“Marketing KPIs,” “Sales Ready Leads,” “Conversion Rate,” “Marketing ROI,” “Lead Generation”…
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.
For any modern marketer, these terms may begin to lose meaning over time. Worse than that, some of us might not even understand what they mean or how they fit together into a marketing campaign or strategy. Are you feeling adrift in a sea of seemingly endless online marketing options?
Your Personal Marketing Pond
I am here to tell you, it’s going to be OK. You’re not alone. In business-dense areas such as Basel it can be easy to feel a bit like a small fish in a large pond. Maybe you’re wondering what you can do to shrink the size of the pond so you are swimming with fewer fish; or maybe you’re wondering if you’re even swimming in the right pond! I am here to show you a better way: a proven strategy for maximizing your campaign ROI (there’s that acronym again) and delivering qualified leads to your sales team: and it’s called Inbound Marketing. Instead of shrinking the size of the pond, with Inbound, we’ll just stock it with the right fish. Sound good? Of course it does! In this intro to our 4 part article series, we’ll discuss the overall concept of Inbound Marketing and define the 4 main Inbound Marketing stages.
Inbound Marketing is THE online marketing method to attract more leads to your website and close more deals.
Inbound Marketing – The Ebb and Flow Methodology
What if, instead of cold calling, your sales team could pick up the phone to talk with sales ready leads; leads that have already shown interest in your company and have even gone as far as to give you their contact info to set up a call? Yes, I’m referring to future customers and clients proactively coming to YOUR COMPANY, knocking at YOUR DOOR asking for more information. It may sound too good to be true, but this is the very core of Inbound Marketing.
Very simply, Inbound Marketing replaces your old online marketing efforts that compete and fight for the attention of your future customers. This new methodology uses valuable content to attract the right visitors to your website;visitors that are far more likely to become customers. The purpose of this content is to preempt and answer questions or create open conversations on market specific topics which interests them. When done right, these future customers will have taken the first step toward you by saying, “I am interested in what you are talking about and would like to learn more.
At this point you might be thinking, “Sounds cool, but I am not a writer. Inbound Marketing is not for me.” Well, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Think of it like your water-cooler conversations. What is happening in your market? What are current trends, problems, solutions, questions, milestones, etc. that people in your market are talking about today? Better yet, what could they be talking about tomorrow? These are the things that attract prospects and sales ready leads. Don’t worry if you can’t form it into written word. That’s what WE are here for!
Diving Deeper – AC/CD (not AC/DC)
OK, OK, this all sounds well and good, but how does one actually do it? As an overview, in an upcoming 4 part series we’ll cover the 4 Inbound Marketing Activities, what they do and how they work together to pull prospects through your marketing and sales funnel. (Notice, I did not say push.) These four steps are Attract, Convert, Close, Delight. Or AC/CD. Up next, Attract.
Read “Inbound Marketing Deep Dive Part 1: How to attract the right visitors your website” to continue learning how Inbound can help your online marketing goals.