kulturekonnect1

[kulturekonnect1]

MARKETING AUTOMATION IN INBOUND MARKETING

If you're like most business owners, you're always looking for ways to increase website conversion and lead generation. And if you're not using marketing automation in inbound marketing, you're definitely missing out on one of the most powerful tools available today. Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of marketing automation, tips for personalization and examples of how it can be used in your inbound marketing strategy.

What is marketing automation

Marketing automation is a powerful tool in inbound marketing that allows businesses to streamline, automate, and measure various marketing tasks and workflows. It can help in the process of lead generation, website conversion, and much more. With the right tools, companies can create personalized journeys for both current and prospective customers in order to make the user experience more relevant and valuable. By leveraging data from various sources, including web analytics and customer behavior, businesses can gather insights about their target audience in order to create more relevant campaigns for them.

Workflows, highly targeted messages, lead nurturing and tracking help businesses establish better relationships with potential customers throughout the buyer’s journey; boosting conversion rates in the process.

How does marketing automation impact sales

Lead scoring - surely your sales team has complained at some point about not getting qualified leads. But the reality is that it might get complicated to determine when a lead is sales-ready. Fortunately, marketing automation can do the hard work for you by implementing certain criteria based on certain actions taken on your site or landing pages. Lead scoring can be very helpful for sales teams so that they can spend more time and effort on the most qualified leads

Automated emails - You need to keep the conversation going with your leads–and automated emails can save your sales team so much time. For example, if someone filled in and submitted a form on one of your landing pages, a relevant email with the right content will be sent to him.

Automated lead nurturing - Even if someone submits a form on any of your landing pages or your website, they might not be sales-ready. When this happens, you can use automated segmentation and lead nurturing to turn a cold lead into a hot lead.

Upselling and cross-selling - With marketing automation you can track specific data based on user behavior and send targeted emails and notifications. For example, if someone showed interest in a product that is part of a collection, then you can set up an automatic trigger email that shows them the full product line-up.

Sequences - Marketing automation allows your sales team to send a series of targeted, timed email templates to nurture contacts over time. You can also automatically create tasks to remind you to follow up with your contacts. When contacts reply to the email or book a meeting, they will automatically unenroll from the sequence.

Leveraging your sales and customer retention efforts can be done the easy or hard way. Considering that an average of 49% of companies are currently using marketing automation with more than half of B2B companies (55%) adopting the technology, it’s hard to ignore what it can do for you and your sales team.

Benefits of using marketing automation in inbound marketing

Marketing automation in inbound marketing can be used in a variety of ways to increase website conversion and lead generation, as well as for providing more personalized experiences for customers. For example, businesses can use marketing automation to segment their audiences based on customer behaviors and interests in order to create more tailored content and offers. This enables companies to send the right message to the right person at the right time in order to improve lead generation and boost website conversion rates. Companies are also able to use marketing automation in inbound marketing in order to set up automated workflows that respond in real-time based on customer behavior, allowing them to send timely, relevant messages and content when necessary.

Additionally, with the help of marketing automation, businesses can generate insights from data they have about anonymous website visitors in order to gain a better understanding of their audience and what resonates with them. They can use content recommendation engines so customers see content most relevant for their interests and understand more about these interests as leads continue engaging with content on the site.

Conclusion

Overall, marketing automation in inbound marketing provides a range of powerful tools that enable businesses to streamline their processes while increasing website conversion rates and lead generation opportunities. It helps them create personalized journeys for customers in order for them to find what they need quickly without having to sort through irrelevant content or offers that don’t resonate with their needs or interests. In a nutshell marketing automation:

Can help businesses increase website conversion and lead generation. 

Makes the process of lead generation more efficient and effective. 

Allows businesses to create personalized journeys for their current and prospective customers.

Helps businesses gain data about their anonymous website visitors. 

Can recommend content to customers based on their interests.

With its wide range of benefits, it’s no wonder why more businesses are turning towards this effective method of inbound marketing.

Download our free PDF guide to understand how outbound and inbound marketing can work together and start planning an integrated inbound marketing strategy that supports your sales efforts!

[kulturekonnect1]

PAID ADVERTISING AND INBOUND MARKETING: A WINNING COMBINATION

If you're a business owner, then you know that in order to be successful, you need to constantly be generating new leads. And in order to generate those leads, you need to be using paid advertising channels effectively. But what are the best paid media channels for inbound marketing? How can you make sure that your campaigns are successful?

This article will discuss the benefits of inbound marketing and how it can help your business grow, as well as the different types of paid media channels that are available and how to use them effectively. We'll also look at how to measure the success of inbound marketing and paid advertising campaigns, and provide tips for creating a successful inbound marketing campaign that incorporates paid advertising.

So if you're looking for ways to increase traffic to your website and generate more leads, read on. Paid advertising and inbound marketing can work together beautifully to help your business reach its goals.

What is inbound marketing and paid advertising, and how do they work together

Inbound marketing and paid advertising are two powerful tools that businesses can use to generate leads and traffic. Inbound marketing involves publishing content on a website or blog, while paid advertising involves purchasing ads in order to reach a wider audience. Paid advertising can be used in conjunction with inbound marketing to great effect, but it's important to make sure that the campaigns are well-funded in order to see a good return on investment.

There are many different types of paid media channels that you can use in your inbound marketing campaigns. Paid search and paid social are the two most common, and both allow you to target specific keywords in order to reach the right people. Additionally, inbound marketing allows you to collect data and track results in order to understand what's working, and what isn't, which can help you optimize your campaigns in the future.

Paid media channels and how to use them effectively for your inbound marketing campaign

PPC (Pay-Per-Click): PPC is an extremely effective inbound marketing tool in which businesses pay a fee each time their ad is clicked on. This type of ad is typically placed in the search results or in relevant content, and allows businesses to target specific keywords in order to reach the right people. Additionally, in order to make sure that your PPC campaigns are effective, it's important to track metrics such as cost per lead, click-through rate, and conversion rate in order to understand what's working and what isn't.

Paid Social: Using paid social media for inbound marketing is a great way to reach more people with your content. By targeting specific keywords, you can ensure that your ads are shown to the right people, and by tracking the results of your campaigns, you can optimize them for future success. Paid social media is an effective tool in inbound marketing, and should be used in conjunction with other channels such as paid search and content publishing in order to reach your target audience.

Retargeting: Retargeting allows you to target people who have already visited your website with ads that are specifically tailored to them. It works using a cookies-based technology that follows your audience (historical website visitors and email addresses) around the internet with two main goals: re-engagement and nurturing.

Niche/Industry Publications: You can target your audience simply by choosing to work with a publication whose persona matches yours. There are many publications online and offline that manage specific audiences, and they often have multiple ad products that can suit your exact needs.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM): ABM targets specific personas with sales-focused content—as if each persona is its own unique market. For example, if you have a list that falls into any of your personas, you can segment it and deliver paid media ads that directly address their pain point.

Content Syndication: This is when a website aggregates content based on the user’s topic preferences. Content syndication is a paid program where the vendor posts your ebook or report and gates it with a form. You then receive all of the leads who filled out the form to get your content.

Paid Email Programs: There are organizations that specialize in data mining and collect emails and phone numbers. You can give them your persona parameters and they will match it with their database and send an email to their database list on your behalf. You then get the leads that interact with your content.

Measuring the success of inbound marketing and paid advertising campaigns

There are three main benchmarks to consider:

Increasing traffic and brand awareness: It's not a secret that it's hard to quantify your ROI for brand awareness, but they are still relevant when it comes to website visitors (including referral traffic) and engagement on social.

Lead generation: One of the main goals of inbound marketing is to drive leads to your website, which is a common goal when it comes to paid media. When it comes to lead generation, we suggest to measure the number of people who fill out a form, claim an offer,  sign up for a promotion or attend your webinar.

Nurturing leads: Most first-time blog readers or website visitors won’t be ready to make a purchase quite yet, so it’s crucial to nurture these contacts until they are ready. A low hanging fruit to measure comes in the form of how many leads converted on a retargeting ad or an email nurturing workflow and made a purchase. By tracking and measuring these metrics diligently, you can ensure that your inbound marketing and paid advertising efforts are effective, targeted, and producing results.

Conclusion

Inbound marketing is a long-term investment as you need to be very consistent and persistent to gain organic authority. On the other hand, paid advertising offers instant gratification, but once your ad budget is spent, those ads are gone forever. Fortunately, together, inbound marketing and paid advertising can be a winning combination to get more brand awareness.

By tracking the key metrics associated with each approach, you can fine-tune your efforts to ensure that you are getting the most out of both inbound marketing and paid advertising. As long as you are patient and consistent in your inbound marketing efforts, you will see a payoff in terms of increased website traffic and lead generation.

Download our free PDF guide to understand how outbound and inbound marketing can work together and start planning an integrated inbound marketing strategy that supports your sales efforts!

[kulturekonnect1]

PROPER WEBSITE CONVERSION STRATEGIES

If you're running a business, it's important to know how to convert incoming leads into customers. And one of the most effective ways to do that is through proper website conversion strategies. Using calls-to-action, forms, and website usability, you can encourage visitors to provide their contact information or download content assets. And by making your website more user friendly, you can ensure that potential customers have an easy path to conversion.

But, in inbound marketing, conversion rates have very little to do with website design. This marketing approach has more to do about the relationship you create with prospects and customers through content offers, marketing messaging and stories than the actual design of your site. Don't think that design doesn't have any influence in buying decisions, though. If you have a horribly designed website, you'll still have bad conversion rates. This means that, even though design influences your prospects and customers in their buyer's journey, it is your combination of visual solutions and content that will ultimately make an impact on your conversion. This is more of a marketing challenge and not a website design challenge.

So if you're looking for tips on how to improve your website's conversion rate, be sure to read this article. It provides in-depth information on how to use each of these strategies effectively.

What is website conversion and why is it important for your sales

In inbound marketing, website conversion is the process of turning website visitors into leads. This can be done by using calls-to-action, forms, and website usability to encourage visitors to provide their contact information or download content assets. And by making your website more user friendly, you can ensure that potential customers have an easy path to conversion.

A good conversion rate ranges from 2%-5%, but they will vary depending on your industry, target audience (age, income, profession, etc.) and your conversion goals (clicks, checkouts, sign ups, etc.).

But conversion rates are not just about revenue. Two of the most relevant factors in conversion rates are the fact that you can measure:

What your customers want and need from your business, for example:

A low conversion rate could mean that you are not clear on the benefits of your product or are targeting the wrong audience

A high conversion rate will show you that your landing page content and visuals have persuaded your audience

What is your customers’ user experience, for example:

A low conversion rate might indicate a poor user experience and you will need to experiment different visual and content tactics to pinpoint the issue

A high conversion rate will show you that whatever you’re doing is working and you might want to use it as a template to replicate its success

In a nutshell, variables such as overall experience, audience, usability and more can make or break the path to website conversion and influence the sales cycle. So if you're looking for tips on how to improve your website's conversion rate, be sure to read this article. It provides in-depth information on how to use each of these strategies effectively. 

How to use landing pages to increase conversion rates

Landing pages are a valuable inbound marketing tool for increasing website conversion rates. Landing pages provide more in-depth information about an offer, product or service in order to give users more context and get them to take action. Landing pages should be tailored towards the specific audience in terms of content and visuals. By using targeted landing pages, in conjunction with calls-to-action and other inbound marketing strategies, you can encourage more website visitors to become leads in your sales funnel. Don't forget that it's important to optimize your landing pages for search in order to ensure that they appear in relevant search results and drive more traffic.

With these techniques, you can start seeing better website conversion rates in no time. So if you're looking to improve your inbound marketing efforts and drive more leads, be sure to incorporate landing pages into your strategy.

Use calls-to-action to tell your website visitor what you want them to do next

Creating effective calls-to-action requires careful consideration in how you craft your message and design the button itself. Make sure that you are using action words such as “Download” or “Subscribe” that clearly communicate the desired outcome of clicking on the CTA. Additionally, consider including limited time offers, discounts or other incentives in your CTAs in order to encourage more conversions. The overall goal of your CTAs should be driving website visitors further into the customer's journey and giving them an easy path towards engagement with your brand.

Experiment with the use of colors and different sizes or shapes in order to find out which ones work best for your target audience. Finally, don't forget to test different copy in your CTA buttons in order to optimize their performance; this includes testing different headlines, texts and images within the button itself.

By using these techniques, businesses can start seeing improved website conversion rates in no time at all. By having a clear understanding of how customers interact with their websites and what messages resonate most effectively when communicated through calls-to-action, they can achieve better results in converting more visitors into leads. So if you're looking for tips on how to improve your website's conversion rate, be sure to incorporate calls-to-action into your online strategy!

Types of forms and when to use them

Short forms are ideal for capturing simple bits of information, such as a name and email address. They are easy to complete and help reduce the time it takes to gather data from potential customers. Long forms, on the other hand, are more in-depth and can be used to collect detailed information about a customer's needs and preferences.

Which type of form you should use depends on what you're trying to achieve and where your prospect or customer is in their buyer's journey. By using the right type of form for your purposes, you can ensure that you're getting the most out of your potential customers.

How to make your website more user friendly

Making your website user friendly is a critical part in converting website visitors into leads. By ensuring that your website is easy to navigate and provides a positive user experience, you can encourage more people to stick around and learn more about what you have to offer.

In order to make your website more user friendly, start by considering the needs of your target audience. What are their pain points? What are they looking for on your website? Once you have a good understanding of what they need, make sure that you design your website in a way that meets those needs. This includes using an easy-to-navigate layout, providing clear calls-to-action and making it easy for customers to find the information they're looking for.

Additionally, make sure your website works on all devices and major browsers so you can minimize difficulties or frustration. By addressing these issues, you can make it easier for customers to interact with your brand and increase the chances that they'll convert into leads.

Testing and measuring the results of your conversion strategies

Testing and measuring the results of your conversion strategies is a critical part in determining their effectiveness. By tracking the number of conversions you're getting from your website, you can start to see what's working and what needs improvement.

There are a variety of different tools and methods you can use for tracking conversions, each with its own benefits and drawbacks. Here are some of the most common methods:

Web analytics programs such as Google Analytics can help track how much traffic is coming to your website and where it's coming from. This information can be used to determine which marketing campaigns are bringing in the most visitors and whether or not they're converting into leads.

Use A/B testing to compare two versions of a web page or email to see which one performs better in terms of generating conversions. This helps you understand what elements on your page are driving people towards or away from taking action.

Tracking pixel codes can be placed on web pages or in emails in order to track when someone visits your site or opens your email. This information can then be used to measure how effective your ads are at generating leads.

Conclusion

Inbound marketing is a great way to attract more website visitors and convert them into leads. By using effective calls-to-action, forms and website usability techniques, you can drive more people towards your conversion goals. Additionally, by tracking the results of your conversion strategies, you can continue to improve their effectiveness over time.

Download our free PDF guide to understand how outbound and inbound marketing can work together and start planning an integrated inbound marketing strategy that supports your sales efforts!

[kulturekonnect1]

HOW INBOUND MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORK TOGETHER TO IMPACT SALES

If you're a business owner, then you know that in order to be successful, you need to constantly be learning and evolving. And one of the most important things you can learn about is inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is all about creating quality content that attracts customers and brings them in through a variety of channels-including social media.

But in order for inbound marketing to work, it's important to have a strong social media presence. Social media provides an easy way for customers to find your content and connect with your brand. It also allows you to reach a large number of people quickly and easily.

So if you're looking for ways to improve your inbound marketing strategy, make sure you read this article. It will teach you how to use social media in inbound marketing and get the most out of it. You'll learn about the benefits of paid social media and how it can help you reach more people quickly and easily. You'll also learn tips for success with inbound marketing and social media.

What is inbound marketing and how does social media fit in

Inbound marketing is all about creating quality content that attracts customers and brings them in through a variety of channels-including social media.

But in order for inbound marketing to work, it's important to have a strong social media presence. Social media provides an easy way for customers to find your content and connect with your brand. It also allows you to reach a large number of people quickly and easily.

Social media is an important part of inbound marketing because it provides a direct connection to potential customers in a cost-effective and convenient way. By using social media platforms to promote inbound marketing efforts, you can reach more people in less time. Not only does this provide the opportunity for increased exposure, but it also offers the potential for building relationships with customers in meaningful ways.

Social media also enables businesses to target their messages in more relevant ways, leading to higher levels of engagement and better results in sales and loyalty. With social media's ability to segment audiences according to interests, demographics, location, and even purchase history, businesses can tailor their messages accordingly to increase relevance and effectiveness. Furthermore, social media can provide an effective platform for customer service by allowing businesses to respond quickly and meaningfully to customer feedback or queries. 

How does social media affects sales in an inbound marketing strategy

40 percent of people follow the news on a social media platform – which means that only 41 percent use social media to keep up with friends and family

About 40 percent of users are following their favorite brands on social media

1 in 4 users follow brands on social media from which they might make a purchase

Even though retail/ecommerce sites are preferred to make purchases, social commerce is a growing aspect of social media

This confirms that social media is still a preferred way to research and find products to buy.

Social media is a great way to market your brand, products and services and it can incrementally boost your sales without spending too much money. To reap the rewards of social media content and social media advertising, you need to be active on your accounts, constantly engaging with prospects, push out the right messages to communicate with your clients and make sure that you understand the intimate relationship between your social media channels and your inbound marketing strategy.

In a nutshell, not all social media strategies work for all businesses or customer bases. However, you can directly or indirectly affect your company’s sales through the use of social media marketing

The benefits of social media for inbound marketing

Social media has become an essential inbound marketing tool in recent years, offering a variety of benefits to businesses. Here are 5 key advantages of using social media in inbound marketing:

Increased Reach and Engagement – With social media, businesses can reach a much wider audience in a fraction of the time. The ability to target messages according to interests, demographics, location and even purchase history allows for higher levels of engagement between brands and their customers. This in turn leads to more meaningful connections as well as an increase in sales and loyalty.

Cost-Effective Promotions – Paid social media campaigns can be highly effective in helping to spread the word about your content or products in an affordable way. Promotional posts on major social networks extend your reach while enabling you to personalize your audience with sophisticated targeting options. And the cost for this type of advertising is considerably lower than other forms of paid advertising.

Improved Customer Service – Social media offers an effective platform for customer service allowing businesses to respond quickly and meaningfully when customers provide feedback or ask questions regarding your products or services. This one-on-one connection also helps boost customer loyalty by showing that you are responsive and attentive to their individual needs.

Generating Leads – By adding paid promotion efforts into the mix, inbound marketers can effectively amplify their message with the goal of generating leads that they can follow up on through email campaigns or other means in order to convert them into paying customers.

Data Collection – As mentioned above, it is best practice when it comes to paid social media campaigns to create a call-to-action (CTA) that goes to a landing page with a form where additional information about potential leads can be collected such as name, email address etc., in order devise a better strategy on how best approach them moving forward.

How to use social media in inbound marketing

Use social media to reach a wider audience in a fraction of the time - The ability to target messages according to interests, demographics, location and even purchase history allows for higher levels of engagement between brands and their customers. This in turn leads to more meaningful connections as well as an increase in sales and loyalty.

Cost-Effective Promotions – Paid social media campaigns can be highly effective in helping to spread the word about your content or products in an affordable way. Promotional posts on major social networks extend your reach while enabling you to personalize your audience with sophisticated targeting options. And the cost for this type of advertising is considerably lower than other forms of paid advertising.

Improved Customer Service – Social media offers an effective platform for customer service allowing businesses to respond quickly and meaningfully when customers provide feedback or ask questions regarding your products or services. This one-on-one connection also helps boost customer loyalty by showing that you are responsive and attentive to their individual needs. 

Generating Leads – By adding paid promotion efforts into the mix, inbound marketers can effectively amplify their message with the goal of generating leads that they can follow up on through email campaigns or other means in order to convert them into paying customers.

Data Collection – As mentioned above, it is best practice when it comes to paid social media campaigns to create a call-to-action (CTA) that goes to a landing page with a form where additional information about potential leads can be collected such as name, email address etc., in order devise a better strategy on how best approach them moving forward.

Paid social media and its benefits

Whether you are looking to build brand awareness, grow your customer base, or increase sales, paid social media represents an important element of inbound marketing, helping businesses reach potential customers in a personalized and targeted way. 

Conclusion

Inbound marketing should include social media content as part of its overall strategy in order to maximize its effectiveness in reaching and converting potential customers. But social media content generation is not enough. Enter social media advertising! Paid social media allows businesses to increase their reach and exposure and touch potential customers in a more personalized way, increasing engagement and generating leads.

Download our free PDF guide to understand how outbound and inbound marketing can work together and start planning an integrated inbound marketing strategy that supports your sales efforts!

[kulturekonnect1]

INBOUND MARKETING AND SEO: A WINNING COMBINATION

As inbound marketing becomes an increasingly important strategy for businesses, SEO has become a crucial component of this approach. By optimizing your website content and using the right keywords, you can raise your ranking on search engines and attract more potential customers. However, SEO is not a one-time task; it requires ongoing effort to maintain your ranking. In order to get the most out of SEO, business owners need to be aware of the latest trends and changes in search engine algorithms. This article provides an overview of SEO and offers tips for improving your ranking.

How SEO impacts sales in an inbound marketing strategy

Inbound marketing’s foundation is built on the principles of SEO, which makes the application of such tactic inevitable. This is because SEO provides quality content to readers in a non-robotic approach, which will keep them engaged and coming back for more—this demonstrates to search engine indexers that users are finding value in your website’s content which will boost SEO rankings further. As a result, your business can see an increase in online visibility which leads to more sales opportunities through increased traffic and higher conversion rates.

Keep reading, and let’s break it down a little more. 

SEO helps you rank higher on search engines, resulting in more visits from potential customers

By employing SEO tactics such as keyword optimization and link building, businesses can increase their chances of appearing higher on Google search results pages. This will help them reach larger audiences and receive more visits from potential customers who are looking for a solution related to their needs. Additionally, SEO allows businesses to establish trust with potential customers as having great organic visibility indicates credibility and a commitment to providing value through quality content. Businesses who optimize their websites using SEO will benefit from improved user experience which leads users down a sales funnel towards conversion—potential customers become paying customers who are loyal and provide long-term value for your business. Ultimately, SEO is an essential part of inbound marketing which helps businesses boost their organic reach leading to increased visits from potential customers who have a desire for their solutions or services.

There are many aspects to SEO, but some of the most important considerations are authentic content, keywords, and on-page SEO

On-page SEO is yet another essential aspect of SEO. It involves optimizing a website for better user experience in order to make it easier for search engines to index it. This includes making sure that websites are well organized and easy to navigate so they will be quickly indexed by search engines. Furthermore, creating great user experiences encourages users to stay on your website longer which will boost SEO ranking through increased engagement metrics such as time spent or pages viewed. SEO is an ongoing process that requires careful consideration—from regularly creating quality content that offers value to users and strategically placing keywords throughout the page titles, headlines, URL structures and meta descriptions – these are all key components of SEO success that businesses should prioritize when launching their inbound marketing campaigns.

Links from external sources are also an important ranking factor

Having good quality, external backlinks also indicates to search engines that your website has credible content that can be trusted. Every link pointing to your website shows that someone else thought reputable enough to include it as a reference—this strengthens SEO rankings the more quality links you have pointing to your website. Additionally, external links help search engine indexers easily identify and assess webpages quickly and accurately—the better they understand your webpage’s content the higher it will rank in SEO results pages.

In addition to SEO benefits of links from external sources, these backlinks can also drive more traffic to your website as readers may click on them if they find them useful or relevant. This increases engagement metrics such as time spent on page or pages viewed—higher engagement metrics demonstrate to search engine indexers that readers are finding value in your webpages which will ultimately result in higher SEO rankings for those pages.

Overall, Links from external sources are an important ranking factor for SEO success because they bolster the trustworthiness of webpages which leads to improved SEO performance for businesses wanting increased online visibility. Quality backlinks add value and credibility through offering another perspective on a topic and can potentially open up new opportunities for businesses looking to make their mark in the digital world.

By creating high-quality content that is genuinely helpful for your customers, you will naturally attract more inbound links

When businesses create high-quality content that is genuinely helpful for their customers, they are naturally rewarded with more inbound links. Quality content helps build trust with customers and increases the likelihood that other companies or individuals will link to it. For example, if a blog post offers valuable insights into an industry topic, readers may be more likely to share it with their networks and link to it in their own resources. In turn, this increases SEO rankings as search engine indexers take note of these external links and consider them when determining website visibility.

Organically creating high-quality content can also save businesses time and money that would otherwise be spent on SEO efforts such as link building or pay-per-click campaigns. By creating content that naturally attracts more inbound links, businesses can increase the scope of their SEO reach without needing to invest in additional SEO tactics. Furthermore, high-quality content provides value to readers which will keep them engaged and coming back for more—this demonstrates to search engine indexers that users are finding value in a website’s content which will boost SEO rankings further.

In addition to SEO benefits of quality content creation, businesses may find themselves reaching a wider audience organically through third-party websites linking back to them. This could lead to new business opportunities or partnerships as well as introduce new products or services into the market—allowing businesses to gain a competitive edge over their competitors while increasing SEO performance at the same time. The bottom line is that by creating high-quality content that is genuinely helpful for your customers, you will naturally attract more inbound links and benefit from improved SEO performance which leads to increased online visibility and potentially greater success overall. 

Conclusion

SEO is a critical component of inbound marketing, as it helps businesses attract more links and drive higher engagement metrics. By creating high-quality content that is genuinely helpful to your customers, you can increase your SEO performance and take full advantage of the many benefits of inbound marketing. Whether you are looking to drive more traffic or open up new business opportunities, SEO can help you reach your goals and grow your business on the web.

Download our free PDF guide to understand how outbound and inbound marketing can work together and start planning an integrated inbound marketing strategy that supports your sales efforts!

[kulturekonnect1]

THE POWER OF CONTENT MARKETING FOR AN INBOUND STRATEGY

As a business owner, you know that content marketing is an essential part of an effective inbound marketing strategy. But what many business owners don't realize is the power content marketing has for building an entire marketing strategy from scratch. In this article, we'll explore seven reasons why content marketing should be at the core of your marketing efforts. So whether you're just starting out or looking to revamp your current strategy, read on to learn why content should be the cornerstone of your plan.

What is content marketing and why is it important for inbound marketing?

Content marketing is an inbound marketing tactic that focuses on creating content for potential customers to find and engage with. This content can come in many forms, such as blog posts, white papers, infographics, videos, podcasts and webinars. The content should be created to address the needs of your personas and those at different buying stages. Content marketing’s ability to reach and convert leads into customers is the reason why it’s become an integral part of a successful inbound strategy.

How does content marketing increase sales?

Great content answers questions, addresses pain points and provides relevant information to influence people who are ready to make a purchase. In short, content marketing supports sales goals by:

Bringing relevant buyers to your website

Nurturing leads with important information

Improving brand awareness and recall

Establishing thought leadership and authority

Increasing buyer engagement with your brand

Creating personalized buyer experiences

With this in mind, it's not a surprise that business owners and B2B marketers continue to increase their spend in content creation year-over year, according to the latest findings from the Content Marketing Institute. In fact, the most successful marketers spend 40% or more of their budget on content strategy.

How can content help you reach potential customers and develop a relationship with them over time?

Content plays a key role in developing relationships with potential customers over time by encouraging ongoing dialogue between your business and your customers. This allows your business to deepen existing relationships and create brand loyalty amongst current customers as well as potential ones.

What are some ways to create great content that engages your customers and supports your inbound and outbound programs simultaneously?

Research Your Personas: Understanding who you’re creating content for is essential when crafting content for an effective inbound marketing strategy. Take the time to research and create detailed personas of your target audience so you can create content tailored to their needs and interests. This will ensure that your content resonates with them on a personal level, making it more likely to engage them.

Focus on Quality Over Quantity: Quality content should always take precedence over quantity when creating content for an inbound strategy. Be sure to focus on what kind of content would best serve each persona or buying stage. Additionally, double-check spelling, grammar, facts, logic, etc., before publishing any content as mistakes can reflect poorly on you and your business.

Leverage Relevant Topics: When creating content, it’s important to stay up-to-date with industry trends and topics so you can leverage them in order to drive more leads and conversions. Incorporating relevant keywords and topics into your content also helps search engines place it higher in search results pages which increases visibility of your content across channels such as Google or Bing.

Analyze Performance & Optimize Content: Make sure you track how well each piece of content performs by monitoring the analytics associated with each asset throughout its lifecycle such as page views, downloads or any other metrics that matter to you or reflect success of a campaign. If particular assets don't perform well, consider revising them or optimizing their keywords in order to improve engagement with prospects and customers alike over time.

Repurpose Content & Refresh Design: Once you have published the first version of an asset such as an infographic or ebook , consider repurposing it into different formats like videos or podcasts so you reach more people with the same message but through different mediums . You want to remove old content since having outdated assets on your site can reflect poorly on your brand . Refresh Design : Design trends change . Make sure your ebooks , infographics , and other content evolve with the times .

How do you develop a content voice that reflects your brand, and how might this change when trying to engage different personas?

Creating content that truly reflects the voice and values of your brand is essential for successful content marketing. A content voice should be consistent across all content pieces, from blog posts to social media, in order to create a unified identity and represent your company’s message in a cohesive way. To ensure content is both informative and engaging, it must be tailored to your target personas while still remaining true to your brand’s core principles.

When creating content for different personas, it’s important to recognize how each person's needs may differ from one another. For example, content aimed at younger audiences should be more informal, light-hearted and conversational whereas content aimed at older audiences should take on a more authoritative tone. It’s also important to note that certain topics or phrases may resonate differently with each target audience – understanding these nuances is crucial in order to effectively engage each persona. Additionally, when crafting content for different personas try to use language they will understand so they don't get turned off by technical jargon or unfamiliar topics.

To help maintain consistency in content creation, develop a set of guidelines which outlines the key elements of your content voice such as tone, style, vocabulary and formatting among others. This document should serve as a reference point whenever creating any type of content so everyone is on the same page and understands how best to represent your brand accordingly. Be sure to review it periodically as well since evolving trends could influence changes you need make in order for your content remains relevant over time . Ultimately, with an effective content voice strategy in place you can ensure that no matter what type of content you are producing , it always represents the spirit , values , and personality of your business . 

What are some tips for creating a diverse content mix that meets the needs of your buyers at various stages of the buying cycle?

Research & Analyze Buyer Personas: We already touched on the importance of this step in this article, but we can't stress enough how crucial it is for the success of your strategy. Take time to do research on your target personas and be sure to analyze any relevant data such as demographics, interests and pain points in order to create content that speaks directly to them.

Identify Buying Stages: Consider where buyers are in their buying journey when designing content - what types of content will they need at each stage? This helps ensure that you create content for both the top of funnel (TOFU) and bottom of funnel (BOFU) stages, allowing you to touch people at all levels of their decision-making process.

Incorporate Different Content Types: Diversify your content mix by incorporating different content types such as videos, ebooks, infographics, webinars etc., into your content strategy. Doing so ensures that prospects have access to multiple formats which can help them achieve an understanding of your brand or products more quickly and easily .

Utilize Multi-Channel Distribution: Make use of multi-channel distribution when sharing content across social media platforms , email campaigns , search engine advertising , etc., which increases visibility of your content across channels such as Google or Bing .

Monitor Performance & Optimize Content: Make sure you track how well each piece of content performs by monitoring the analytics associated with each asset throughout its lifecycle such as page views, downloads or any other metrics that matter to you or reflect success of a campaign . If particular assets don't perform well, consider revising them or optimizing their keywords in order to improve engagement with prospects and customers alike over time .

How can you be creative with content creation while still staying efficient over time?

In addition to creating content that adds value for your readers, it's also important to ensure efficiency when crafting content pieces over time. A great way of doing this is by reusing content materials such as images, videos, podcasts etc., whenever possible. Utilizing existing content not only saves time but also ensures that all content pieces are on-brand and consistent in quality; plus it can even have a positive impact on search engine ranking if used strategically. Additionally, using collaboration tools such as Trello or Asana can help teams work together more efficiently while keeping track of progress along the way. With these tools in place, everyone involved can easily contribute their ideas without having to start from scratch every time they collaborate on content creation projects. Ultimately, with careful planning and efficient collaboration systems in place, content creators can be creative while still maximizing output over time.

How can larger content assets, revisiting old content and keeping up with design trends help you generate fresh content ideas on a regular basis?

One of the best ways to create content that's both fresh and engaging is to start with a larger content asset as a foundation, then break it down into smaller blog posts, infographics, or slide decks. This approach helps you ensure that all content pieces are on-brand and consistent in quality. Additionally, using one larger content asset as a starting point for smaller blog posts can be more efficient from a time perspective - you only have to create the content once but it can be used multiple times across different channels. So if you're looking for a way to generate fresh content ideas on a regular basis, try starting with one larger content asset and see how it works for you!

Revisiting old content is an effective content marketing strategy for keeping content on brand and in line with an inbound marketing strategy. When content becomes outdated or loses its relevance, it can be rewritten or removed to stay current and up-to-date. This ensures that content remains relevant, engaging, and useful for potential customers who are further down the buying stages of their journey.

Revisiting content also allows you to incorporate any changes to personas, product offerings, trends, or technology that may have occurred since the content was initially created. It's important to review content regularly so that it accurately reflects your company’s values and mission as well as your latest product/service updates. Updating content helps ensure that your content resonates with its intended audience and drives more targeted traffic to your website or other channels. Additionally, updating content can help improve visibility across search engines such as Google or Bing by making sure keyword optimization is up-to-date.

Finally, revisiting old content is an efficient way of creating fresh ideas without having to start from scratch every time you collaborate on content creation projects. Reusing existing materials such as images, videos, podcasts etc., helps maximize output over time while ensuring that all content pieces are consistent in quality and on-brand.

In order to create content that's both fresh and engaging, it's important to keep an eye on design trends and make sure your content evolves with the times. By following current design trends, you can ensure that your content looks modern and professional, which can help attract more readers and customers. Additionally, keeping up with design trends can help you stay ahead of the competition by creating content that's visually appealing and differentiated from what other companies are producing.

Conclusion

Content marketing is one of the most important aspects of an inbound marketing strategy. It helps to keep content on-brand and relevant, while also driving traffic and improving visibility across search engines. Additionally, content marketing can help you stay ahead of the competition by creating content that's visually appealing and differentiated from what other companies are producing.

There are several strategies that you can use to generate fresh content ideas on a regular basis, including revisiting old content, leveraging larger content assets, and keeping up with design trends. By incorporating these approaches into your content marketing strategy, you can create content that's both high-quality and engaging for your target audience. Whether you're looking to improve visibility in search engines or drive more targeted traffic to your website or other channels, maintaining a regular content creation process is essential for success in today's competitive online landscape.

Download our free PDF guide to understand how outbound and inbound marketing can work together and start planning an integrated inbound marketing strategy that supports your sales efforts!

[kulturekonnect1]

HOW TO BUILD AN IDEAL INBOUND MARKETING TEAM TO REACH YOUR SALES GOALS

If you're looking to put together an inbound marketing team or hire an inbound marketing agency, you've come to the right blog post. In this article, we'll discuss the importance of having a team dedicated to inbound marketing and what each position on that team should entail. We'll also provide tips on how to find the right candidates for each role. So whether you're just getting started with inbound or you're looking to revamp your current strategy, keep reading!

Inbound marketing requires a documented plan

Without a plan, inbound marketing can be inconsistent and ineffective. However, with a documented plan you can ensure that all team members are on the same page, working towards the same goals and enabling you to track your progress and measure your success.

Documenting your plan also allows you to figure out your resources, from technology to staff members, which will give you a clear vision on whether such a plan is sustainable. A good inbound marketing plan should include:

Your target audience

The channels you will use to reach them

The content you will produce

The technology you'll be using for each stage of the flywheel, i.e.: Hubspot, Salesforce or Marketo

The staff that will be implementing your plan

How you will measure success

Having all of this information readily available keeps everyone organized and focused, which is essential for a successful inbound strategy. In addition, tracking your progress against these goals enables you to determine what’s working well and make necessary changes along the way.

Your inbound marketing teams crucial in driving sales for your business

Having the right inbound marketing team in place can make a major impact on sales, as it enables businesses to constantly track and analyze customer behavior in order to optimize campaigns accordingly.

By tracking and analyzing customer behavior, inbound marketing teams are able to identify what's working and what's not, making it possible to adjust campaigns on the fly in order to achieve better results.

In addition to helping with campaign optimization, inbound marketing teams also play a crucial role in lead nurturing. Through effective lead nurturing, businesses are able to convert leads into customers at a much higher rate than those who don't receive any nurturing at all.

Inbound marketing is a great way to connect with potential customers

You need the right staff and budget for inbound marketing to be successful In order to successfully implement an inbound marketing strategy, having the right staff is essential. This means finding individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge to build a successful team, as well as enough staff members to handle all of the tasks that need to be completed.

When recruiting for an inbound marketing team, it’s important to look for candidates who are passionate and knowledgeable about digital marketing and technology. For example, you will need people with a strong understanding of SEO, inbound principles, content creation, web design, user experience (UX) design, PPC advertising and analytics—they will be responsible for driving leads and conversions through your website.

Having enough people on board with the right skill set is vital for any inbound marketing team to succeed. Therefore it’s important to allocate a budget sufficient enough so that you can hire qualified professionals who can make sure that your tasks are being completed correctly and efficiently without wasting time or money.

Here are the most common positions needed to run your inbound marketing:

You need at least one person devoted to content marketing: Content marketing is a vital part of an inbound marketing strategy that should not be overlooked. It's important to note that having a qualified professional working on your content is essential if you want it to make an impact. Content marketers have an understanding of SEO strategies which ensures that your blog posts and other pieces of content appear in Google search results when people look for topics related to your industry. Furthermore, experienced content marketers know how to write compelling copy that grabs the reader’s attention and encourages them to take action such as signing up for a newsletter or downloading an ebook.

Social media posting is central to a good inbound strategy: To ensure success with inbound marketing, it's important to have a presence on the most popular social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Utilizing these platforms allows you to reach a wider audience and engage customers more effectively. A professional in charge of managing social media should have a deep understanding of each platform’s capabilities and be able to develop campaigns that will generate leads and conversions. They should also be able to measure the success of their campaigns by tracking key performance indicators such as followers or engagement rates. Moreover, they can use data collected from analytics tools like Hootsuite or TweetDeck to adjust their strategies accordingly if needed. Finally, having someone devoted full-time to managing your social media accounts makes sure that your content remains consistent across all channels which helps build trust with customers over time.

You need someone devoted to website/conversion management: This individual should have experience with web design and development, user experience (UX) design, content creation and analytics. They should be able to drive the creation and maintain an effective website that provides an enjoyable user experience while also ensuring that it meets the necessary SEO requirements for organic search visibility. Furthermore, this individual should be able to utilize optimization techniques such as A/B testing in order to ensure that visitors take the desired action when they visit your website or landing page. In addition, they should understand how to analyze data from analytics tools such as Google Analytics in order to make informed decisions about what needs to be improved in order for visitors to convert into leads or customers. Finally, they should be able to develop strategies for improving the rate of conversion by suggesting changes such as adding new features or restructuring elements of the page so that it’s more appealing and easier for visitors to navigate. By having a professional on board devoted solely to website conversion and website management, you can rest assured that your inbound marketing strategy will not only attract the right kind of traffic but will also enable them to take action when they reach your site. 

PPC and Ad Management is a full-time job on its own: Having someone devoted to PPC and social media ad management is essential for any inbound marketing strategy. Not only does it ensure that you reach the right target audience, but it also allows for a much higher return on investment (ROI). This is because with PPC and social media ad campaigns, you only pay when someone clicks on an ad, whereas other forms of advertising such as TV commercials or magazine ads require you to pay regardless of whether they produce results or not. A professional in charge of PPC and ad management should have a deep understanding of how search engines and social media advertising work and be able to develop campaigns that are tailored to each platform according to their unique algorithms and features. Furthermore, they should be able to track key performance indicators such as impressions, clicks, cost per click (CPC), and conversions in order to determine the effectiveness of their campaigns. Additionally, they should be able to use data from analytics tools such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads Manager to adjust their strategies accordingly if needed. Having someone devoted full-time to managing your PPC and ad campaigns makes sure that your content remains consistent across all channels which helps build trust with customers over time. Finally, this individual should understand how different types of ads work together so that each one reinforces the other in order maximize ROI.

Marketing Automation Manager is in charge of your marketing automation platform: A marketing automation manager should have experience with many different aspects of inbound marketing, including content creation, funnel optimization, email campaigns, and website personalization. By having an individual who is solely focused on managing the marketing automation platform, you can ensure that all of these elements are working together in order to maximize the ROI of your inbound efforts. A successful marketing automation manager should have a deep understanding of how software programs such as HubSpot or Marketo work and be able to set up the necessary components needed to execute their campaigns. This includes creating custom forms, landing pages, emails, and segmented lists so that each one is tailored to their target audience. Additionally, they should know how to use analytics tools such as Google Analytics or Mixpanel for tracking user behavior and measuring key performance indicators (KPIs).

Should I hire an internal team or an inbound marketing agency?

Business owners have to consider several factors when trying to decide between hiring an internal inbound marketing team or working with an inbound marketing agency. In terms of cost, it can be more expensive to hire a dedicated internal team than to work with an agency because agencies tend to offer their services for a flat fee rather than requiring the business owner to pay salaries and benefits for each individual role.

However, one benefit of having an internal team is that they are already familiar with the company's brand and values, which can make it easier for them to craft campaigns and strategies that will resonate with your target audience. Internal teams may also have more flexibility when it comes to experimentation, since they don't always have to adhere strictly to predetermined processes like agencies may need to do in order to turn a profit. On the other hand, agencies typically have access to wider networks of resources and expertise, including cutting-edge technologies and data analysis tools that can give them a competitive edge when launching new campaigns.

Ultimately, the decision will come down to what makes most sense for the business owner's goals and budget. For those who are looking for maximum flexibility and control over their inbound marketing strategy, hiring an internal team might be the best option; however if cost is a concern or if you're unsure about how well your internal staff would be able to handle certain aspects of inbound marketing such as analytics or PPC campaigns, then working with an agency could save you time and money in the long run.

Conclusion

Building an inbound marketing team can be a daunting task, but it's important to have the right people in the right roles in order to see success. PPC specialists should be well-versed in using analytics tools to track user behavior and adjust campaigns accordingly, while content creators should be able to produce high-quality content that resonates with their target audience. Additionally, having a manager dedicated to overseeing your marketing automation platform is crucial for ensuring all aspects of your inbound strategy are working together cohesively.

There are pros and cons when it comes to deciding between an internal team vs an external agency. Hiring an internal team may give you more control over your campaign messaging and allow for more flexibility when it comes to experimentation; however, agencies typically have access to wider networks of resources and expertise. Ultimately, the decision will come down to what makes most sense for the business owner's goals and budget.

Download our free PDF guide to understand how outbound and inbound marketing can work together and start planning an integrated inbound marketing strategy that supports your sales efforts!

[kulturekonnect1]

3 WAYS TO USE INBOUND AND OUTBOUND MARKETING TOGETHER TO IMPACT SALES

Inbound marketing is a great way to connect with potential customers, but it’s not enough on its own. You need to use inbound in conjunction with other marketing tactics, like paid advertising, in order to be successful. This can be a winning combination that makes the difference for your sales team. As a small business owner or marketer, you should definitely read this blog for more information on why inbound marketing should be enhanced with other marketing tactics.

Why are so few businesses using inbound marketing in conjunction with other tactics?

It’s simple: most business owners don’t know that inbound can be enhanced with other methods. In fact, if you only use inbound marketing alone, you may be casting too wide of a net and not reaching your target audience. Paid advertising can help extend your reach and re-engage leads who have become inactive. Additionally, lead nurturing, scoring abilities and technology are essential for success with inbound marketing. By taking a full-funnel view of inbound marketing, you can create a comprehensive strategy that will help you reach your business goals. So what are you waiting for? Start reading this article now!

Inbound Marketing + Outbound Marketing = A Winning Combination for your Sales Team

As we know, inbound marketing is a more customer-centric view of marketing that helps to nurture leads through the buying process until they become customers, while outbound marketing, on the other hand, relies mostly on interruption tactics like cold emails and paid media emails in order to generate leads. Alone, each approach can only do so much, together you will have a more holistic approach to get the best of both worlds. Inbound methods help to identify qualified leads and nurture them with helpful content and offers until they are ready to buy, while outbound methods can be used to reach more prospects who may not be interested in your inbound content yet. This combination allows you to target a larger audience with relevant messages that are more likely to result in sales.

Inbound marketing is a great way to connect with potential customers

Inbound marketing is a great way to connect with prospects in today’s modern world. It enables you to build meaningful relationships with prospects by providing them with relevant, timely content that speaks to their needs and interests. With inbound marketing, you can create content in the form of blog posts, whitepapers, webcasts, infographics, and more in order to attract the right customers and keep them engaged.

In addition to creating content that speaks directly to your prospects’ interests, inbound marketing also allows you to nurture leads through personalized emails and direct outreach. You can also use inbound marketing as part of your lead scoring process in order to better identify which leads are most likely ready to buy. And since inbound marketing involves building relationships rather than pitching a product or service right away, it helps build trust between you and potential customers over time.

Furthermore, inbound marketing offers various analytics tools so that you can measure the performance of your efforts and refine your strategy for even better results. This includes tracking the ROI of each campaign in terms of conversion rates and other key metrics in order to maximize budget efficiency. Also, inbound is highly cost-effective because it requires fewer resources (time, money) compared with traditional outbound tactics like TV ads or billboards. Overall, inbound is a great way for businesses of any size to reach their target audience and make meaningful connections with them.

However, inbound marketing alone is not enough and should be used in conjunction with other marketing tactics

Yes, you read it right! Inbound marketing alone is not enough. It should be used in conjunction with other marketing tactics in order to get the most out of your efforts and drive real results. With the right mix of inbound and outbound tactics, you can create a comprehensive plan for success that reaches your desired audience in multiple ways.

By combining inbound with other marketing methods, you can ensure that each stage of your buyer’s journey has the support it needs in order to move them down the funnel toward becoming a customer. For instance, awareness-building campaigns such as paid advertising can reach larger audiences in a short amount of time while inbound content focuses on building relationships with those who are already aware. Content creation can then be used to nurture leads, while lead scoring helps identify which prospects are ready to buy. And finally, technology and analytics tools offer critical insight into how campaigns are performing so that businesses can optimize their strategies for even better results.

Overall, there are several different types of marketing tactics that can be used in conjunction with inbound marketing for maximum effectiveness. These include paid advertising such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads; email marketing campaigns; influencer marketing; content syndication; direct outreach from sales teams; networking events; and tradeshow attendance. By using these tactics together in an integrated manner, small business owners and marketers alike can make sure they’re reaching their target audience in an effective way and driving real growth for their company. Let’s expand a little more on paid media, lead scoring and the importance of taking a funnel-view into account.

1. Paid advertising can help extend your reach and re-engage inbound leads

Paid advertising, such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads, is a powerful marketing tactic in its own right. However, when used in conjunction with inbound marketing, it can have an even greater impact on your business. For one thing, paid advertising allows you to reach and engage new audiences that may not be exposed to inbound content and can help extend the reach of your inbound campaigns. In addition, paid advertising has the power to re-engage inbound leads who may have fallen out of touch or gotten distracted by other offers along their buyer’s journey. By targeting these individuals with ads that speak directly to their interests and needs, you can reignite their interest in your product or service and get them back on track in the purchase process.

Overall, using paid advertising in conjunction with inbound marketing can help businesses of all sizes to reach more potential customers, drive even better results from inbound campaigns, and ultimately grow their business in a cost-effective way. And with tools like Google Ads or Facebook Ads at your disposal, there’s no reason not to take advantage of this powerful combination today!

2. Lead nurturing, scoring abilities, and technology are essential for inbound marketing success

In addition to inbound marketing and paid advertising, there are several other essential elements that businesses must consider in order to achieve success with inbound. Chief among these is lead nurturing, which involves creating personalized content for leads as they progress through their buyer’s journey. This can include everything from blog posts about your industry or product category, to webinars, ebooks, and case studies that answer specific questions or address pain points in your target audience’s lives. Another key element of inbound marketing is the ability to score leads based on their behavior and engagement with inbound content. In this way, you can identify which prospects are most likely to convert into customers and focus your efforts accordingly.

And finally, in order to measure inbound marketing campaigns and determine which strategies are working best, you will need access to advanced analytics tools that provide insights into the performance of your inbound programs. Altogether, these three elements—lead nurturing, lead scoring, and marketing analytics—are critical for inbound success and should be considered by any business looking to grow their brand through inbound marketing. With the right approach and a commitment to ongoing optimization, you can drive real results for your company using inbound alone or in combination with other marketing tactics—and achieve the growth you’ve been striving for.

3. Taking a full-funnel view of inbound marketing is necessary for small businesses

When it comes to inbound marketing, it’s important for small businesses to take a full-funnel view in order to achieve real results. This means that in addition to focusing on inbound channels like content creation and promotion, you should also be thinking about how your paid advertising efforts can contribute to inbound growth. Other tactics that should be considered in this regard include lead nurturing, lead scoring, and marketing analytics tools that provide insights into the performance of your campaigns.

By taking a full-funnel approach to inbound marketing and using inbound tactics in combination with other marketing strategies, small businesses can drive more leads, increase conversion rates, and cultivate loyal customers over time. So if you are ready to take your inbound marketing efforts to the next level, be sure to consider these essential elements for success.

Conclusion

In today's digital landscape, inbound marketing is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. However, in order to achieve real results with inbound marketing, it is necessary to take a full-funnel approach that incorporates paid advertising and other essential tactics like lead nurturing, scoring, and analytics tools. By leveraging inbound strategies in combination with other marketing strategies, small businesses can drive more leads, increase conversion rates, and cultivate loyal customers over time. Whether you are just starting out with inbound marketing or looking to optimize your existing campaigns, there are many ways to realize success using this powerful strategy.

[kulturekonnect1]

INBOUND MARKETING METRICS THAT MATTER

Creating and implementing a marketing plan with strong foundations in inbound marketing is only the first step towards success. Once you’ve started, it’s essential to continuously monitor your marketing performance by using inbound marketing metrics. Keeping track of this data can help you further fine-tune your marketing plans in order to remove friction from the flywheel, keep customers engaged, and build your brand bigger than ever. 

What are the most effective inbound marketing metrics

While there are certain metrics that are commonly used to evaluate marketing performance, the reality is, the most effective metrics for your business will depend on your businesses’ goals and what you are trying to achieve. However, knowing the most typical methods of evaluating your businesses’ marketing performance can help you establish which methods are most relevant to you!

Some of the most common inbound marketing metrics include:

Website traffic: Knowing how many visitors are interacting with your website, and in what ways they are interacting, is critical in gauging how relevant or engaging your site is. Website traffic can be measured by things such as organic search, referral sites, social media, unique page views, and unique clicks. All of this data combined can give you comprehensive insight on your brand’s performance.

Social engagement: Engagement on social media can showcase how motivated or passionate customers are about your business. Social engagement can be measured by number of followers, likes, shares, comments, impressions per post, type of content being shared, and conversion rates from social media leads. The happier people are with your products or services, the more they’ll share on social media!

Leads, opportunities, and revenue by source: Inbound marketing metrics such as conversion rates and lead quality can indicate how successful your strategy is at converting interest into sales and revenue. Measuring by the source can help you compare sources and determine where to focus your marketing efforts to make the most impact. Finally, a good tool to use as a success indicator is a lead conversion formula. It will give you an idea of how much each customer costs you. 

Percent of leads from inbound: If potential customers approach your website first, without requiring initial contact from you, that’s a sign your strategy is working effectively. A higher percentage of inbound leads is therefore important to track. Keep an eye on the number of leads generated from inbound channels in relation to the total number of leads generated, in addition to cost per lead from various inbound channels.

These inbound marketing metrics are just the starting point. Consider which marketing metrics would best indicate success best for your business and closely examine those in order to most effectively evaluate performance.

Why should you monitor and report on inbound marketing metrics

There’s no way to evaluate your company’s progress and positively impact your sales cycle without data. Monitoring analytics can help you track the performance of your inbound marketing and determine what specific parts of your inbound marketing strategy are working effectively, and also help pinpoint places that can be improved.  

Measuring metrics is especially important when first establishing your inbound marketing plan, as data and analytics might be the only information available to show the success of your strategy. Other examples of the impact of your inbound marketing strategy might take longer to show up, so monitoring metrics from the start can help ensure you’re on the right track. Then, consolidating those metrics into an easy-to-understand report can help guarantee all team members easily understand the crucial data and stay up-to-date on progress. Above all, by monitoring and reporting inbound marketing metrics, you’ll be able to better guide your customers along the purchasing path and convert interest into more sales.

Why you should track each of the most common inbound marketing metrics

In addition to monitoring and reporting your inbound marketing metrics, you should also be continuously tracking the process as well. Rather than only focus on specific data points, tracking analyzes all of the data and examines the overall trends in order to provide a better picture of your inbound marketing strategy’s progress. This is highly useful when evaluating your current strategy and provides more insight than just monitoring alone.

Why benchmarking inbound marketing metrics is essential

Inbound marketing–and marketing in general–is often a process of trial and error. While conducting research and preparing a well-laid out marketing plan beforehand can provide a great foundation to begin at, there are always specific areas that need to be tweaked. Sometimes, a change in inbound marketing tactics can be detrimental to your businesses’ performance, rather than beneficial. Benchmarking metrics allows businesses to clearly identify areas of improvement, evaluate how their performance compares with competitors, and better adapt your inbound marketing strategy to effectively engage with customers. That’s why keeping benchmark data on your marketing plans’ original performance is essential!

Conclusion

Inbound marketing metrics are an effective and essential way to measure how your implemented inbound marketing tactics are performing. Comparing analytics and using benchmarking can assist in further refining your marketing plans in order to better engage with your target audience and keep customers attracted to your content and your company. Overall, by carefully monitoring, tracking, and reporting on these valuable inbound marketing metrics, guiding your business towards more sales–and more success–becomes far easier to achieve!

[kulturekonnect1]

5 INBOUND MARKETING TACTICS THAT WORK

By now, it should be clear that there are countless reasons to start incorporating more and more inbound marketing into your company’s current marketing structure. But there’s a huge difference between knowing you should start making the switch, and knowing what tactics will benefit your business best. Luckily, we’ve compiled the top 5 most common inbound marketing tactics to use–regardless of your niche–and the best tools to use depending on where your buyer is on their buying journey. This crucial information can assist you in crafting the most effective inbound marketing campaign, helping your brand reach more customers and convert them into life-long supporters!

The 5 Most Common and Highly Effective Inbound Marketing Implementation Tactics

When confronted with the task of crafting a new marketing plan to better engage with customers, many businesses find themselves asking exactly what inbound marketing tactics are most effective. Determining what’s best suited to your specific brand or business all depends upon your industry, your target market, and what you want to achieve from marketing–however, the following five inbound marketing tactics are both highly effective and commonly used by companies throughout various industries!

Content Marketing: Blogging is the tried-and-true, classic example of an effective inbound marketing tactic. By establishing your business as a leader in your specific field, easier lead generation naturally follows. Focus on crafting content that proves your brand superior to competitors, highlights your distinct advantages, and matches current market trends while still providing unique angles.

Social Media: Sharing valuable and relevant content on social media is a powerful inbound marketing tactic that helps build better connections with potential clients. Actively share, post, and comment in order to hook attention, build brand awareness, and convert followers into customers. Mix two tactics into one by sharing your blog posts on social media!

Email: Sure, a blog publishing articles on content relevant to your audience and active social media engaging directly with customers are highly effective inbound marketing tactics. But email marketing is also a crucial part of most inbound marketing campaigns. By encouraging customers and clients to sign up for your email list—which you can prompt by offering a mutually beneficial incentive, such as one free downloadable content for registering—your business can continue to funnel attractive and engaging content to that market. You can also gain additional exposure for your content by encouraging users to subscribe to a blog newsletter.

Video: People are consuming video at an ever-increasing rate. By regularly posting content on viewing platforms like YouTube that is credible, relevant, and high-quality, you’ll reach a broader audience and rack up viewers, which can quickly convert into clients.

SEO: SEO is an inbound marketing tactic that puts the power in your words. Optimizing content with keywords and content that is relevant to your target market’s searches, and provides high-quality information, can prove truly effective. Other factors, such as website-security and website design, can also play a part in SEO performance.

Just like the traditional sales funnel marketing model, the most effective marketing tools within each tactic vary depending upon each customer’s stage of the buying journey. The three key stages of the flywheel model are attracting, engaging, and delighting. All inbound marketing content should speak to what part of the journey each customer is currently at, and also seamlessly guide customers to the next stage with as little friction as possible.  

The Attracting Stage: The attracting stage should provide material that draws customer attention and piques interest, as well as speaks directly to their exact needs or questions. Tools such as digital advertising, blog articles, email marketing, videos, SEO, social media, and content offers/premium resources can persuade consumers to want to know more about your company.

The Engaging Stage: The engaging stage should continue to showcase all the right reasons why customers should select your business. During this stage of the flywheel model, focus on lead flows, email nurturing, lead management, and marketing automation and workflows can convert interest into genuine leads.

The Delighting Stage: Finally, during the delighting stage, continue to offer relevant information showcasing the advantages of your brand. Chatbots, surveys, social media listening, marketing automation, follow-ups, smart content, and reputation management can all help continue effective interaction with valued customers.

Conclusion

Get started on implementing any of these 5 super-effective inbound marketing tactics to your business’s marketing plans, immediately. Each technique can offer genuine benefits to your brand and actively assist in gaining customers and growing sales. Plus, by knowing which inbound marketing tactics are best to use at each stage of the flywheel buying stages, keeping customers attracted, engaged, and delighted can be effortlessly achieved!

After you’ve decided what inbound marketing tactics and tools to use for your business, keep reading to discover more about the different types of inbound marketing metrics–and which ones are most relevant to you and your industry!

Get our Inbound Marketing Cheat Sheet and learn how to get your inbound marketing program started.

[kulturekonnect1]

PLANNING AN INBOUND MARKETING STRATEGY

Inbound marketing–a marketing strategy focused on providing valuable content and information to potential customers, drawing them to your business, rather than a marketing strategy advertising outwards–is an immensely effective marketing strategy.​​ That’s why it’s essential for all businesses, but especially small businesses, to utilize inbound marketing in their advertising campaigns. 

However, inbound marketing is not something you should just jump into. It requires careful research and insight in order to successfully resonate with your target audience and keep them continuously engaged with your brand. Keep reading to determine how to plan an inbound marketing strategy, and why it’s so crucial to spend time properly developing your strategies!

What is the flywheel in an inbound marketing strategy

The flywheel is a marketing model that self-sustains customer interaction in order to achieve more growth. Leads begin as strangers, who are then attracted to your business by either word-of-mouth or direct promotion. Once they’ve arrived, they engage with content and can convert into prospects. After enough engagement, the prospects can then convert into customers. 

But that’s not all.

In order to keep customers loyal to your brand and proud to partner with your business, you’ll need to constantly delight them with valuable content, useful products or services, and excellent customer service, among other factors. Once you get the flywheel moving, it should keep spinning, providing your company with dedicated customers and a high rate of conversion, from strangers to sales. 

The flywheel model breaks free from the traditional sales funnel marketing model and prioritizes continuous growth and engagement over a general purchase. The three stages of the buying process –attracting, engaging, and delighting– all work together to sustain marketing momentum and keep customers interacting with your business. 

In order to successfully switch over from a sales funnel model to a flywheel model, businesses should start by:

Plan your flywheel: Consider potential points of friction that might disengage customers. Identify the types of strategies, platforms, and content that you can use to entice customers to positively interact with your brand. Lastly, see if you can utilize any of your brand’s essential KPIs to the different stages of the flywheel.

Spread delight: Delight keeps customers happy and the flywheel spinning. Examine your business for ways to improve customer experiences, such as by providing more assistance during check-out or a 24/7 chatbot in addition to live support.  

Focus on the friction: Remove potential points of friction in order to truly make the most of the flywheel model. Create valuable content intended for the right buyer stage at the critical points of the buying journey. Determine ways to smooth the sales experience, such as by designating a single point of contact for clients or giving them a choice of paths to encourage engagement and dissuade them from opting out of purchase.

How does the flywheel work in an inbound marketing strategy?

As an essential aspect of an inbound marketing strategy, the flywheel model is an alternative to the more traditional sales funnel framework commonly used in marketing. While the sales funnel model focuses primarily on the outcome, the flywheel model used in inbound marketing strategies pays more attention to the customer experience.

By continuously attracting, engaging, and delighting viewers, marketing momentum is sustained and keeps generating leads and genuine interaction. By using a flywheel model instead of a simple sales funnel model to form your inbound marketing strategy, you can develop more effective marketing tactics that lead to more success for your company, especially by focusing on inbound content that provides value to prospective customers and draws them to your business.

Why is it important to have an inbound marketing strategy before implementation?

When it comes to effective inbound marketing, the most important factor that contributes to success is carefully researching what topics and content would resonate best with your target market. This requires deep thought and in-depth planning. Without careful preparation and a well-planned inbound marketing strategy, your flywheel won’t keep spinning on its own–in fact, customers might not even be attracted to your marketing in the first place! In order to truly benefit from inbound marketing and the flywheel framework, determining precisely what things attract, engage, and delight your potential clients is key!

Therefore, don’t implement your advertising campaign until every detail of your inbound marketing strategy has been researched and finalized.

Conclusion

Planning an inbound marketing strategy takes quite a bit of research and effort, but the rewards are more than worth it. Developing an inbound marketing strategy based on the flywheel framework, and utilizing the core values of attracting, engaging, and delighting customers, can lead to huge success for your business if done correctly. By planning your inbound marketing strategy ahead of time–rather than jumping right into advertising–you can easily build a self-sustaining marketing model that pays off big in the long run.

Now that you’ve learned everything you need to know about planning an inbound marketing strategy, keep your eye open for article to discover 5 inbound marketing tactics that are truly effective for businesses in every type of niche!

Get our Inbound Marketing Cheat Sheet and learn how to get your inbound marketing program started.

[kulturekonnect1]

IS YOUR ECOMMERCE ADA COMPLIANCE READY?

Even though the COVID19 pandemic hit many businesses hard, there was a record-setting growth in 2020 and 2021. Unfortunately, inflation and economic insecurity have contributed to a dip in online shopping. But, what does that mean for businesses like yours? Well, since people are more reserved to spend their money, it's more important now than ever to provide your e-commerce users with a frictionless buying experience.

In and effort to give a better experience, online businesses use data to personalize messaging and run holiday promotions to entice shoppers to look at them. But they neglect to include a website accessibility plan in their marketing efforts, which prevents millions of shoppers from being able to fully participate in the holiday season or to have a good shopping experience anytime throughout the year.

Shopping online can be a tough journey for people with disabilities

It is normal to encounter that almost every site on the cyberspace has accessibility issues. However,  e-commerce sites are worse than most and ignore key features such as being able to view products, make purchases or book an appointment. A few more reasons online shopping is hard for disabled people are: 

Nowadays, everything is done and shared through social media or email, which are marketing channels that are known for not being accessible or completely accessible

During the holidays and throughout the year businesses make updates to their websites, which are normally performed by an untrained staff member. Businesses tend to overlook this intentionally or unintentionally for various reasons, including wanting to keep it in-house or not wanting to incur in an additional expense for foundational health management. Unfortunately, this introduces new accessibility issues if the updates are not done correctly

The holiday rush brings chaos to the normal operations of any business, which is ten times true for an online store. This often overwhelms customer service and operations teams, which can make it harder for people with disabilities to get assistance

Start making your ecommerce ADA compliance ready

Website ADA compliance continues to be a pressing issue for every business, especially if you have an online store. So, your best next step is to take at least the basic steps to put your website and ecommerce site on the path of accessibility.

Alt Text – Having the perfect image to showcase your product is very important, but what about making sure that everyone knows what your images are about — even if they can’t see them? With Alt text you can write a description of an image that screen readers can read out loud — or convert to Braille — for people with visual impairments, sensory processing disorders, or learning disorders. Unfortunately, many businesses forget to provide alt text or simply don't care and it is very common to find alt text that simply says "image01.jpg," which does not help at all anyone with a visual impairment

Audio and Video – Audio and video are a must-have in today's marketing environment. But it’s important to do it in a way that doesn’t exclude anyone. This means adding captions and descriptions, synchronizing captions, checking captions placement, providing simple access to controls and not using autoplay

Colors and size- Color can be a decisive factor for people with disabilities to stay or move on from your site. Color contrast is usually measured as a ratio, where a higher number means a greater degree of contrast between the two colors. For example, white and black have a contrast ratio of 21 to 1 while red and green have a contrast ratio of 2.9 to 1. So, make sure you use the correct color contrast for your site. In addition, font size and weight also affects readability and legibility, so if your font is large or bold, you may be able to get away with a lower contrast ratio, but always be careful! Remember that WCAG recommends a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 between a foreground element (like text) and its background.

Emails – Marketing your website is intimately tied to your email marketing. Unfortunately, because each email client is built differently, making sure that your email renders correctly on every single platform can be a nightmare. This is why many businesses choose to do a flat image for their emails instead of coding it. But this is not good for a disabled person! Imagine how much information you're packing in that flat image and how much information is that disabled person missing: product names, sale prices, special offers... No screen reader could keep up with it. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to optimize your email: use tables, underline links, make links descriptive

Conclusion

Planning for the holidays can be overwhelming, but dealing with a website that is not accessible no only has an impact on your potential customers, but also on the performance, searchability and compatibility of your online store. By taking action on the most basic things, you are setting up a model that pays off big in the long run. From there, you can expand for an ongoing 360º action plan to take care of your website's foundational health.

[kulturekonnect1]

WHY INBOUND MARKETING WORKS

Inbound marketing is an unbelievably effective marketing approach that all businesses should utilize in order to build their brand. It focuses on attracting customers to your company, rather than on marketing outwards– Not only is inbound marketing generally more cost-effective than traditional marketing, but it also tends to generate a higher rate of return in the long run. 

But how exactly is inbound marketing so powerful, and what aspects make it the perfect marketing strategy for both big corporations and small businesses?

Rather than interrupt your potential customers to push your marketing message, inbound marketing genuinely attracts customers to your company by creating valuable material that answers questions, provides solutions, or assists your target market with things they already have a need for. Because of that, inbound marketing doesn’t really feel like a deliberate marketing attempt. It offers something of value to customers, which builds a better relationship between them and your business. Customers are more likely to prefer content relevant to their direct needs, rather than a pushy advertisement that’s not speaking to their exact interests.

Inbound marketing differs widely from traditional marketing methods, such as those focused on pushing advertisements on TV, radio, or print. Instead of broadly marketing to anyone who happens to have opened up a newspaper, inbound marketing reaches potential customers at the start of their buying journey and guides them closer to making a purchasing decision. Generally, it has a smaller–but more focused–reach than traditional marketing. 

For small businesses, inbound marketing can be an especially powerful strategy to reach your target market and build your brand, as it directly targets customers who already have a need or interest in your products or services. Rather than spend your whole budget on traditional marketing methods, small businesses can focus their resources on more targeted strategies

Why and how inbound relies on education and inspiration?

The three key objectives of inbound marketing are attracting, engaging, and delighting your target market. But in order to successfully impact your customers, educating and inspiring content that offers value and emotionally appeals to customers is essential. Instead of marketing a product, inbound marketing tells customers information they want to know and solutions to a problem, or motivates them to continue further along the purchasing path. 

In the beginning of the buying journey, inbound marketing should focus on creating an environment for prospective customers that successfully educates them about the business’s products and services about their services/products. Additionally, by providing knowledge and engaging content to customers at different buying stages, businesses can cement themselves as niche experts, building brand reputation and increasing sales. In turn, this can inspire customers to biome brand ambassadors, positively promoting the business to others.

Types of inbound marketing content

Now that you’ve identified the exact reasons why inbound marketing works –and why it’s so crucial, especially for small businesses– it’s time to start considering precisely what types of inbound marketing tools to utilize in your marketing efforts. There is a wide range of different types of inbound marketing content to use at every step of the buying stage. Let’s take a look!

Of course, there are countless other types of inbound marketing that any company can –and should– infuse into its own business marketing strategy. The important thing is to find out what content works best for your brand and appeals to your customers.

Conclusion

Inbound marketing is a crucial part of any business marketing plan. It provides answers to customers’ exact questions and relevant solutions to their issues, which lowers their defenses and builds a stronger business-customer relationship. By educating and inspiring customers, inbound marketing is able to more effectively engage with customers. It can also strengthen brand authority by providing knowledgeable resources specific to a brand’s industry, all of which contribute to the powerful effectiveness of inbound marketing.

Stay on the lookout for the next article, which tackles the exact steps of how to plan a highly-effective inbound marketing strategy customized to your small business and its unique needs.

Get our Inbound Marketing Cheat Sheet and learn how to get your inbound marketing program started.

[kulturekonnect1]

TRUE OR FALSE: DIGITAL MARKETING IS SUPPOSED TO REPLACE TRADITIONAL MARKETING

Digital marketing might be the attention-stealer when it comes to trending market methods these days, but that doesn’t mean that traditional marketing has been kicked to the curb for good. In fact, most companies can benefit from a mixture of the two types of marketing methods in order to access a larger portion of their target audience. However, that doesn’t mean that both methods of marketing can offer the same benefits–and the same results–for your business. Learn all about the essential differences between traditional marketing and digital marketing, how inbound marketing comes into play, and which method suits your business best.What is digital marketing?Digital marketing is marketing done online, which includes email marketing, PPC, social media ads, SEO blogs, among countless other types of internet-based advertising. Digital marketing can help companies connect directly with customers all across the world, and can offer a more targeted–and more cost-effective– approach than traditional marketing can. Digital marketing is so common that consumers nowadays expect it and rely on it to learn about brands, their reputation, their services and more.What is traditional marketing?Traditional marketing is marketing done off the internet. Non-online-based forms of marketing can include billboards, direct mail, print ads, and TV commercials. Huge media platforms, such as radio and print, can be used to help businesses reach their target audiences. Traditional marketing is the result of the advertising boom of the 1950s and 1960s. Back then, hethenly way for people to see any kind of advertising was through a newspaper, magazine, billboard, or commercial. Although radio advertising did exist, those ads couldn’t reach the same kind of audience. With television, advertisers could reach a massive audience in the comfort of their homes, transforming the way that businesses used advertising. Today, many businesses don't know how to approach digital marketing and prefer to stay with what they know, reducing their chances of reaching their most relevant audiences. 

Will digital marketing replace traditional marketing? While digital marketing is undeniably on the rise in terms of performance and popularity, it’s not quite time to call a complete end to traditional marketing. There are certainly some disadvantages to traditional marketing that companies should know about before finalizing their marketing strategy, such as the higher costs of creating a traditional marketing ad, the inability to edit information once the content has been published, and the results of the marketing can be difficult to measure. However, traditional marketing can help reach potential customers who are not frequently active online, and can be paired together with digital marketing to create more effective results for your business. Rather than pick one or the other exclusively, closely examine your company’s target market and persona, in order to determine the optimal mix of digital marketing and traditional marketing for your business. The difference between digital marketing and inbound marketingWhile inbound marketing and digital marketing are similar, they’re not the same thing. Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy that relies on assisting customers with answering a question, solving a problem, or fulfilling an immediate need. It’s an incredibly effective method of marketing, as it utilizes valuable content to attract customers to you, rather than concentrating on marketing outwards to them. Digital marketing is simply the broad term for any type of marketing done online and implies only how the marketing message is delivered. Unlike inbound marketing, digital marketing is not a marketing strategy concerned with the message and purpose. 

Can traditional marketing and digital marketing work together? 

Absolutely! It really depends on your business goals and objectives how the combo is strategized and implemented, but there isn't any reason why both approaches wouldn't work together. A couple of things to consider are your target audience and your budget. With digital marketing you can be more targeted and you can have a better use of your budget, while traditional marketing can be more effective at reaching a larger audience and might get expensive. 

How does inbound marketing come into play as a marketing approach with digital marketing?

Just because inbound marketing and digital marketing aren’t the same things, doesn’t mean they can’t be used together. In fact, inbound marketing done online can be highly effective, and critically assist in boosting web traffic, brand authority, and online awareness. There are countless different  inbound marketing tools and tactics that you can use to better advertise your business on a digital platform, such as blogs, reports, guidebooks, surveys, and trial downloads, among others.

Conclusion

Overall, traditional marketing is still a powerful method of advertising your business and reaching out to your target market — but digital advertising has become the undeniable face of the future of marketing. While it might not be time to drop traditional marketing methods completely, it’s most likely time for you to take a careful look at your current marketing strategy and the ratio of traditional and digital marketing methods, and make some much-needed updates to the digital marketing side of your strategies. And, be sure to focus on utilizing inbound marketing strategies on your online marketing campaigns in order to genuinely attract and engage potential customers.

Now that you’ve got a solid grasp on the relevance of traditional marketing and the power of digital marketing, plus how digital marketing and inbound marketing can join together to create highly impressive results, it’s time to figure out the in-depth reasons why inbound marketing is just that effective.

Get our Inbound Marketing Cheat Sheet and learn how to get your inbound marketing program started.

[kulturekonnect1]

WHAT IS INBOUND MARKETING?

In traditional marketing, the focus has always been on the product. However with inbound marketing, the attention is placed on the consumer. As a marketing approach, inbound marketing  is based on the close relationship between your company and its prospects or customers, who have voluntarily expressed their interest in your company’s products or services. This is normally done by delivering high quality content marketing through emails, blog articles, social networks, etc.

What is inbound marketing?

Many businesses confuse Inbound marketing with a marketing tactic. However, it is a marketing approach that requires a very careful audience targeting and hyper-targeted communication with it via high quality content.

Marketing-Schools.org define inbound marketing as "the strategy of connecting with potential customers through materials and experiences they find useful. Using media like blogs and social networking, marketers hope to entertain and inform viewers with content they seek by themselves.”

Hubspot adds to this definition a few tactics that are normally used in inbound marketing: 

 Content Creation and Distribution: this includes the creation of targeted content that answers prospects' and customers' basic questions and needs, then share that content through various platforms for exposure.

 Lifecycle Marketing: One of the goals of inbound marketing is to transform strangers into promoters. Specific marketing actions and tools help to start and complete this lifecycle.

 Personalization: Your content should be creating with the wants and needs of your prospects in mind. As you learn more about your prospects, you can better personalize your messages to what they're looking for.

 Multi-channel: Inbound marketing is not only about blogging. It is a multi-channel effort because it approaches people where they are, in the channel where they want to interact with you. So, a good inbound marketing strategy would include things such as social media, email marketing, blogging, SEO and more. 

Inbound marketing is all about creating an environment for an open communication with that buyer persona that came naturally and voluntarily to you. The final goal of such conversations is to get their attention to your products or services and to create a personal relationship with them.

Why inbound marketing is so important for your business?

Whether you're a start up, a small, medium or large business, Inbound marketing can be key in the ongoing growth of your company. Here are some reason why inbound marketing should be part of your marketing plan: 

You can keep improving and modifying your inbound marketing strategy: Unlike outbound marketing or traditional marketing that are based on short-term campaigns, inbound marketing is a strategy that is sustainable for the long-term. This means that inbound marketing is built gradually through planning, implementation and distribution, which can take time, but will give positive results for the future of your business.

Lead Generation: With inbound marketing you can also make sure that the website traffic you get produces quality marketing leads that your sales team can convert into qualified sales leads. The reason it works is because inbound marketing focuses on creating relevant and personalized content which is helpful in targeting audiences who match your ideal customer profile.

Lead Nurturing: As users find you, it is key to nurture those leads until they become marketing qualified leads (MQLs) or sales qualified leads (SQLs). The content and distribution channels you use to nurture them can help influence their buying decision. 

Scalability and Affordability: Inbound marketing doesn't have to mean a big expense for your business and a giant marketing effort. If you're willing to do some of the work yourself or have your internal team collaborate, you can start with a blog strategy for which you wouldn't have to spend to much. If you need a CRM as your business grows to maintain your contacts or create workflows, you can add a platform such as HubSpot. You can nurture leads inexpensively with email marketing and gain additional exposure through social media without any financial investment.

Business Visibility: Inbound marketing is based on organic SEO principles. This means that using SEO techniques to optimize your content can have a great impact on your Google ranking. This can make your website and product more visible to your audience.

Trust and Credibility: If your inbound marketing is centered around the needs and problems of your prospects and customers, your reputation will improve and your audience will recognize you as a credible source of information. This creates trust with your brand, products and services, which, in turn, will help to attract new customers and retain existing ones. 

Conclusion

According to Bigshot Inbound, “thanks to the Internet, consumer behavior has changed drastically over the past decade. People have become adept at tuning out traditional marketing messages. Research shows that 86% of people skip television ads, and 44% of direct mail is never opened. In addition, 84% of 25-to-34-year-olds have left a favorite website because of intrusive or irrelevant advertising.” In addition to this, the democratization of the internet have made it possible for individuals to express their own free choice for every product and service they want to buy.

Get our Inbound Marketing Cheat Sheet and learn how to get your inbound marketing program started.

[kulturekonnect1]

THE KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INBOUND VS OUTBOUND MARKETING

For anyone interested in developing an effective marketing strategy for their company or business, inbound and outbound marketing are two crucial concepts to understand. There is a significant difference in cost, effectiveness, and the number of audiences reached between both forms of advertising, and knowing the unique aspects of each type can help you decide what is best for your business –whether that’s investing in a show-stopping billboard advertisement or devoting yourself to building up a highly-targeted blog. Learn all the key differences between inbound marketing and outbound marketing, plus what method of advertising is most effective for converting clients, by reading on.

What is inbound marketing?

Inbound marketing is an incredibly valuable marketing approach focused on assisting customers in fulfilling a direct need or solving a challenge. By providing valuable content that is relevant to a customer’s immediate concerns, companies are able to build long-term customer relationships. Inbound marketing relies on three primary strategies: attracting, engaging, and delighting. Knowing what works best for your audience is essential to creating effective inbound marketing content.

Some inbound marketing tactics that might be most relevant to your company and customers include content writing to build your brand, using SEO in order to increase your content’s visibility, and establishing a social media presence for your niche markets. There are also various marketing tools you can use when inbound marketing, such as educational videos, guidebooks, and forms.

What is outbound marketing

On the other hand, outbound marketing is a marketing approach that attempts to reach a wider potential audience by broadly marketing a product or service, rather than providing relevant content addressing a customer issue or need. Outbound marketing is a more traditional method of marketing that can interrupt a viewer’s daily life. The intention is to reach a larger number of people and hope that the message resonates with enough potential customers. 

When it comes to outbound marketing tactics, traditional forms of advertisement, such as cold calling and digital advertising, are the aim. Within that, television, radio, print, display ads, and plenty of other mediums can be used as outbound marketing tools. However, while these forms of marketing might have once been more effective, modern audiences are more likely to ignore these tactics and tools as they are looking for what is relevant for them.

What are the differences between inbound and outbound marketing?

There are countless differences between inbound marketing and outbound marketing. The first key difference comes from how the two types of marketing methods reach out to potential customers.

How potential customers are reached:

With inbound marketing, content is customized to a specific niche and guides viewers along their purchasing journey.

On the other hand, outbound marketing isn’t as focused and many people reached by the advertising might not even be aware of the product or service being marketed.

Relevancy:

Inbound marketing actively recruits viewers and is tailored to solve a problem

While outbound marketing passively shows a message and tries to sell a product.

In short, inbound marketing provides targeted content to a subset of potential customers while outbound marketing sends a more general message to a wider audience. 

Why is inbound marketing better than outbound marketing?

When it comes to comparing inbound marketing and outbound marketing, there’s a clear winner between the two–and that’s inbound marketing. For a whole host of reasons, inbound marketing is a much more effective form of marketing that produces genuine results.

By providing content that your target market sincerely values, it’s far easier to show your company’s value and demonstrate your use to potential customers, as well as guide them smoothly through the purchasing journey.

Comparatively, outbound marketing doesn't actively speak to your customers’ immediate needs or questions.

Oftentimes, outbound marketing can disrupt their daily routine, such as an ad on the radio when they want to listen to music or a commercial on TV when they’d rather get back to the show, and isn’t at all tailored to their direct interests or situation. 

While inbound marketing takes a bit more effort to create a cohesive campaign across channels and develop consistent content that can prove your company’s value to interested customers, the results that it can provide are more than worthwhile.

Conclusion

While both inbound marketing and outbound marketing can spread awareness about your services or products, as well as convert viewers into clients, there are key differences between the two types of advertising. Overall, the benefits provided by consistent inbound marketing can offer better results for your company compared to outbound marketing, despite the effort required. All businesses, by committing to a comprehensive inbound marketing digital strategy, can experience increased success and expand their company to new heights.

Now that you’ve gotten to know about the key differences between inbound marketing and outbound marketing, be sure to read our next article on the role that digital marketing plays in the modern world of advertising.

Get our Inbound Marketing Cheat Sheet and learn how to get your inbound marketing program started.

[kulturekonnect1]

4 TIPS TO ESTABLISH YOUR BRAND VOICE & SOCIAL MEDIA PERSONALITY

With over 2.5 billion social media users across the world, social media is seen as an integral medium that businesses and marketers feel must be utilized to reach customers. However, not all organizations on social media are experiencing success with thousands of followers and patrons among their social media accounts. This situation sheds light on the current landscape of social media and how many businesses are improperly approaching social media with an ill-advised strategy.

The idea of social media is almost a little too enticing for businesses to pursue, and how could it be ignored when almost every marketing agency and business blog is raving about how important it is to have a social media footprint. However, the underlying issue here that businesses face, is how they they operate in the realm of social media. The majority of businesses approach social media as another tool to help their businesses grow without understanding the makeup of how flourishing social media accounts work. Thus creating business accounts that clearly show a disconnect and lack of understanding for how social media functions.

In this article, we are going to talk about the core brand personality themes that are flowing through the veins of social media and how your business might need to rethink your strategy when approaching brand voice as well as social media personality.

Social Personalities: 

When trying to dissect social media, it is imperative to grasp the "social" aspect of social media. Social media is just that, a form of media where millions of individuals can congregate and communicate with others of like mind or interest. So what is at each user's core? Personality. They are after all just people and just like people they exhibit different personalities and show interest in different subjects which are then uploaded to their various social media platforms. 

Click here to get a free social media marketing audit.

Individuals have a much easier time growing a following organically on social media than a business because an individual can post media to hundreds of thousands to millions of users who can relate on some level and in turn will follow and support this individual. This is why it is much easier for individuals to see substantial growth in their ROI on social media because their audience see's the individual's personality traits before they see a potential sales pitch. There are hundreds of social media accounts whose content creator was an ordinary person until they posted a variation of new, different, or unique media that resonated with a specific personality audience. This new found audience is now far more trusting and willing to be "influenced."

Many of these social media personalities will capitalize on their new found position and following by becoming an influencer who is paid by a business to sponsor products. Businesses utilize influencers because followers are far more trusting of an Internet personality they follow then any business period. This concept relies heavily on the marketing term known as word of mouth and its various spectrums. On one end you have a peer who recommends going to a restaurant that they enjoyed and on the other end you have a personality that is clearly being used as a conduit to push a brand's product or service to an impressionable audience.

The Balancing Act of Brand Personality:

Business are immediately set back upon entering the realm of social media due to the algorithms of social media websites which are designed to make businesses pay in order to grow a following. This can be a tricky balance rope that business walk on with social media but once again validates the point that social media isn't catered for organic businesses but for individuals. I have talked in a previous blog about how the social media landscape is purposely designed to throttle a business's reach unless they pay. Though, social media is not designed to throttle the growth and reach of personalities who can make substantial returns from their followers.

What businesses fail to understand is how they give off a disingenuous vibe that is against grain to the nature of social media. According to Forbes, over 84% of Millennials on social media hate being sold to in the traditional forms of media. They don't want to be told, "Hey buy now 50% off!!!!" Millennials want the business and products to feel inclusive and matching of their own ideals and personalities. When businesses offer a product or service whose target market is primarily on social media, organizations who adopt a personality to match to their target market will see much larger ROIs than a business who is simply using social media as another medium for advertising.

Brands can create personalities that mirror their target market to help eliminate the barrier between a customer and a business. Many of the media coordinators who run a brand's social media footprint should convey this "brand personality" through all aspects of the brand's media. The content produced, the response management and the customer service should all fit to the same customer personality the brand is trying to reach. By creating a personality, the business can more effectively communicate and spread it's message to current and prospective customers.

Does Your Brand Belong Here?

Seriously, is your target market primarily on social media? Many, marketing blogs and business conference rooms become too absorbed in having to be "in on" the next big advertising medium. Would it make sense if you are in on the next big thing if you have no reason being there? Millennials are considered to be from 1981 to 1996 which means those born in the 80s are pushing to that 40 year old barrier. So, let's be realistic, the demographic of 40, 50, and 60+ are a completely different demographic than the teens and young adults in their 20s and 30s on social media. 

People change and so do their priorities as they get older. Of course, there are the outliers that never grow up but far more often than not people change as they age and you would be doing your business a great disservice if you think a 20 year old is on the same wavelength of a 45 year old. Take a hard look at your business's products or services to see who they are for. Maybe your business relies more on connecting with other professionals in B2B, than spend effort on LinkedIn and not so much on Instagram. Or maybe your products are designed to serve a functional purpose that isn't flashy but has a large market. Can you please tell me how a loan agency, a tax filing business or even a grocery store is cool, flashy and fun? These businesses and the many like it are designed to fill the needs to specific target markets that have different priorities than posting media online to share with their friends.

On the Horizon:

Businesses spend thousands of dollars pursing lofty social media goals without realizing they are pursing unrealistic goals that have no correlation towards their target market. But I can already hear you saying to yourself, "there are plenty of brands on social media with significant followings." This is true but don't forget about what I said earlier, many brands spend a large portion of their budget on promotions and paid influencers on social media in the hopes of building a larger audience. It is an unfortunate truth that much of advertising revolves around high prices and the businesses with deeper pockets will ultimately have more coverage than small mom and pop businesses and the same applies to social media. 

Social media is an incredible tool for business but it is not the end all be all for every business. Don't get caught up in all the hoopla, of course if your brand belongs in the realm of social media than by all means. However, after doing an in depth review about your business and target market, then decide if all the time and money required to partake in social media business is worth ROI.

Our team will conduct a social media marketing audit for free. Contact us today for more information regarding our social media services (951) 479-5411. 

Receive a free social media marketing audit today.

Learn more here.