John Kennedy

Produced by: Fruition Business Development AB “Great content is the best sales tool in the world” Source: Marcus Sheridan S o the whole inbound methodology sounds just what you have been waiting for, but you want to take one step back and evaluate if you really need it and if you start the journey where would you begin. If you want to upgrade your company’s ability to get found, get leads and close sales, then you need to consider all the elements of a comprehensive inbound marketing programme. We hope with this e-guide we can help you find your inbound marketing “sweet spot”, to focus on how you as a business address your challenges. John Kennedy CEO Fruition Business Development AB Introduction W e have worked with a number of clients on finding ways to evaluate the need for inbound marketing. We hope as you read through this guide you think about your business both from the customer perspective and how you can plan for growth and demand generation: So what is inbound marketing? Inbound marketing aims to attract specific buyer personas and satisfy their needs for useful information at the different stages along their buying journey. When successful, your website visitors go from being complete strangers to delighted customers and promoters of your brand. Inbound marketing as a tool can consolidate your sales & marketing activities into one place. The fuel to drive this engine is called content, so inbound marketing can be used to achieve your goals, but it still requires effort on your part to produce wonderful content to attract visitors to your website. FACT: 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales due to a lack of lead nurturing. (Source: MarketingSherpa) How inbound marketing became a part of the conversation. So how does inbound marketing help Leads find you? TRY: 7x steps to inbound marketing paradise. Contact us if you have a question Why is Inbound Marketing Valuable? Good content is relevant, timely, wows your audience and is distributed in a smart way; so it’s available when and where they are searching for it. FACT: Seven out of 10 consumers say they prefer to learn about a company through a collection of articles rather than in an ad. (source: The Custom Content Council) So your message is convincing, the content educates and there’s a clear call-to-action. When you create good content, your target audience will take action to get it (for example, give you their email address). In this way, inbound marketing tactics can be used to increase brand awareness, generate leads, improve customer engagement and loyalty. Plus in the digital world, content can be measured, shared, repurposed and updated. So why is inbound marketing valuable? • • • • • • • Brand awareness Attract visitors Reduce costs Increased relevancy of offering Not disruptive Be where the customers are Maintain a momentum rather than a ”stop and go” approach • Generate leads • Build relationships through the sales funnel • Customers are more likely to trust other customer reviews • Builds a qualified lead / sales funnel process that can be adapted over time • Identify & use loyalty drivers So how do I know if this is a match made in heaven? “Y ou had me at hello…”: FACT: 68% of B2B organisations have not identified their sales funnel. (Source: MarketingSherpa) We all remember the film, and the love that was in the room with Jerry Maguire – but do you have the same feeling when you think about how to solve your business challenges? By going through our inbound marketing checklist we hope that you can start to identify where to apply your efforts. • As you complete the four sections, you will pass through each stage of the inbound marketing methodology. From Attract, to Convert to Close and Delight. • You will need to select an answer for each question (there are 19 in total), tally your score for each section and at the end evaluate what your total score means according to our inbound scientists. • Our advice is to print the check-list, hand it out to the team and then take an overview from all that fantastic input. Inbound marketing check-list Attract: Are you attracting increasing numbers of website visitors? 1. How satisfied are you with your website traffic? Your score a) My website is attracting more and more traffic every month (4) b) We have had some increases now and again (1) c) We get a small number of website visitors mostly family & friends (0) 2. Do you have a company blog on your website? Your score a) Yes, and we blog at least once per week (4) b) We blog sometimes when we get the time (1) c) No, we don’t blog (0) 3. Do you optimise your website for keywords to help you get found online? Your score a) Yes, SEO (search engine optimisation) works for us (4) b) Now and again we check google analytics and research keywords (1) c) No we don’t do SEO and I have already forgotten my password for google analytics (0) 4. Are you getting external websites linking back to your website to help your search ranking? a) Yes, our backlinks are building nicely. (4) b) No, we know what we have to do but we do not get enough referrals.(1) c) No backlinks, but I have remembered now my google analytics password. (0) Your score Inbound marketing check-list 5. Do you have a community of followers on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn who engage with your content on a regular basis? Your score a) Yes, we get plenty of re-tweets, Facebook ‘likes’ – social media rocks! (4) b) We try to reach-out but few people interact with us (1) c) We don’t use social media – “it will never take off, mark my words!” (0) Convert: Are you converting more web visitors to leads? 1. Are you able to track and identify your website visitors? Your score a) Yes, we have the software and a process in place to do this (4) b) No, but we’ve been thinking about it (1) c) No, our website does not get that much attention (0) 2. Do you have an established procedure in place for content creation? a) Yes, “content is king” we are always working on creating content (4) b) Now again we create content, but we know we should do more (1) c) We don’t focus so much on content (0) Your score Inbound marketing check-list 3. Do you grade your leads based on factors such as target market, company, and location? Your score a) Yes, we have a way of assessing what a ‘qualified’ lead is (4) b) We have a rough idea but nothing scientific (1) c) No, they are all the same to us – one size fits all! (0) 4. When do you consider a lead to be ready to be approached by sales? Your score a) When they have travelled through the different stages of our sales funnel (4) b) When they’ve visited the website at least twice in a month (1) c) Whenever we see or hear from them (0) 5. Do you use calls-to-action (CTA) and designated landing pages with forms that capture lead data? Your score a) Yes, we have lots of CTA’s all over our website (4) b) We only have an online “Contact Us” form (1) c) No, we don’t like to bother customers (0) Inbound marketing check-list Close : Are you nurturing your leads with engaging content in order to move them down the sales funnel? 1. How well do you understand the people you are trying to reach? a) We have buyer personas and know exactly what they want to hear and where they tend to search (4) b) We have a rough idea based on a “gut” feel but nothing specific (1) c) We don’t target any particular persona we think we have something for everybody (0) Your score 2. Do you offer informative and educational content such as e-books, white papers and newsletters, to engage those that visit your website? a) Yes, we love producing and sharing content to attract visitors to our website (4) b) Yes, but we wish we could do more than what we do today (1) c) No, but I love to read everybody else’s websites (0) Your score 3. How often do you send emails to your contact database? a) Weekly, with relevant topics and content (4) b) Monthly at best, but it is tough for us to get the content (1) c) Never we do not have a database (0) Your score Inbound marketing check-list 4. Do you capture details from your website visitors and add them to your database? Your score a) Yes, we have forms and calls-to-actions to collect visitor details (4) b) I’d like to do that but not sure what to do (1) c) No, sounds like way too much effort! (0) 5. Does your website have content that speaks to your target audience about their problems and how to solve them? Your score a) Yes, we make sure the website content is full of valuable information for our target audience (4) b) We usually change the website content a couple of times per year (1) c) No, once we put the content on the site it costs us too much to ask somebody else to change it, so it stays the same (0) Analyse & Delight: Do you use web analytics to fine-tune your marketing campaigns to delight your customers? 1. Do you track the rates of conversion of web visitors to leads, and of leads to sales opportunities? Your score a) Yes, and we know exactly how many we have at any given time (4) b) We only know how many web visits and sales we get (1) c) No, we only look at revenue but do not know where it comes from (0) Inbound marketing check-list 2. Do you have a process of tracking the number of leads, measuring the revenue generated from them and comparing the figures every month? Your score a) Yes, we enjoy looking at the tracking (4) b) No, but we keep it at the back of our minds (1) c) We don’t compare figures over time (0) 3. Do you measure the performance of your content? Your score a) Yes, we track the number of page views, shares and source of business (4) b) We only measure it in terms of any sales from the website (1) c) No, we just publish and hope that any prospects get in touch (0) 4. Do you have an email or marketing automation system integrated with your website such as HubSpot , Marketo, Eloqua? a) Yes, and it makes our marketing so much more impactful (4) b) Not yet, but we are considering it (1) c) No, we wait for the phone to ring with new prospects (0) Well done you have finished! So what does it all mean? Your score So the winners are … out of / 76 0-35 Points So, maybe you are just starting out on your digital marketing journey – lets focus on some easy fixes: o Get to know your buyer personas, what keywords do they search for, capture website visitors details, use calls-to-action with landing pages and start a regular blog to attract even more visitors. o The “customer is king” in the new digital world, so make sure you have content that will address problems and attract visitors to your solutions at this stage. 35-60 Points Sounds like you are probably attracting some good web traffic, but do you feel that you are converting those visitors into leads? May be you need to slow down a bit and educate more and sell less to your audience. Have you implemented a lead nurturing or scoring process so that you target the right prospects? o Focus on optimising your web content for keywords, blogging on a regular basis (at least 8 – 12x per month), get backlinks from highly ranked websites and engage and thrill your social media audience. o Engage and nurture your leads with e-books, webinars, white papers and monthly newsletters to keep them interested in what you have to offer. 60+ Points Well done – may be we could learn a thing or two from you? o Keep on top of your SEO, blogs and social media presence. How do you define a qualified lead? It might be time to start grading your leads on different metrics so that you focus on conversion. Could be time to start looking at marketing automation and how it fits into your strategy for success! About us. Fruition is an Inbound Marketing agency with offices in Örebro & Stockholm, Sweden. We combine strategic planning and compelling ideas with the inbound marketing methodology. As a HubSpot re-seller we provide our clients with a roadmap for marketing and sales success. We offer an integrated range of consulting, content, campaign and digital marketing services to help you build an audience, generate leads and close sales. John Kennedy CEO Fruition Business Development AB www.fruition.se- HOW TO GET STARTED (ONCE YOU HAVE A CLEAR GOAL) FORMALISE A PLAN for segmenting your target audience and developing buyer personas. AUDIT CONTENT / CALENDAR for what you already have, noting what can be repurposed to target your audiences needs and map out the year ahead. RESEARCH CONTENT for what kind of information your audience would most likely be interested in. STRATEGIC PLANNING creating an overview of how you want to use inbound marketing and what resources you have to work with. FIND OUT WHERE your audience consume their content. DISTRIBUTION PLAN where will you publish your content and how will you get your audience talking about your products and services? TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS WITH INBOUND MARKETING Fruition and HubSpot can help. Bring your marketing together into an all-in-one powerful, integrated system. Drive interest from prospective customers that visit your website. Nurture prospective leads from inquiry all the way through to sale. LETS TALK TODAY