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Inbound marketing

Business Leads & Conversions – What’s The Difference?

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While Conversions and Leads can be the same thing, that is not always the case (nor should it be.) To simplify, let’s define each term in order to make a clear and easy distinction. Sometimes multiple Conversions occur before someone becomes an actual Lead for your business. In the case of  E-commerce, an online sale is a Conversion when it turns a User into a customer, skipping the Lead phase altogether. But, before we get too far ahead, let’s clearly define our terms:

Conversion – Action take, often online via a web page, app, or a phone call.

Lead – Person who has self-identified as someone interested in becoming a customer/client.

Identify Your Leads & Customers

For example, a User might Convert once by watching an informational video. While this action would trigger a Conversion, no identifiable information is exchanged, so the User is not yet a Lead. However, when the User later downloads a case study and provides a name and contact information, they become a Lead. Marketing pros would score this as 2 Conversions and 1 Lead. 

Generate Leads To Grow Business Revenue

The top priority for marketers is generating leads. (HubSpot, 2020)

Generate Leads Online

Revenue comes from sales, which come from customers, who were once  Leads; but how do people become Leads? That depends on what you are offering. A Lead is someone who identifies themself as interested in your products/services. How is this accomplished? Most commonly, it comes in the form of a submission or phone call. 

A phone call happens when someone is ready to have a conversation, and ideally, someone on your end is ready to have the same conversation!. A form submission, on the other hand, could happen for any number of reasons, depending on what you offer. The most basic is a simple “Contact Us!” form, but that doesn’t give the new Lead anything except the anticipation of hearing back from you. To get more form submissions, offer something to the User (whitepaper, case study, audit, etc.) to entice them to become a new Lead. 

Generating Leads – Now What?

As you collect and keep your new Lead information, your CRM will fill up nicely. Make sure you are continuing to follow-up with your new Leads by showcasing the benefits of becoming your customer.

Let DaBrian Marketing Group Fill Your CRM With Quality Leads! – Contact Us  Today!

The Difference between Content Marketing and Inbound Marketing

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Content Marketing and Inbound Marketing are the same things, right?  It’s a question that I often receive from business owners, marketers, and sales executives.  Content marketing is associated with being an approach while Inbound marketing is identified as a way of doing business. 

Content is an important part of inbound marketing but that doesn’t mean that content always equals content marketing.  There are tactics that exist outside of the scope of content marketing that are specific to inbound marketing such as SEO, social posting, etc..  Limiting your approach will limit the potential impact your marketing efforts will have on revenue growth.  Your approach will also have an impact on the skills, talents, and tools needed to execute. 

What is Content Marketing?

According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience to drive profitable customer action.  

70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing. (HubSpot, 2020)

content marketing framework

Source: Content Marketing Institute

This approach takes into account creating and distributing content. It focuses on telling the story, the most effective channel to deliver the story, and engaging in conversations. Often people think of it as brand awareness and good content is the foundation of any marketing campaign.

Types of Content Marketing

 

Content marketing is presented in several types of or formats such as:

  • Blogs
  • Video Content 
  • Ebooks
  • Guides
  • Case Studies 
  • Resources
  • Newsletters
  • Podcasts

What is Inbound Marketing?

HubSpot defines inbound marketing as a business methodology that attracts customers by
creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them. While outbound marketing interrupts your audience with content they don’t always want, inbound marketing forms connections they are looking for and solves problems they already have.

This approach takes into account the buyer journey and the overall user experience. It’s not so much about the products or services, rather, it is about solving the challenges potential customers are facing at every stage.

Inbound Marketing Buyers Journey

Source: HubSpot

Types of Inbound Marketing

Inbound Marketing often consists of the following:

  • Blogging
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Social Media Management (Posting) 
  • Video Marketing 
  • Ad Development & Landing Pages
  • Content Creation
  • Email Marketing



Does the Approach Really Matter?

It’s about creating pieces of content that delivers results for your target audience. Determine your approach and start with a content marketing strategy or inbound marketing strategy. All of your content should conclude with a “call to action”. A call to action is an invitation for the users to take the desired action. For example, “Subscribe to our blog to get the latest in your inbox weekly!”

How to measure the success of the content and inbound marketing?

Before you start with the content or inbound, evaluate your ability to measure the results.  For example, if your content or landing page says “Call Now!”, I recommend that you:

  • Have a method to measure the number of telephone calls received as a result (call tracking).
  •  Determine the goals and objectives for each piece of content associated with your approach.  
  • Create a list of key metrics that you’ll track and record periodically.  

In our experience, keep it simple with engagement metrics and expand from there.  Don’t be afraid to test new ideas and delivery methods.

Try Our Content Planner!

DaBrian Marketing of Reading Becomes a HubSpot Solution Partner

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DaBrian Marketing Group of Reading PA announced that it has joined HubSpot’s Solutions Partner Program. HubSpot, a leading growth platform, works hand-in-hand with partner experts to grow their businesses through inbound software, services, and support.

DaBrian Marketing HubSpot Solution Partner, Reading PA

Over the past year, DaBrian Marketing Group has grown its business by incorporating inbound strategies to attract, engage, and delight customers. DaBrian Marketing’s mission is to provide digital marketing solutions to our clients and provide strategies that are effective and transparent and help our clients achieve their goals by utilizing analytical evidence. 

DaBrian Marketing Group offers digital marketing solutions with an inbound marketing approach.  This approach will help us to continue to transform businesses in this COVID 19 environment. Our clients and us need to identify ways to adapt to the new norms and our HubSpot Solution Partnership provides a framework for us to do better.

How to Use the Inbound Method in Your marketing?

We haven’t just adapted to inbound, we’ve added features and functionality to help our potential clients by adding an improved support ticketing system, online chat, and the ability to schedule an appointment. Our offerings have expanded to include strategic deliverables to help customers to move towards an inbound marketing approach.  

These offerings include buyer persona development, inbound strategies, content strategies, web design, traffic generation, lead generation, lead nurturing, and more. Our team’s industry-specific experience, lean structure, and analytics focus allow us to demonstrate a larger return on your marketing investment, more quickly than alternatives. “We look forward to offering our customers more digital marketing solutions and a path to a better business,” said Daniel Laws, President & CEO of DaBrian Marketing Group in Reading, PA.

Do you need help with HubSpot?  Book a meeting with your local Reading HubSpot Solutions Partner.  Not in your area,  give us a call to discussion some options.  

Schedule a free no-obligation digital marketing assessment today!

How to Transition Marketing Staff and Hand Over the Reins

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In the COVID-19 world, we’re all just trying to survive. That includes navigating remote work, medical leave, layoffs, and co-workers leaving their existing jobs for opportunities that are better for their families. Keeping all of it organized and everyone on the same page is more important than ever. That’s why we’ve put together a marketing checklist of things that businesses should do while in the transition to better position their employees and marketing departments for success.

Ensure You Know What Marketing Projects are In Progress

There is always work to be done so make sure that you know what projects are in progress so you can plan accordingly and assign responsibilities to existing employees or a new hire.  Look to understand the role, deadlines, and the employee’s involvement in all projects.  I recommend that you gather a list of projects, the employees,  the deadlines, and specific responsibilities all in writing so you have a reference document. Depending on the complexity, consider project management software that includes a marketing project template, such as Asana.

Obtain Marketing Plans, Strategies, Goals & Objectives

Collect all existing versions of marketing plans, strategies, goals, and objectives for your existing employees.  These documents should have insights that will help the next employee or marketing agency hit the ground running! Find out how you are tracking progress against annual and quarterly goals and objectives.  This should save you time, money, and the effort of creating marketing plans or strategy from start to finish. New to marketing strategy? Start by getting your digital marketing priorities in order. 

Marketing Plan with Goals & Objectives

Get Key Contact Information for Marketing, Sales, and IT

Collect the contact information of key players in marketing, sales, and IT.  This list of key contacts should include internal and external stakeholders.  These contacts will be able to provide historical information and insight into existing marketing projects and marketing plans.  Make sure key information is shared with your team. 

Gather all of the information about the marketing department so that the next person has an idea of how things work.  For example, you should have organizational charts, product/service information,  process guides, manuals, etc.  These documents will provide your people with a sense of direction, knowledge of processes, and points of contact that will make it easier to get work done.

Examine Marketing Vendor & Partnership Agreements

In most cases, you will have multiple vendors or partners to help with different aspects of your marketing.  For example, who do you use for print materials, hosting, and digital marketing solutions?  It’s also important to understand what you own versus what you rent.  Some web design agencies will say that you own your website but you cannot move it to another web host or agency. Considering company downsizing and the amount of remote work currently being done, it’s key that you examine your agreements to ensure you’re still getting the services that you were promised. Acquire all agreements and make sure you understand the scope of work. 

Do not hesitate to contact these vendors and providers to assure yourself of these services and promises. In the post-COVID world, it is imperative to be sure you are receiving what you are paying for. Six months into this new environment, your business partners, by this time, should have their feet on the ground and operating efficiently and effectively to serve you. If not, perhaps reexamine your partnership.

Inventory Your Marketing Tools

Depending on the complexity of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools, it could cost your business anywhere between $12 to $300 per month for each user.  Build a list of all of your marketing and sales tools.  This list of marketing tools will give you information to show you where you are overspending or have redundant tools.  Understanding what tools you have will help you to transition duties to another employee and obtain support to get the most out of your tools. In my experience, it would be wise to start your marketing and sales list with your CRM, email marketing platform, social media publishing tool, etc. because these are commonly used among businesses no matter the industry. 

Know What Reports the Employee is Accountable For

The marketing department usually has daily, weekly, and monthly reporting which funnel into executive reporting.  Request an example of these reports for your reference.  Our clients have had success in having discussions about who is responsible, what and where are the data sources, what is the process, and who needs to receive these reports and by what date. 

business marketing transition

Schedule an Exit Interview & Revisit the Job Description

If an employee is leaving the marketing department voluntarily, you need to gain insight into why.  According to Harvard Business Review, exit interviews are key to long-term business success as they help you to keep a pulse on functional units, improve processes, and increase retention. The employee’s feedback can help you to improve the job description for future candidates or uncover issues that need to be addressed.  It will also help you in the decision-making process when determining if you will choose your internal employees or outsource some of your marketing efforts. 

Create an Onboarding Plan for Staff

Develop an onboarding plan for new employees,  transitions in responsibilities for staff, or your new marketing partners.  This plan should include obtaining access to marketing tools and internal resources, documentation, training materials, and meetings to confirm or validate their learning as well as capabilities. You’ll see better results by scheduling recurring meetings to measure progress for the first 90 days and throughout the year.

Onboarding New marketing Staff

Moving On From Marketing Staff or Ad Agency

According to Spencer Stuart’s 16th annual CMO Tenure Study, the average tenure for Chief Marketing Officers (CMO) decreased from 43 months to 41 months in 2018.  You have to weigh the pros and cons of internal staff versus a strategic marketing partner. Going through these steps that we’ve outlined here, give you the information to change processes and procedures, identify talent, and position your business for success with internal, external, or a combination of all marketing resources.

Download the Free Marketing Transition Checklist

Like what you’ve read? Have we inspired you and given you a springboard for moving your marketing department and business into the post-COVID business arena?  Access more valuable information regularly by subscribing to our blog and following us on social media.

What is Inbound Marketing?

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Inbound marketing is the methodology of attracting customers by creating valuable and relevant content experiences tailored to potential customers. The process of inbound marketing requires your content to be tailored toward your target audience and buyer personas and their needs. Inbound marketing forms a connection by solving problems that your potential customers have. 

What is the Inbound Method?

The inbound methodology is focused on growing your company by building meaningful, lasting relationships with consumers, prospects, and customers. It’s about helping and empowering people to reach their goals at any stage in their customer journey with you. When they succeed, your company will succeed and increase the likelihood of customer retention as well as referrals.

Inbound Methodology is often used in 3 ways:

  • Attract: getting the right people with valuable information and actions to establish you as a trusted advisor that they want to engage with. Engage: provide insights and solutions that align with their problems and goals so they are more likely to buy from you. Delight: deliver guidance and support to help your customers succeed with their purchase.
  • Engage: provide insights and solutions that align with their problems and goals so they are more likely to buy from you.
  • Delight: deliver guidance and support to help your customers succeed with their purchase.
Inbound Methodology - HubSpot Reading PA

Types of Inbound Strategies

There are three inbound strategies that will help you market to your target audience through the  inbound model. Each of these strategies will help your business grow better. Below are the types of inbound strategies: 

 

  1. Attracting Strategies drive traffic from your buyer personas and target audience by creating and publishing content that provides value and helps potential customers to solve their challenges. 
  2. Engaging Strategies will communicate and connect with leads and customers to build long-term relationships with your business. Actively provide them with solutions to their problems while addressing their needs and wants.  
  3. Delight Strategies ensure that your customers are happy, and provide them with support after the purchase, which transforms you into their trusted advisor as new challenges are presented. 

How to Use the Inbound Method in Your Marketing?

Select the inbound strategy that makes the most sense for your business.  For example, if you are just getting started, consider working on the attracting strategy.  The tools to attract customers are: ads, video, blogging, social media and a content strategy.  Create valuable content for your target audience, distribute the content on these channels.  Provide an offer (i.e. downloadable, consultation, value-added, discount code, etc.), then measure your ability to attract potential customers.  If you need help,  you can hire an inbound marketing agency to help you.  There are a few HubSpot solution partners in Reading, PA and surrounding states.

How to Use the Inbound Method in Your marketing?

Want to learn more about inbound marketing for your business? Subscribe to the blog and follow us on social media. 

Get a free inbound marketing assessment.

5 Steps You Can Take Today to Bring More Traffic to Your Website

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Website traffic is an important business indicator and a driver for growth. You get to see how your marketing is working while gathering insight about your target audience. More traffic to your website builds your credibility on the web. It’s important to drive quality traffic that will impact lead generation and sales.

Create a Blog Editorial Calendar & Write Your First Blog Post

A blog is a regularly updated web page that is typically run by an individual or small group and is written in an informal or conversational style. Create a blog schedule or an editorial calendar that zeros in on your target audience questions, concerns, and challenges.

I recommend that the blog editorial calendar include who is responsible for writing, idea topics, and due dates.  Start out small with 1 blog per month then make adjustments based on your goals.   Consider how you will distribute the content to increase the likelihood that it will get into the hands of potential customers.  

 

69% of businesses attribute their lead generation success to blogging. (Source: HubSpotⓇ)

 

 

 

Download Calendar

Develop a SEO Plan to Increase Traffic from Google & Bing

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.  SEO techniques include content creation, linking, site navigation, local business listings, site speed and more.  Develop a SEO plan that is specific to your business situation.  

Start by getting an SEO or website audit.  The website audit will provide information on website issues that are hurting your position in the search engine results. You can get a free evaluation of your website:

 


The local business profiles on Facebook®, Google My Business®, Yelp®, and Bing Places® also attract more local customers.  These business profiles should include reviews, maps, services, a link to your website, and a description of your business.  This information is used to populate local listings and provide directions to your local business.

Try the Yext business listing scan to review your business listings. 

According to consumers, businesses that respond to reviews are 1.7X more trustworthy than businesses who don’t (76% vs. 46%) Source: Google

Start Social Media Posting on Relevant Platforms

Social media enables users to create and share content, career interests, ideas and to  participate in social networking conversations.  What social media networks are your existing customers using?  Share information that is useful to your customers.  Use polls to get their feedback on your products and services.  

Use social media as a distribution channel for your blog editorial calendar.  I recommend adding a post to your Google My Business profile so that it stands out from others.  Use social media management tools such as Hootsuite®, Buffer®, and SproutSocial® to schedule your posts. 

LinkedIn’s number of users in the U.S. reached 160 million, making it the country with the most users in the world. (Statista, 2020)

Social Media Post Calendar

Launch a Paid Search or Social Media Campaign

Paid Search or pay-per-click (PPC), search engine advertising, and sponsored listings are often used to define ad types such as Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords), Google Product Listing Ads, Google Shopping Ads®, and Bing Ads. Paid social media display advertisements or sponsored marketing messages on popular social media platforms and target a specific sub-audience.

Define the goals of the paid search or social media campaign before starting your campaign.  Consider the type of ad campaign that would be most likely to succeed.  For example, if you are selling ecommerce products, I recommend a shopping campaign.  Create the campaign for your target audience that  minimizes cost and improves results. 

If you are already running a campaign, get a free paid search audit to improve your return on investment. 

In 2019 the U.S. was the largest global market based on mobile advertising spending. (Statitsa, 2019)

Create Content for Your Target Audience

Content is high quality, useful information that communicates a story presented in a contextually or visually relevant manner with the goal of soliciting emotion and engagement.  The content can be used as part of social media posts and added to your website for SEO. 

Create content that is useful to your potential customers and target audience.  For example, I recommend video demonstrations, product guides, flyers, and brochures.  These content pieces must be accessible via a mobile device. 

70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing. (HubSpot, 2020)

Combine Tactics to Increase Your Web Traffic Today

The increase in website traffic provides businesses with more opportunities to sell products or services. A one-size-fits-all model will not achieve your target results. All of these ideas are connected and will have a greater likelihood of achieving success when used in combination with each other

Understand where your business is going and measure if and how you are increasing traffic. Look to understand what is working and the impact that it is having on your sales. If you need any help, give us a call or check out our other blog posts on these topics.

Get an Inbound Marketing Assessment!