KICK-BUTT MARKETING? GO INBOUND BABY!
July 16th, 2010:Probably like you, I’ve was a bit too busy to pay much attention at first to the uber-trendy social media sites. Now I’m a believer. Here’s why, the marketing rules have completely changed and there’s no looking back. Now, it’s all about inbound marketing and how to drive prospects to your web-site so you can convert them to customers.
So what is inbound marketing and how has the game changed? On the Internet, the average business person uses Google as their primary search engine. So getting found is critical. Google has proprietary algorithms to find your web-site. The challenge is that code is constantly changing to prevent programmers from overriding them. Remember, they are selling ad words and why would you need to pay for them if your site popped-up every time front and center? Web designers don’t have Google’s Rosetta Stone. As marketing strategists, we’ve all gotten smarter. Enter InBound marketing.
The first new rule of inbound marketing is to attract Internet traffic to your site like bees to honey. Your web-site’s effectiveness is measured via a metric called SEO or search engine optimization. This isn’t exactly having the Rosetta Stone, rather it’s providing Google with a higher ranking for your SEO optimized site by putting you on page one if you’re lucky. One of the best ways to increase your SEO rank is to provide fresh content to your site especially rich media such as video. With social media tools, we now have the ability to integrate a blog into our web-site, creating fresh content and tapping Google on the shoulder to let it know your ranking should remain high. Ask your web-designer how to get this accomplished for you. 97% of prospects will find you because of your well written blog. When you’re blogging in your area of expertise you will attract more targeted prospects to your site who want to learn more and seek you out for your advice. Bingo, that’s when the conversion takes place.
The second rule is to share, share, share. This is why social media like tools like FaceBook, Twitter, Blogging, and LinkedIn have become so important. They allow us to share content across the Internet, driving more traffic and links to our web-site. Google should find you organically. Remember, Google cares about two things: content and authority. You want other web-sites with high authority to link to your site. Six or more is a good number. Unfortunately, Twitter, LinkedIn, and FaceBook don’t count. If it’s Dartmouth College or the USGBC, then you’ve just leaped a bunch of SEO points in your ranking. These sites have greater authority than being self-promoting by trying to manipulate Google. By publishing a blog, press release, or article then sharing thecontent to others to publish, you increase the number of links to you, raising your authority. The other tools play a role too, because it allows you to get your name out there and deliver value. Believe it or not, FaceBook’s market share increased 185% in a given month recently compared to Google’s 9%. Yes, companies like Johnson & Johnson have FaceBook including fan pages, photos, and customer comments on their wall.
Remember, authority and content so go hire an expert or get busy.
Third, your playbook to success is converting qualified prospects to customers. Having a huge prospect database in an easy query for software-as-a-service SaaS like SalesForce.com gives you the ability to pull the e-mail addresses of attendees at to your upcoming trade show. Using e-mail marketing, you can invite them to your booth for a product demonstration. E-mail marketing is hot and very easy to do. All you need is an attractive template, a call to action, and a list to blast to.Constant Contact is a brilliant SaaS. With access to a browser you’ll be on your way – nothing to install or download.
E-blasts can drive targeted traffic to your site, or to a landing page, where you can better capture results about your campaign and measure ROI return-on-investment.
Finally, being able to measure effectiveness is key and analytics rule. HubSpotprovides
backend tools and analytics that can even compare your SEO ranking with your competitors. They also provide granular reports that can track an individual visitor to your site, how many times they’ve come back, what pages they’ve hit, and for how long. Wouldn’t you like to know who is looking you over? Doesn’t that change the game if you’ve just given a presentation to a prospect and you’re up against three other firms?
Ideally, the best way to achieve growth is to leverage your global presence, your web-site . Draw them in, and close ‘um. It’s less expensive and more effective than printing brochures and dropping them from a helicopter. By optimizing your existing content, getting high authority sites to link to you, and dripping out fresh and exciting new content like blog posts and video, you’ll be well on your way to being found organically, and converting tire kickers to buyers.
For more information visit: www.salesprotocol.com
Article Featured on BusinessNH Magazine Online
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Catherine Blake, President
Sales Protocol International
cblake@salesprotoocol.com
www.salesprotocol.com