TAG Communications Quad City Corporate Office 230 E. 2nd St., Davenport, IA 52801 Phone: (563) 355-2200 Tri-State Office in Dubuque 120 East 9th St. Suite 220, Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: (563) 587-8080 www.tagmarcom.com INSIGHTS INBOUND MARKETING A Checklist for Success
Step-by-step instructions for successful Online lead generation Whether you like it or not, consumers have the ability to educate themselves on your company and your company’s products on the Internet before ever engaging with your sales team. In this new digital world where buyers are in control of self-educating, the smart marketer’s job is no longer to find leads; it is to help leads find you!
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TAG Communications
Quad City Corporate Office 230 E. 2nd St., Davenport, IA 52801
Phone: (563) 355-2200
Tri-State Office in Dubuque 120 East 9th St. Suite 220, Dubuque, IA 52001
Phone: (563) 587-8080
www.tagmarcom.com
INSIGHTS
INBOUND MARKETING
A Checklist for Success
Insights
1
Quad City Corporate Office 230 E. 2nd St., Davenport, IA 52801 Phone: (563) 355-2200 www.tagmarcom.com
Tri-State Office in Dubuque 120 East 9th St. Suite 220 Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: (563) 587-8080
twitter.com/TheTAG_Team
facebook.com/TAGmarcom
youtube.com/TAGCommunications
flickr.com/tagmarcom/
linkedin.com/company/tag-
communications
About the Author Don Farber VP Digital Experience & Strategy, TAG Communications
Don drives digital concepts and executes creative plans that turn digital silos into unified marketing strategy to grow audience, content share and campaign ROI for TAG and our clients. He came to TAG from the publishing industry where he managing product development of digital initiatives in 52 U.S. markets. Don has also been fortunate to present
emerging digital media marketing concepts and strategies through public speaking events to business professionals and marketing colleagues nationally.
Table of Contents:
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
What is Inbound Marketing? …………………………………………………………….... 3
Top 5 Benefits of Inbound Marketing ………………………………………………….. 4
Can Your Company Generate Inbound Leads? …………………………………….. 9
Getting Started Checklist ……………………………………………………………........ 14
About TAG Communications ……………………………………………………………... 16
Quad City Corporate Office 230 E. 2nd St., Davenport, IA 52801 Phone: (563) 355-2200 www.tagmarcom.com
Tri-State Office in Dubuque 120 East 9th St. Suite 220 Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: (563) 587-8080
twitter.com/TheTAG_Team
facebook.com/TAGmarcom
youtube.com/TAGCommunications
flickr.com/tagmarcom/
linkedin.com/company/tag-
communications
Don’t find leads. Help leads find you. The days of relying on cold calls, tradeshows and print ads to turn prospects into customers are over. The fact is people are bombarded with 5000+ ads daily. Instead of tuning in, they are tuning out of many forms of traditional marketing. And who can blame them? Advertising hasn’t really changed in 2,000 years. It evolved from a soapbox to billboards, then print, radio, TV, fan page and online ads. They all have one outdated methodology in common: They PUSH. We live in a digital world and it spins from the moment we wake to the moment we sleep. Whether you like it or not, consumers have the ability to educate themselves on your company and your company’s products before engaging with sales. The smart marketer has started to adapt to this shift and has come to realize that engaging consumers is no longer about pushing out interruptive messages exclusively, but connecting with them in places and on the device they prefer. In the new digital world where buyers are in control of self-educating, the marketer’s job is no longer to find leads; it is to help leads find you.
Quad City Corporate Office 230 E. 2nd St., Davenport, IA 52801 Phone: (563) 355-2200 www.tagmarcom.com
Tri-State Office in Dubuque 120 East 9th St. Suite 220 Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: (563) 587-8080
twitter.com/TheTAG_Team
facebook.com/TAGmarcom
youtube.com/TAGCommunications
flickr.com/tagmarcom/
linkedin.com/company/tag-
communications
What is Inbound Marketing? Instead of pitching your products or services, with inbound content marketing you are delivering information via social media, blogs, email and your website that makes your buyer more intelligent. The essence of this content strategy is the belief that if you, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward you by researching your website and ultimately with their business and loyalty which means increased profits.
Inbound Marketing Methodology Before working on your content strategy, it's important for you to understand each stage of the marketing funnel in terms of lead mindset, effective content, and messaging goals. Below is a simple breakdown of the inbound marketing funnel stages:
Marketing Funnel - HubSpot
Inbound marketing is not a tactic, channel, or technology. It’s a way to approach your
marketing in order to capitalize on the way consumers make buying decisions today.
Inbound marketers understand that people value personalized, relevant content and connections -- not just interruptive messages -- at every stage of the marketing funnel.
Inbound allows you to attract visitors, convert leads, close customers, and delight them into promoting your business to others.
Quad City Corporate Office 230 E. 2nd St., Davenport, IA 52801 Phone: (563) 355-2200 www.tagmarcom.com
Tri-State Office in Dubuque 120 East 9th St. Suite 220 Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: (563) 587-8080
twitter.com/TheTAG_Team
facebook.com/TAGmarcom
youtube.com/TAGCommunications
flickr.com/tagmarcom/
linkedin.com/company/tag-
communications
Can Your Company Generate Inbound Leads? Reality Check: Does your company have the skills and toolset to deliver the following critical components of lead generation?
1. Website Optimization
a. Search Engine Optimization:
Your customers begin their buying process online, usually by using a search engine
to find something they have questions about. So you need to make sure you’re
appearing prominently when they search. To get there, you need to carefully,
analytically pick keywords, optimize your pages, create content, and build links
around the terms your ideal buyers are searching for.
b. Mobile Optimization:
Is your website optimized for tablets and smart phones? American consumers carry
their smart phone with them an average of 18 hours per day and access search
engines at least once a day. If you only have one version of your website, you’re doing your
business a great disservice.
Two Thirds of consumers report they’re more likely
to buy from a mobile-friendly site, and 61% say
they'll abandon a mobile site if it is hard to read and
Quad City Corporate Office 230 E. 2nd St., Davenport, IA 52801 Phone: (563) 355-2200 www.tagmarcom.com
Tri-State Office in Dubuque 120 East 9th St. Suite 220 Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: (563) 587-8080
twitter.com/TheTAG_Team
facebook.com/TAGmarcom
youtube.com/TAGCommunications
flickr.com/tagmarcom/
linkedin.com/company/tag-
communications
d. Email Development and Marketing:
With email marketing, it’s easy to connect with your customers and for customers
to share your message with their networks. And the more customers spread the
word about your business the more you grow.
77% of consumers prefer to receive permission-based
marketing communications through email. (ExactTarget). 72% of B2B buyers are most likely to share useful content
via email (Earnest Agency).
Email marketing remains unbeaten, with ROI still almost $41 per dollar spent and
is particularly effective when integrated with social media (DMA).
e. Online Video:
It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words but in the digital age a product video could very well be worth a thousand sales. Did you know that, when
it comes to engagement, online video is 5.33 times more effective than text? Or
that customers that view a product video are up to 85% more likely to buy
(KissMetrics)? Business decision makers LOVE online video because it gives them
the most amount of information in the shortest amount of time.
90% of online shoppers find videos useful when deciding to
make a purchase.
Websites are 52X more likely to be found with YouTube
videos embedded in them.
61% of YouTube users engage with brands to learn about products and
Quad City Corporate Office 230 E. 2nd St., Davenport, IA 52801 Phone: (563) 355-2200 www.tagmarcom.com
Tri-State Office in Dubuque 120 East 9th St. Suite 220 Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: (563) 587-8080
twitter.com/TheTAG_Team
facebook.com/TAGmarcom
youtube.com/TAGCommunications
flickr.com/tagmarcom/
linkedin.com/company/tag-
communications
3. Creation and Optimization of Landing Pages containing
Lead Generating Forms Online marketers have used the term “landing page” for many years to describe a sales
tactic focused on getting people to take one, specific action. Today, landing pages have
simply become a required element in the marketing toolbox for every imaginable
business. Why? The short answer is because they help increase your conversion rates
because they are focused on a single objective that matches the intent of the promotion
that your visitors clicked on to reach your page.
Landing pages are your lead capture workhorse. Whether you have an available white
paper or ebook, you want to build your email newsletter sign-up database or you have a
workshop to promote you will want to create signup forms for these landing pages. Your
signups will soar when you create a page that details, sells and demonstrates the benefits
of acquiring your free report. A landing page with video, audio, images, descriptions and
very intuitive call to action is a must for lead capture campaigns.
Focusing on your users instead of yourself can increase
sales by 90%.
Removing unnecessary details from your landing page can increase
conversions by approximately 60% (Neilson).
4. Promotion P.T. Barnum said it best: “Without promotion something terrible happens…Nothing!”
We’ve discussed that content is king and publishing engaging, high-impact and information-rich website, blog, social and premium content is a solid start. However, to ensure a wide captive audience and boost your content marketing ROI, you must promote and market your content. Producing excellent content without promotion will not secure your status as an industry thought leader or increase lead generation or conversion.
Quad City Corporate Office 230 E. 2nd St., Davenport, IA 52801 Phone: (563) 355-2200 www.tagmarcom.com
Tri-State Office in Dubuque 120 East 9th St. Suite 220 Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: (563) 587-8080
twitter.com/TheTAG_Team
facebook.com/TAGmarcom
youtube.com/TAGCommunications
flickr.com/tagmarcom/
linkedin.com/company/tag-
communications
Inbound Marketing Checklist Use this checklist to ensure you are doing all you can to put inbound marketing to work for your company!
1. Website Optimization: [ ] Do you have an offsite blog or onsite Blog landing page? [ ] Is your website optimized for SEO and Mobile? [ ] Are Calls to Action Present and Effective? [ ] Are Forms and Value statements present and Effective? [ ] Is website content informative, interesting and entertaining?
2. Creation of Premium Content Blogs: [ ] Do you have an optimized blog page with lead generating forms and RSS feeds [ ] Are you posting blogs optimally 4+ X per month or minimum of 3X per month? [ ] Do your blogs have call to action buttons and inbound marketing forms?
Social Media: Do you have the right social platforms in place, with engaging contet that are designed and optimized for your brand: [ ] Facebook [ ] YouTube [ ] Twitter [ ] Pinterest [ ] Google + [ ] Other? [ ] Are your social platforms promoting your Website, Blog and Whitepapers? [ ] Do you social platforms have call to action buttons and inbound marketing forms?
White Papers and/or eBooks: [ ] Have you written and optimized white papers and/or eBooks?
[ ] Are they informative and easy to interpret? [ ] Are they designed with online audiences’ needs in mind.
[ ] Are they collecting user information that can be used to finalize the conversion? Case Studies and Client Testimonials: [ ] Are they informative and easy to interpret? [ ] Are they designed with online audiences’ needs in mind.
Quad City Corporate Office 230 E. 2nd St., Davenport, IA 52801 Phone: (563) 355-2200 www.tagmarcom.com
Tri-State Office in Dubuque 120 East 9th St. Suite 220 Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: (563) 587-8080
twitter.com/TheTAG_Team
facebook.com/TAGmarcom
youtube.com/TAGCommunications
flickr.com/tagmarcom/
linkedin.com/company/tag-
communications
Email Development and Marketing [ ] Are your email campaigns CANSpam compliant? [ ] Are your templates developed to display correctly on multiple email readers? [ ] Is your email marketing mobile optimized? [ ] Are your newsletters informative and easy to interpret? [ ] Are they designed with online audiences’ needs in mind?
Production: [ ] Who will write? [ ] Who will produce? [ ] Is talent needed? [ ] Do you have a YouTube business channel and is it optimized?
3. Creation and Optimization of Landing Pages containing Lead Generating Forms
[ ] Are pages SEO optimized? [ ] Do landing pages need custom URL? [ ] Are landing pages mobile optimized? [ ] Is there video available? [ ] Are lead capturing forms developed? [ ] Who’s email addresses are forms directed to? [ ] What is plan to convert after data is collected?
4. Promotion
What strategies will you use to promote your inbound strategies? [ ] Facebook [ ] Twitter [ ] LinkedIn [ ] Google + [ ] TV and Radio? [ ] Print [ ] Public Relations (Digital / Print)? [ ] Outdoor? [ ] Other?
Quad City Corporate Office 230 E. 2nd St., Davenport, IA 52801 Phone: (563) 355-2200 www.tagmarcom.com
Tri-State Office in Dubuque 120 East 9th St. Suite 220 Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: (563) 587-8080
twitter.com/TheTAG_Team
facebook.com/TAGmarcom
youtube.com/TAGCommunications
flickr.com/tagmarcom/
linkedin.com/company/tag-
communications
About TAG
We believe great things are possible and everything springs from your goals. TAG is a fully integrated marketing communications company serving businesses in nearly every industry for clients throughout the nation. Marketing isn’t new to us and our web services team is recognized as a leader in the digital space. When you partner with our TAG, you’ll have better control over timelines and budget, without losing access to local, friendly and responsive web support.