. Abby is Hubspot cer9fied and has worked with the somware pla\orm for over 3 years- first as a customer while running the day- to- day opera9ons of a busy start up, and later partnering with them when she founded Clever Fox. She understands what it is like to want to do marke9ng and not have the 9me, and she does not want this to happen to you. When she is not thinking about foxes or being clever, you may find her at a local CrossFit box, dining on paleo treats, or a^emp9ng to run long distances through the streets of Boston and Lowell. 5 What is Inbound Marke9ng? / 6 Why is Inbound Marke9ng Important? / 17 How Can Inbound Marke9ng Help My Team? / 26 Who Can Do Inbound Marke9ng? / 30
WHAT IS INBOUND MARKETING?
Inbound marketing creates a community around your brand Inbound brings customers closer to your brand and creates brand champions who help generate buzz for you over 9me (without you directly telling them to do it!) Oh and it helps you sell more stuff too! Inbound marke9ng is the process of publishing and sharing content (think blogs, social media posts, emails and web content) to promote your company and/or product, so that poten9al customers will choose to pay a^en9on to what you have to say We call this opjng in - when poten9al customers willingly consume your content, and choose to give you their contact informa9on, allowing you to nurture them through the purchase funnel more effec9vely This is in contrast to a company having to interrupt customers and ask them to buy something from you every 9me you talk to them 7
Does this look familiar? We want you to avoid situa9ons like this as much as possible, which is why Inbound marke9ng is a powerful tool for you to have in your marke9ng arsenal Besides, no one wants to be called Ned the Head
How does inbound differ from traditional outbound marketing? OUTBOUND (FROM) INBOUND (TO) A one- way conversa9on A par9cipatory dialogue Prospects being told what to think about your brand Prospects telling you how they feel about your brand Interrupt Opt- in General Targeted to specific groups Only focused on paid media Leverages paid, owned AND earned media Expensive (~$346/lead) More cost effec9ve (~$153/lead) 9
SO, THIS IS LIKE SOCIAL MEDIA, RIGHT?
NOT EXACTLY Inbound is about all of your online marke9ng and how it connects not just social media.
Think of your website as the hub for all of your marketing Social Media Email Campaigns Your Website Calls to Ac9on ebooks Landing Pages Blogs A good inbound strategy incorporates all of these things to a^ract, delight and convert leads into customers, and customers into brand champions Combining these types of materials with a solid list of keywords (without looking forced or obvious, of course!) will improve your SEO and make it easier for customers to find you online Regularly analyzing your performance on these will also help you to refine your message, content type and even your target customer groups over 9me 12
Inbound is NOT Easy A panacea A magic bullet A cure- all A sure bet Asking someone to buy something every 9me Shameless self promo9on 13
THIS REQUIRES WORK But you can do it!
Did you know? The percentage increase in leads Inbound marke9ng delivers into the marke9ng funnel compared to tradi9onal outbound leads alone. The percentage of cost savings of a^rac9ng Inbound leads vs. outbound leads 15 Sources: HubSpot and Search Engine Journal
But don t ignore traditional marketing Strong campaigns use both tradi9onal and inbound marke9ng techniques Iden9fying and tracking key success metrics (such as reach, ROI, likes and unique visits for example) will help you iden9fy the right mix of these elements for your business, budget and overall strategy 16
2 WHY IS INBOUND MARKETING IMPORTANT?
If content is king, then context is GOD.* Gary Vaynerchuck, VaynerMedia *Or the universe, or mother nature, or other deity or higher power of your choosing 18
INBOUND MEANS PROVIDING THE RIGHT CONTENT
...TO THE RIGHT AUDIENCE
AT THE RIGHT TIME
AND AT THE RIGHT PLACE
to move prospects from strangers to customers and beyond ATTRACT CONVERT CLOSE DELIGHT STRANGERS VISITORS LEADS CUSTOMERS PROMOTERS Blogs Keywords Social Media Events Email Forms Calls to Ac9on Landing Pages Whitepapers Email Workflows Sales Team Events Training Materials Workouts ebooks Repository The trick is to create meaningful content that your target audience will want to consume and keep coming back for more This means that you must understand their decision paths, thought process and 9ming as they move through the purchase funnel 23
BUT I M A SMALL BUSINESS IS THIS FOR ME? 24
Inbound is perfect for businesses of all shapes and sizes YES! With the right strategy, content, and keywords, even small businesses have a chance to be found because people searching for the answer to their ques9on will come across what you have posted that addresses it. Some9mes it helps to be small because you can move faster than a big corpora9on can because you can make decisions quickly, pivot your strategy if you need to, and know who to focus on because you deal so closely with your customers and know them really well already. That said, if you are a sole proprietor like me, it may be hard to generate the content at the rate you need to be found, but there are ways to get around this (more on that later!) 25
3 HOW CAN INBOUND HELP MY TEAM?
Inbound makes the sales process easier by: þ Answering the repeat ques9ons. þ Lowering objec9ons and barriers. þ Elimina9ng bad leads before you ever talk to them, because they will likely opt- out before they call you. þ Allowing you to focus on the good leads. þ Saving you 9me because you are no longer chasing leads that will never go anywhere. þ Shortening your sales cycle because you can get to the meaningful sales talk sooner. 27
Marketing is the matchmaker, but sales needs to do the dating And da9ng helps you understand what to look for in other poten9al suitors, right? Just because you have go^en someone into a sales discussion does not mean you stop marke9ng to them. You can s9ll (and should!) leverage all of your great content at any stage of the sales cycle. Your prospect has a concern that you addressed in a blog post? Great! Tell them about it. Don t have something that addresses their ques9on? Great! Write about it so the next person with that concern can read about it. Inbound marke9ng can help you engage in conversa9ons that will allow you be^er understand your lead s needs, frustra9ons, autudes and behaviors. Every sales conversa9on you have gets you closer to truly understanding your customer base, what they want and what they expect from you. It is a cycle - sales helps marke9ng and marke9ng helps sales. The be^er you understand your prospects, the quicker you earn their trust, and the faster you can move them through the sales cycle. 28
But, what if I am also in charge of sales? S9ll, you need to think of marke9ng and sales as two separate func9ons that work in concert to bring in leads then convert them to customers You need to know that your marke9ng efforts are driving sales, what s working and what isn t so that you can make changes to marke9ng going forward This could be in the form of: Changing messaging to your target customer groups Making adjustments to who you think your core customer group is Choosing a new place to reach your customers Giving your customers a new type of content Marke9ng and sales efforts must work to close the loop for each other to complete the sales cycle. 29
4 WHO CAN DO INBOUND MARKETING?
YOU!
BUT I don t know anything about marke9ng!
NOT TRUE! You do know something about marke9ng, and that is because
WE ARE ALL INBOUND MARKETERS And we can influence the social community surrounding our brands
7 ways to become an inbound marketer right now! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Spend some 9me thinking about who your customers are and what customers you would like to have Write a piece of content to address a need your target customers have- it can be a blog, facebook post, tweet, etc. Look for meaningful ar9cles on social media sites to share, and repost with your own POV Amp up your website by adding landing pages and calls to ac9on to get prospects to opt- in Choose a marke9ng automa9on somware to help you automate, post and track your inbound ac9vi9es During your sales conversa9ons, keep a log of all ques9ons, objec9ons and concerns and write more content to address these Give something away for FREE. An ebook, a sample? Anything you think poten9al customers might want and find valuable 35
3 ways to begin marketing the inbound way 1 2 3 Do It Yourself Purchase a marke9ng automa9on somware (like Hubspot) and get to work crea9ng your content. For a free demo of the somware, click here Hire Someone I work with customers all the 9me who want to do inbound marke9ng themselves but don t know where to start. I can help you to understand the principles of inbound and get you up and running quickly Outsource It I also work with many people who simply don t have 9me to do marke9ng themselves. They hire me as an extension of their team to develop strategies, create content and generate leads the inbound way. 36
If you build it, they will come.* Field of Dreams *As long as you con9nue to provide s9mula9ng and engaging content that speaks to your customers needs
YOU CAN DO IT!
About Contact Me Web: www.clever- fox- consul9ng.com Email: abby@clever- fox- consul9ng.com Clever Fox Consul9ng is an inbound marke9ng agency based in Lowell, MA. Founded in 2013, Clever Fox was created with the intent to make high quality marke9ng and branding services available to businesses of any size. With us, you will be able to take your marke9ng efforts to new heights and a^ract the kind of customers your brand deserves. In addi9on to crea9ng great content, Clever Fox partners with Hubspot, an inbound marke9ng somware company, to give your business a complete marke9ng solu9on that allows you to distribute, automate and track your content, while gathering rich insights on how your marke9ng is performing. Phone: + 937.344.1199 Facebook: www.facebook.com/ cleverfoxconsul9ng Twitter: @cl3v3rf0x Snail Mail: 122 Western Avenue Studio #206 Lowell, MA 01851 39