INBOUND MARKETING 101: 5 Things. Must Have to Start Generating Leads

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1 INBOUND MARKETING 101: 5 Things Your Website Must Have to Start Generating Leads

2 Introduction to Inbound 311 Marketing Million ESTIMATED US POPULATION 164 Million ESTIMATED US ADULT INTERNET USERS Did you know that 311 million Americans are online? That s more than half of the U.S. population and 3/4ths of adults. With current buying trends demonstrating the popularity of online shopping, more businesses can stand to increase sales by focusing more attention on inbound marketing strategies. The Internet offers a convenient way to discover, browse, shop and connect, and you can now take advantage of an excellent opportunity to gain visibility, skyrocket your sales, and build your brand online. Inbound marketing focuses on targeting your customers through search engines, blogs, social media, and linking opportunities. By creating a highly targeted inbound marketing plan, you can transition your business to generate more sales online while simultaneously reducing your marketing budget. Many businesses are now making the switch because they are saving money AND seeing phenomenal results.

3 The Shift from Outbound to Inboundnd These statistics show the substantial shift in marketing budgets from outbound to inbound marketing strategies like social media, search engine optimization, and virtual events. B2B marketers are shifting their budgets toward inbound marketing. 69% 60% 60% 49% 40% I WILL INCREASE MY INVESTMENT IN THIS MARKETING TACTIC THIS YEAR. 32% 24% 22% 15% INBOUND OUTBOUND SOURCE: MARKETINGSHERPA, OCTOBER 2010 Key Considerations on the Shift to Inbound Marketing: According to a recent study, 61% of marketers will shift their budget to focus more on new media in Marketers are moving away from what some refer to as interruption advertising in favor of a more personalized approach on the Internet. Marketing budgets have increased rapidly for social media marketing and content optimization for blogs in recent years. The marketing budgets have almost doubled for these areas. They have proven to be the most effective ways to generate targeted leads and convert those leads into paying customers. Outbound marketing is quickly being replaced by inbound marketing. For certain industries, outbound marketing still plays a critical role in business development and effective marketing, but most of these tactics can easily and cost-effectively be supplemented with a comprehensive inbound marketing program. Inbound marketing with social media, search engine optimization, and virtual events are now the optimal choice for many marketers.

4 Search Engine Optimization The most effective inbound marketing technique that you can use to climb the ranks in the search engines, gain visibility, and attract organic traffic to your website. 57% of Internet users s search the web every day. SOURCE: MARKETSHARE.HITSLINK.COM, OCTOBER 2010 Key Considerations on SEO: An estimated 88,000,000,000 searches are performed every month on Google. 4 This worldwide statistic shows just how many people are turning to Google to meet their needs. Entering just a few keyword phrases into the search engines can return millions or billions of results, but studies indicate that 75% of search users will only scroll through the first page of results. 7 75% of user clicks are from organically ranked sites, not paid sites 5 Nearly 50% of daily searches are for information on products or services 6 If your site is currently not optimized for specific keywords, your target market might not even know that you exist until you increase your ranking.

5 Blogging g Creating a blog can increase your rankings, give you the opportunity to distribute useful information on your products/services, and connect with your audience in an effective way. MEDIAN MO ONTHLY LEADS % < >311 # OF INDEXED PAGES SOURCE: HUBSPOT, STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING LEAD GENERATION REPORT, 2010 Key Considerations on Blogging: Offering your customers the chance to learn more about your products is imperative to creating a strong, sustainable relationship. Blogging allows you to share industry-related information that can help your customers make the best decision on their next purchases. Websites with a blog generate much higher rates of traffic than sites that are purely designed to sell. 40% of businesses now use a blog to provide information and grow their website 8 B2C companies that use a blog generate 88% higher response rate and targeted leads than companies that do not use blogging B2C companies sell on average 67% more than businesses that do not blog.

6 Social Media Creating connections with your customers is something that you absolutely must do. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn give you the ideal opportunity to connect, share, and grow. Nearly 2/3 of US Internet users regularly use a social network. SOURCE: EMARKETER, FEBRUARY 2011 Key Considerations on Social Media Marketing: Sharing with social media will allow you to discover new opportunities by connecting with your target audience on a more personal level. Social media is essential for getting the word out about your business, and it is also an excellent tool to use to learn how to market more effectively by analyzing the needs of your clients. Did you know that 93% of adult Internet users have a Facebook account? 11 People spend a significant amount of time on social media, and marketers who spend on average 6 hours a week or more managing their social media sites see 52% more leads than businesses that do not. 12 People that use Twitter generate double the leads than other similar businesses that do not. Marketing with social media will allow you to engage your prospects through several ldifferent outlets, t and dit will also give you the opportunity to create stronger connections and generate more leads.

7 Website Lead Generation Does your website have call-to-action buttons that link to great offers and shows your customers how to respond to your sales pitch? This is the single most effective way to generate leads for your business. Creating opportunities for your customers to respond to your service offerings or product line will help you generate leads and convert prospects into paying customers. Giving your customers all of the information that they need to make a decision is essential, but you should also give them the opportunity to respond and become your customer by providing call-to action buttons on each and every page of your website. If your customers make it to the final third of your sales page, they are more willing to engage with a representative to discuss your service offerings, so incorporating links to offers in your text gives you the chance to show your customers how to take the next step. Inbound marketing gives you the opportunity to generate targeted leads while still conserving your marketing budget. The content on your website should educate and inform your prospects, and it should help them become more clear about how your products or services will help them solve a problem. While you are providing these solutions, you should make sure to link to different areas of of your conversion path so that you can continue to generate new leads and nurture them accordingly.

8 Lead Nurturing Lead nurturing is absolutely critical to ongoing business development. By incorporating lead nurturing into your marketing strategy, you can effectively establish strong relationships with your clients and increase conversions. Key Considerations about Lead Nurturing: Nurturing your leads simply means developing an ongoing relationship with your customers whereby you communicate information and use critical feedback to better develop your marketing strategies. MIT recently conducted a study on lead nurturing which found that 78% of sales generated from a web inquiry are given to the first company that responds to the inquiry. A system that will allow you to respond to inquiries quickly and efficiently as they come in is a very important element to maintaining a successful online business. Nurtured leads, according to a study conducted by LeadGen, generate on average 20% more sales than those that do not nurture their leads. Forrester Research concluded that nurtured leads generate 50% higher conversion rates and a much lower cost associated with each lead. Creating a scalable, flexible lead nurturing strategy can help you educate your customers and provide answers to common questions so that you can build a stronger relationship with your customers, and ultimately, increase your sales. These sales-ready leads are invaluable to your business, and incorporating an effective lead nurturing strategy will give you the opportunity to increase your conversion rates and offer valuable information and insight to your customers/

9 Sources, Unless Cited: 1 BLOGHER, APRIL 2011, PEW RESEARCH, MAY 2010, US CENSUS BUREAU, MAY THE MEDIA AUDIT, OCTOBER ANSWERLAB & SOCIETY OF DIGITAL AGENCIES, FEBRUARY SEARCH ENGINE LAND, FEBRUARY MARKETINGSHERPA, FEBRUARY SRI, October MARKETSHARE.HITSLINK.COM, OCTOBER EMARKETER, AUGUST HUBSPOT, STATEIFINBOUNDMARKETINGLEADGENERATION INBOUND GENERATION REPORT, HUBSPOT, STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING REPORT BLOGHER, APRIL SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMINER, HUBSPOT, 2011