Inbound & Digital Marketing Blog

For any business to be successful, you must focus completely on your targeted audience. After all, the success of your business is determined by how well you connect, communicate and nurture your audience. But in the world of marketing, where change is always constant, how do you attract your audience and maintain any level of relationship with them - especially with ever-changing technology, the distraction of social media and still gain word of mouth influence? Here are three suggestions:

Start with the most basic but equally important factor, appearance. You might be tempted to think that looks may not be important, but keep in mind that it does matter (a lot). Your company’s website or blog should be professional-looking and uncluttered to your potential customers and clients. In order to capture their attention, the look of your website or blogs should present professionalism, be easy to read and capture their attention - visually.

Draw their attention with your content. You will immerse your targeted audience in reading your company’s site or blogs when you publish content that is relevant, informative and even entertaining. Your educational content should be something that your customers and prospects actually need, and find helpful. Write content that is useful and purposive for them – something worth sharing.

Engage and interact with your targeted audience. Your company’s website and blogs should provide an open forum for discussion between you and your prospects and customers. This will enable you to get to know them better, and their feedback and suggestions regarding your products and services will also help improve your company. Remember that keeping an open mind for suggestions and improvement will empower your network to propel your success.

These are just some basic things you can do to attract your targeted audience and maintain their loyalty to your brand. To learn what not to do, Stephanie Sammons wrote an article about things marketers do that will drive your audience  away in: “7 Ways to Turn Off Your Online Audience”. What would you add to this list?

Today’s consumers are becoming more aware and wiser when searching for, and choosing products and services they want. The last thing you want to do is run them off and have them shop with your competition. Most times, you’re making obvious mistakes that can be easily fixed. Understand these ways to keep your audience engaged, so that you keep them coming back for more.

With the rapid change in technology and the social changes it brings, there can be an uncertainty to the stability of your business. After all, big changes are hard to keep up with, especially when you don’t have a business strategy.  To be successful, you sometimes have to take risks in new technologies or mediums. After all, as an entrepreneur, sometimes we’re called upon to take calculated risks in order to take your business to the next level.

Technology can be so overwhelming nowadays with everyone having access to mobile smartphone and tablet devices, while maintaining conversations and communications in social media. It is no surprise that most businesses now engage in online marketing to keep up or to get ahead of the competition. In order for your business not to get left behind, you should continue to make wise investments in your online marketing strategies. To be a part of the future of marketing, here are three marketing “must-haves” that your company should invest in:

Social Media.  Both the young and old are connecting and engaging in social networking. Everyone wants to be part of a community, so the best place for your business to be, is in relevant social media websites. Social media can help your business in so many ways, such as making your business more sharable and accessible to your audience and business prospects. It also promotes brand awareness, and can help you build a stronger relationship with your loyal customers and potential clients. It can also be a platform for you to interact and engage with people from communities and forums to gather feedback and suggestions that could help improve the quality of your products and services. Social media can also be a great platform to educate people about your brand, how you fir into their world and help them make smart buying decisions.

Content Marketing. Content is essential for your business to grow online. Through helpful and informative content, you can drive traffic to your website, generate leads and earn profits. The content you publish in your company’s site and blogs can help determine your success. Your content reflects your business, so keep in mind to always keep your information relevant, educating, resourceful and even entertaining. One important goal is to engage your audience and captivate their attention through your content.

Mobile. Most all of us indulge in the benefits that mobile devices bring in our lives every day.  Because mobile devises have changed the way we send and receive communication, it would be wise for your business to invest in mobile website technology. By having a mobile site, you will reach a much broader audience, and your prospects will be able to easily access your business anytime - and anywhere - with just push of a button.

To find out more about the benefits of these marketing investments for your business, I recommend reading, “3 Must-Have Marketing Investments”, a very helpful article from Mashable. Share your thoughts with us, by leaving your comments and questions.

Technology changes faster than most anyone can keep up with. As a business owner or marketing professional, it’s your job to adapt and move as the market demands. If you don’t keep up with the ever-changing technological and social demands of your customers – your competition will.

With your customers and prospects actively participating in social communities, social media is no doubt one of the best ways to share, educate and promote your business. Social media communities give you an interactive platform to allow your customers to share experiences, and provide you feedback, while allowing you the opportunity to educate, interact and connect with your audience.

Why social media?

Social media gives your business and audience a ground for discussion and forums. One of the benefits of using social media for your business is you can engage with your audience and know what your potential customers and clients like and don’t like about any aspect of your business. Understanding their behaviors and concerns, while being open to their suggestions, is always a great advantage for your company over your competitors. After all, we all know that satisfied customers will spread the word about your business and the experience they had, which will bring in new business from referrals.

Social media encourages brand awareness. Social media communities can also help develop loyalty and establish a secure and stronger relationship between you and your customers or clients. It gives you the opportunity to communicate your brand message and be a resource, establishing your presence as a brand that is reliable, honest and helpful for the community.

What is the best social media site for your business?

Here are the most important and influential social media sites to engage in for your business.

Facebook is the world’s largest social networking site which has now reached over one Billion users. Facebook users create personal profiles, allowing them to connect with friends, family and acquaintances, and to join common-interest groups ---making it easier for you to identify potential customers and clients. Through Facebook pages, you can encourage users to “Like” your page and receive your updates into their news feed while the interaction helps spread the word about your business. Facebook groups allow you to build a network of public or private members where you can share interactions with your members in a forum-like environment.

Twitter offers “micro blogging” that enables users to send and receive short messages up to 140 characters, known as tweets. Twitter has become one of the top 10 most visited websites on the internet and has been described as "the SMS of the Internet”. Twitter allows you to insert links and images that will aid you in communicating your message to your Twitter followers Twitter also offers tools that can help you track traffic and your followers  to help you better understand your followers. This way,  you can make adjustments to your messages and change what isn’t working to different messages that generate a better response.

LinkedIn is the largest social networking site for professionals with over 175 million members. LinkedIn allows you to develop, and interact with a network of people with whom they have some level of relationship. Users build their profiles to showcase work experiences, and demonstrate their levels of ability in ways a resume never will! Recommendations are one of the unique features of LinkedIn that you can take advantage of as a marketer. What better way to promote your business than to be recommended?

Pinterest is a social photo sharing site that allows users to create and manage photos based on themes like events, interests and hobbies. You can feature your business name on your profile, and create links to your “pins” that will direct potential customers and clients to your website. Use great quality and relevant photos in order to catch your audience’s attention.

These are just some of the social media sites you can participate in to help grow your business. Before getting started, you should first do some research in order to familiarize yourself with the community, the rules and features and tools before jumping in.

Photo Credit: stock.xchng

As a business owner or marketing professional, wouldn’t it be simple to send an email to a contact (or nurture them) when they view a specific page on your website? How about build a list of everyone who has seen a specific page on your website?

These automation tasks are simplified with HubSpot’s new Timeline Segmentation tool. It's a powerful new addition to the list segmentation tool that makes it possible to target even more specific groups in your database, and deliver even more targeted, relevant messages.

The subtle yet powerful change to the list segmentation tool lets users set page views and events as criteria easily. This is an added feature aside from building segments off of form submissions, list membership and properties.

With the new timeline segmentation, you can now:

• send an email to a contact when they view a specific page on your website
• automatically trigger timed emails based on form completions and downloads
• build beautiful emails that focus on different lists based on lead behavior and target them to get the best results

For easier report compilation, you can now store email, lead and marketing analytics data in the same place. Good email marketing is all about segmenting your audience and sending relevant information. Timeline segmentation also enables you to:

• build a list of everyone who has seen a specific page on your website
• track the success of your email campaigns right down to the contact
• view reports and granular contact click details
• track delivery, opens and clicks the contact has done

When a contact views your pricing page, you can now send a notification email to the lead owner in Salesforce. You can easily set custom criteria to control which leads get sent and when. HubSpot’s Salesforce connector makes it easy to leverage any of your Salesforce data to segment your database, personalize your email messages and even change the content that prospects see on your website. Help your sales team close more business by giving them easy access to valuable lead intelligence data generated by HubSpot. Information on your leads and contacts’ interests, levels of activity and marketing events is synced to Salesforce - right where your sales team can see it.

You can easily turn a lead into a marketing qualified lead when they view a product related page with the timeline segmentation. Find out which of your marketing efforts is producing high quality leads that ultimately turn into customers. Track touch points along the way, and learn what content helps move leads further down your funnel and more likely to become customers.

To understand Timeline Segmentation better, read HubSpot’s article entitled, “Timeline Segmentation: A New Way to Segment Your Database with HubSpot Enterprise” and comment below to let us know what questions you have, and how this is improving your marketing automation.

Timeline Segmentation will provide you a better marketing experience. After all, by knowing what’s working and what isn’t, you can refine your marketing process and focus on what’s moving the bottom line.

The birth of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest has opened doors for communication, connecting and expression for online marketers. These communities allow a level playing ground for discussions with marketers and prospects to interact and engage with each other. These forums give business owners and marketing professionals the opportunity to promote their brands by educating their prospects about their products and services - while potential and current customers can offer their suggestions and opinions for a better marketing experience.

Many businesses use social media incorrectly and ineffectively, and ultimately fail to gain successful and strategic marketing and sales campaigns for their businesses. Jim Klossner wrote an article mentioning the common mistakes businesses make in using social media, such as:

• Their Communication and Posts Are Too Formal - Tone is an important part of communication, and it can set the stage for your online relationships. For a B2B social media account, the social media managers in charge might be tempted to keep a corporate tone. After all, shouldn't you be professional when you're talking to other professionals?
• They Participate in Too Many Channels - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest; there are many social media platforms for B2B companies to choose. In social media, however, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Unless you have a full team of social media managers to handle all these platforms, it's nearly impossible to be effective in every channel.
• They Start Using Social Media without a Plan - The same company leaders who wouldn't dream of starting a business without having a plan in place will jump into social media with both feet without so much as researching what the competition is doing. The "it's the thing to do" mentality leads to stagnant accounts, inconsistent tone, and sloppy brand presence.

These are just a few of the things mentioned in his article. Check out “5 Social Media Practices that Can Hurt Your Marketing Efforts”, to find out what you shouldn’t do when you use social media for your business. Learn what to do, and apply these practices directly and immediately into your social media marketing strategy.

Social media can be one of the best ways to champion your business, as long as you know how to use it for your business’ advantage. As with any other aspect of marketing, there are rules to follow for success, so learn from others that have gone before you to save you time, energy and other resources. Above all, be sure you maintain a strong relationship with your current and potential customers by continuously interacting with them.

In business, it is always good to know what you are up against since many changes in the marketplace can interfere with your best plans, knocking you off course! According to the latest content marketing study of Marketing Profs and Content Marketing Institute, B2B marketers are spending more, using more tactics and distributing their content on more social networks than they have in the past years.

Since content is essential for your marketing and sales strategies, the study shows that B2B marketers are spending 33% of their marketing budgets on content marketing, which has increased from 26% last year - while 54% plan to boost content marketing spending next year. Content tactics are more commonly used today than they were a year ago, mostly due to the help of research reports, videos, and mobile. But the study also indicated that B2B entrepreneurs, marketing executives and content marketers this year are challenged with producing enough content. Previous findings showed that the top challenge was producing engaging content.

Social media communities such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, now play a more dominate role in B2B marketing. The study shows they are the most popular content marketing resource for information, while “producing enough content" is the biggest burden for many B2B content marketers. In addition to that, those needing educational and resourceful content typically use up to five social networking sites, with LinkedIn as the most popular. This is a big change, as Twitter had previously been the choice for content for the two previous years.

The full survey is available for you here: “2013 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends” Let us know what your thoughts are regarding the research found, and how this impacts – or will impact – your business.

Marketers often fail to launch a successful marketing strategy because it doesn’t begin with careful planning. Understand and anticipate the trends with case study, research and statistics, and use them as guidelines for strategizing and planning your marketing campaigns.

I had a client today ask me about the best practices for forms on landing pages. Well, the most direct path is not always the easiest or the best!

It's nearly always best to use the shortest possible form — Name, Email, and perhaps Phone Number.

Then, clients say: "Yes, but we need to know what zip code they are in to assign them to a salesperson." Or, "Yes, but we need to know their technical requirements."

You can still get all that information. Just don't kill your conversion rates by asking for it all at once.

It's like trying to climb a mountain. You could try to go straight up. That would be the most direct path — Unless you ran into a steep cliff and fell off!

Or, you could climb up using switchbacks to zig-zag your way. Less direct, but much more likely to get you to the top.

How to Use Multi-Step Conversion Forms

Don't fall into the trap of thinking you have to get all the information you want at once. Try this instead:

• Use the simplest possible form for the first conversion. Get the prospect's name and email address.
  
  
• Send them an email with a link to a valuable piece of content. In the email and in your content, have a call-to-action that encourages them to take the next step.
  
  
• The next step link goes to another form that requires they enter a bit more information, but also promises more value.
  
  
• Then, send another email that delivers the value and has another call-to-action.

When you have a valuable product that solves a problem for your prospects, they'll gladly take the next step. If you don't have a valuable product, stop spending money on marketing and invest instead in making your product better!

Plus, this way, you have their name and email. You can keep checking with them until you find a fit or determine there isn't a fit. If you ask for too much information up front, they may never give you anything, and there's nothing you can do.

There's yet another advantage. Have you ever entered bogus information on a web form? I know I have. When you ask for too much, too soon, you encourage people to lie. But, that's not the end of the story. People at your company will assume the bogus data is valid and assign the new hot lead to a busy salesperson. The salesperson ends up wasting time chasing down a High School student who's just trying to write a term paper!

It helps if you have the right marketing platform to make the multi-step process easier to implement. Contact Me, if you want to know more.

Please leave a comment if you use multi-step forms. What have you found that works? 

Image Credit: tylerkaraszewski

Over the years, online entrepreneurs have indulged in the benefits of content marketing to promote their businesses online. But with the overflowing amount of data and content on the internet, it can be difficult for your readers to segregate useful and relevant information for their research needs.

Roger Parker is a coach, speaker and author and mentions that content marketers commonly experience difficulties with complexity, increased responsibilities and information overload in their content marketing strategies - but with the help of mind mapping, content marketers can overcome these challenges.

Mind mapping is a content productivity tool used to visually outline information centering on a specific topic and category. It helps content marketers gain a fresh perspective, sparking new ideas, encouraging collaboration and breaking complex projects into manageable tasks, according to Mr. Parker. There are many mind mapping tools online, here are just a few:

• Mindjet MindManager 2012 which is used by over 500 companies. It is easy to use and has amazing features, allowing you to integrate with Microsoft Office and Sharepoint.
• MindMeister has simple but well-designed functions which allow you to work simultaneously with colleagues on the same project. It is also cost-efficient and accessible on your mobile phone, which is very ideal if you want to access your work even while on the go.
• MindMaple lets you organize multiple threads of ideas creatively. It has arrows and callouts to show interactions between different sections of your maps. It is also ideal for planning of presentations or meetings.

Regardless of the mind mapping tool or software you plan to use, you can view as much (or as little) information you desire, plus with the ability to export your work. Through mind maps, you can analyze and track your competition, create buyer personas, plan editorial calendars, brainstorm article and blog topics and organize complex projects.

In the article written by Roger Parker entitled, "Top 10 Mind Mapping Productivity Tips for Content Marketing Success", he mentioned some tips on how to use your mind mapping tools to its full potential.

With the increasing prevalence of information overload online, mind mapping will definitely help you reduce the clutter for your prospects and customers. Remember that it doesn’t really matter what mind mapping tool or software you use, what truly matters is how you use it.

With the presence and power of social media, what better way to connect with your prospects and customers than through a platform which allows them to learn, share and engage with you and your company?

Chances are your prospects, customers and partners are engaging in social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter. Done correctly, social media allows you to showcase your products and services in a way that educates, empowers and engages your network in a very cost-effective way. Social media encourages you to interact with your prospects through forums and discussions, which will help in your company’s growth not only in profits, but also in terms of branding. You want to be the business that fully understands what your prospects need, and have an expectation of what they need now, and will need down the road.

There are many social networking sites you can leverage to expand the exposure for your business. In an article by Ann Buehner, she mentioned four sites that are perfect for promoting your business online:

• Tumblr - Brands use Tumblr to create a community and to build a following fast with its quick and easy setup, seamless tagging and sharing capabilities. Existing brands also use the short-form blog to breathe life into content through a host of mixed-media that includes photos, links and video. Tumblr does not offer a reporting platform, and does not have the best reputation when it comes to collaborating with brands on advertising opportunities.
• Pinterest - Brands use Pinterest to build brand personality and inspire trends and influencers through instant social sharing. Pins are typically centered on major life events such as weddings and holidays. Users create theme-based collections through the site’s virtual pinboards. Dialogue is generated through the simple act of pinning, repining, “Liking” and commenting on images taken on a smartphone or from the web.
• Instagram - Brands use Instagram to showcase products, services, events or just a behind-the-scenes look through a feed of photos, instead of a slew of text. The photo sharing application for iPhone uses dazzling image filters, and features cross-posting to other social networks including Twitter, Facebook profiles, Flickr, Foursquare, Tumblr and Posterous. The goal is to attract new fans with Instagram’s search and keyword function, and to draw engagement through likes, comments, @replies and #hashtags.
• Tout - Brands use Tout to create real-time, 15-second video status updates captured from Apple and Android smartphones, and then distributed through social networks. Instant video sharing is on the rise as more and more consumers use smartphones. Tout offers integration across multiple platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, and does include analytics. It’s essentially video Twitter.

To find out more about these sites, you can read her full article here: "4 Short-Form Blogging Networks Perfect for Customer Engagement"

With more social networking sites available at your fingertips, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the tools and features in order to use them to their fullest potential for your business’ success.

Blogging can be an essential way to inform and educate your prospects on their wants and needs (that your products or services may help them with). Because building a business empire takes an extraordinary amount of time and effort, and blogging is just one aspect of it, most busy professionals neglect updating their company blogs.

If you want to lengthen the life of your blogs, and you don’t have the time to update your blogs on a consistent basis- what should you do? Here are six strategies you can put into place right away:

• Make sure that your blogs are search engine friendly. Always double check your title and description tags, categories and keywords to be certain that they stay relevant to your post. Make sure you don’t stray from the guidelines set forth by search engines, otherwise your blog will be penalized.
• Inter-link your posts. Make sure that when writing your post, you link relevant keyword phrases to previously published articles. It will help in your search engine optimization.
• Send your subscribers emails about your post. Include a brief summary of your blog and communicate the value of why they should read your blog by telling them how it can help solve their problems. You can also encourage them to subscribe to your blog so that they don’t miss out on the important updates. By doing this, you will build a stronger relationship with your email subscribers.
• Be certain that your blogs have CTAs (Call-to-Action). This directs your readers on what they need to do next, and so they will know where to reach you.  CTAs are important because, in most instances, people need to be told what to do and typically respond well when there’s a clear step of what to do next.
• Repurpose your blogs. By sharing someone else’s information that would also be beneficial for your network, you can repurpose a blog or article that’s an old post (that’s still relevant) or use as a theme for one of your upcoming webinars. By using other’s content, you now have an entire mini-package comprised of useful information and tools to share with your prospects or clients.
• Use social media sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter. These are a popular and valuable platform to showcase your blogs and articles. Link your post to your social networking sites to spread your content across all platforms, and allow your readers to “share” these resourceful posts.

Blogging will be a major asset for your business to reach your targeted prospects as long as you stay relevant and true to your prospects needs. Offer realistic and timely solutions in every post, in order for your customers to feel value and to help gain their trust. Blogging allows you to interact and engage with your audience, and to get immediate feedback regarding their concerns. Engaging them in discussions to gather comments and suggestions regarding your company’s brand will help your business grow profitably and professionally.

The most important thing you should remember in blogging is consistency. Even if you can’t regularly post blogs, make sure you continue to communicate with your prospects and clients through your blogs to strengthen your relationship with them.