Inbound Marketing The ultimate guide La Casita Del Cuco.EBOOK
Inbound Marketing - The ultimate guide Version _ 02 Date _ September 2015 Introduction Inbound Marketing is a marketing philosophy which has become mainstream the past few years. It is considered not a trend, but a marketing action that align with the current behaviour of the customers. The shopping behavior of your ideal client has changed significantly, and as a result, so have the methods for getting their attention. We all remember the days that we went to a shop seeking for advice and decided our buying on what the shop has to offer. These days customers first inform themselves online and then decide where they can buy what align with their wishes. As such Inbound Marketing is a strategy that makes that the business is be found by potential clients from the target market. In such a way that you do not disturb them with traditional (or Outbound) marketing actions such as advertising, direct mailing, calling them up and so on. That it is more than a trend became obvious after the relaunching and re-branding of SEOmoz, once world s number one website dedicated to Search Engine Optimization. Today the website is renamed Moz, still announced as SEO Software, Tools and Resources for Better Marketing at Google. But on the website it is obvious that they focus on Inbound Marketing as the core of their business. That a business as SEOmoz make such drastic changes, proves that Inbound Marketing is the most important marketing strategy of today. Only advantages! Inbound Marketing is all about creating and offering quality content which attract your potential customers toward your company and product. Content which address their specific interests and needs, once you have their interest, you can convert them to long term happy customers. La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 1
Inbound Marketing offers various advantages, such as : Reduced friction You do not upset your target market with advertisement that makes them think bad about your business. Be a resource You will be the resource people looking for and as such the first one they come to, to solve their problems. Better customer understanding As such you can offer exactly the content and services they really need. Better buying process understanding Important insight in how you reach clients and how many leads you need to obtain a purchase. More web visits Majority of the visits to a website are obtained through an inbound strategy, it is at the website where you need to turn them into clients. Higher quality leads By attracting more leads and offering the solution they need, you increase the possibility to get more potential clients. Market improvement The creation of a long loyal relationship with your clients, offer good results at a reduced cost in a market with lots of competition. Increase sales Because you build a long lasting relationship with your clients, you will have more sales. Cost reduction Lower long-term cost per lead, this does not include the cost of content creation. That you are building a network of followers, and that it is a big step to turn your business into a brand, are some more advantages. The disadvantage on the other hand is that it needs a lot of time. Of course this depends on your strategy is it strong and professional or not, the competition you are facing and the chosen keywords. La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 2
Personality ofethe Business Archetype BuyerEPersona Corporate Identity Corporate Graphic Standards Business Image MarketingEPlanEwith measurableegoals STRANGERS Unique selling proposition Graphic Design SocialEMedia Marketing Copy writing & Content Marketing Blogging Community Management SearchEEngine MarketingEPESEO VISITORS StepEbyEstepEtoEaElongEtermEprofitableEbusinessM La Casita Del Cuco www.casitadelcuco.es.atract - Get found
_ Attract Get found It is not about attracting visitors to the website, but rather attract the right kind of visitors that are valuable for our business. Visitors who have a direct need for your product or service, and who are most likely will become leads. In this stage you mainly will use Social Media to get your ideas and news know to the world. But you can t count on luck to succeed in this strategy. Because you need to attract your specific ideal client. It requires creative content, that will make you stand out, to make that happen. First your content need to be different visually from the huge amount of information your ideal client receive on a daily base. Second it need to be content that aligns with their specific pain points and as such provide a solution to their business problems. And third the content need to be there, where your ideal client is. Too much business only count on sending out Social Media posts. They do focus on the amount of followers they have and not on the quality of the posts and even if these post attract their followers to their product. Besides that, many believe they can use Social Media as a selling platform. Wrong, Social Media as well every action you perform in the first customer touch point, is not about selling, it is about attracting your ideal client to your website. It is on your website where the actions happens. More about this next week. How do you attract your ideal client? Determine the business archetype A personality is what makes people differentiate from each other. By connecting a business to an archetype, you give it a personality and humanize it. As well it is a strategy that position the business within its target market. As it is less difficult to differentiate personality characteristics, then to highlight the differences between product characteristics. This will create a greater customer experience, as people prefer to communicate with people. Buyer Persona Second step is to determine who your ideal client is. As said it is not about getting any type of visitors to your website, but the ones who need your products and services. But who is the right ideal client? That specific type of customer is represented by your Buyer Persona, which is a fictional representation of your target audience, with the purpose to gain an insight on your customers and their buying behavior. The Buyer Persona tells you what your ideal client are really like : what are their specific pain points, age, gender, location, profession, class, as well what are their values, opinions, habits, likes, beliefs, state of mind, character, Marketing Plan with measurable goals Products do not sell themselves, there are only a few business whose business name is an argument to sell. Here is where marketing steps in. Through marketing you create a unique name and an image in the customers mind. This by establishing a La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 3
significant presence in the market that attracts and keep loyal customers. But first you need to plan how you will establish your presence in the market. Choose goals you can realize and which you easily can measure by means of online tools, such as Google Analytics. Work out a campaign that aligns with the interests, behaviors and needs of your Buyer Persona. Community Management We have our plan, now we have to go to business and execute what we have planned. Again, in the Attract stage of our Inbound Marketing strategy it is not the intention to sell, but to attract attention to our business. This is done by creating a strong community around your business, which is not the same as a Social Media Marketing strategy. Social Media is as any other marketing action a strategy or a tool to get more followers. Community management can t even be called a marketing strategy, but more as an attitude. The primary purpose is to have an active engagement with your community. Not to market your product or services, or to get your products purchased, but to improve your community around your business. Sounds like a business contradiction, but the idea is that the better you engage with your community, more likely you convert them into clients with your marketing efforts. Content Marketing strategy Engagement starts with creating and offering quality content which attract your Buyer Persona. Create content that offer a solution to the specific interests and needs of your Buyer Persona. This will generate more relevant traffic and attention to your business. Don t forget to create content that speaks, sound and look as your business archetype, bring some identity into your content. Graphic Design is an important part in this process. A unique corporate identity helps you to recognize your business over and over again, each time your target market comes in contact with your content. Good design makes you stand out as well and improve your reputation. Your content needs to communicate your unique selling proposition and business image as well. All this will make that your target market will see you as the perfect solution for their problems and will make that they visit your website. Keyword Research There is so much information going around in Social Media, so you need to make that your ideal client find your information in this flood. Use those hashtag keywords related to your ideal client needs and wishes. Use this list as a guide line for the texts you will be writing. Copywriting The kind of words you use, can make a huge difference. So a little focus on copywriting can do wonders. Do this along with your Tone of Voice and the editorial guide line you have written during the Personality of the Business process. Social Media Marketing Is by far the most used marketing strategy to get our content to our ideal client or Buyer Persona. Our Buyer Persona tells us where the ideal client spends its time, and we adjust the content to how they behave on the various social platforms. The purpose is to increase the visibility and the reputation of your business. Remember do not focus on getting as much as possible followers, but on reaching your potential customers and to engage with them. La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 4
Blogging Blogging is seen as one of the basics of a good Inbound Marketing strategy, as it is the best way to attract new visitors to your website. Blog posts that educate and bring solutions to your ideal clients problems will bring them to your website. Search Engine Marketing and Optimization You only can attract visitors when you will get found. Your visitors use search engines to find the information they are looking for. Optimization of your web page, to obtain links to your page, the use of the keywords your ideal customer is using, makes that you will appear prominently in search results and will drive visitors to your website. Content In this stage of your Inbound Marketing strategy you focus on content that you can share and spread at your Social Media platforms. Creative content people like to share. Above all quality content which address your ideal client specific interests and needs : But as well : Blog Posts Social Media Posts Videos Fotos Viral Content Social Media ads Web Banner Public Relations Flyers Business Cards Performance Analysis Indicators you can follow to see if you succeed in your Community Management, Content Marketing strategy, and Search Engine Marketing and Optimization : Social Media Followers Post Reach Post Likes Post Comments Post Shares Click-through-rates Inbound Links La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 5
Unique Web Visits Blog Post comments Conclusion Success in this stage of your Inbound Marketing strategy comes when you focus completely on attracting your ideal client to your community. Do not focus on selling your product, make friends first, welcome your members to your community with content they like and which bring solutions to their problems. Once this is done, they will go to your website. It is at your website where the selling process take place. Because it is at your website where your ideal client will search for more information and where they will decide if you will be the source they need to follow. La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 6
@ VISITORS Web Design Conversion Path Landing Pages Premium ContentEStrategy Contacts Calls-To- Action LEADS StepEbyEstepEtoEaElongEtermEprofitableEbusinessV La Casita Del Cuco www.casitadelcuco.es.convert - Get followed
_ Convert Get followed In this step you convert visitors to your website into leads by gathering their contact information. To do this, you need to offer something of great value in exchange. With your Buyer Persona as the foundation, craft a resourceful downloadable offer in the form of an ebook, a whitepaper, a video, or a checklist. The attract step focus on attracting your ideal client and to bring them your website. You might think that selling starts in the second step of your Inbound Marketing strategy. Wrong! In this step your ideal client is still not convinced if you offer the ideal services. As such you need to convince your visitors to follow your business, by making them to subscribe to your mailing list. Once they follow you, you can keep them updated with content that will convert them into leads or potential clients. How do you convert your website visitors? Conversion path Once you have your ideal client at your website we have to focus on bringing content that align with their interests and needs. The goal is creating a conversion path that leads your ideal client to the premium content they need. Each page and element along this path in your website, from the landing page until the call-to-action, align with the behavior of your Buyer Persona. Aim is to create a conversion path that engage the user experience and which speaks directly to the interests and needs of your ideal client. This will result in a higher conversion rate and most of all, more qualified leads for your business. Web Design Your website is the main platform in your Inbound Marketing strategy. Your whole design is built to turn your website into a lead generating platform. The visual aspect, such as color palette, typography, visual style and icon style align your corporate identity. This will trigger a point of recognition in your ideal client s mind. Each time your ideal client is triggered by your corporate identity and link this to your expertise, you are set for success. Second, optimize your website in such a way that your ideal client can find the content which show your expertise quick and easy. Transform your website into a source of helpful content for your ideal client. Landing Pages The conversation path starts with a landing page. Mainly that is the first page of your website. A landing page is a starting point and each element on this page invites and guides your visitors to the premium content they need. Landing pages are simple, speak to the right audience and are well designed. On a good landing page, benefits come before features, and engaging headlines keep your visitors to stay and make them want for more. La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 7
Premium content strategy With your Buyer Persona as starting point, develop downloadable content your ideal client wish in return for their contact information. Content that assist your ideal client in their buying process such as ebooks, checklists, white papers and other downloadable material, but explanation videos as well. This content offer a great value, sufficient enough to assist your ideal client in a problem but not too much that they do not need your services anymore. Calls-to-Action A call-to-action is an instruction, which encourage your visitors to do an action. This action can be anything : to click on a button, to go to a certain page, to subscribe to a newsletter, to download an ebook. A call-to-action can guide your visitors to a second landing page. At this page the promise made in the call-to-action fulfilled. You can use more than one call-to-action in your conversation path, this will generate more leads. But at one point you need to obtain the contact information of your ideal client. Either by a subscription to a newsletter, the promise of an ebook, or a download, submitting their contact information should be short and easy. Contacts A centralized marketing database you need in this stage of your Inbound Marketing. A database where you can keep track on every action your visitor take and if you can turn them into leads. As well to keep an eye on every interaction (whether on social media, at a landing page, by email, ) you have with your contacts. This will help you to optimize your conversation path. Content In this stage of your Inbound Marketing strategy you focus on content your visitors are willing to download in return for their email : Landing Page ebook Checklists Tutorial Guides Whitepapers Online Course Performance Analysis Indicators you can follow to see if you succeed in your conversation path strategy, web design and call-to-action : Unique visits to the landing pages Time they stay on the website Bounce rate La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 8
Click through to other pages Subscription to the newsletter Lead conversion percentage Conclusion If you believe that you can start selling your product, once somebody visits your website you are wrong. Such an approach will only scare away your visitors. Because they have plenty of other websites and business to go to, where they are welcomed as a person and not as a wallet. Remember, Inbound Marketing is about treasuring your ideal client, not by pushing them to become customers. If you succeed in this, your ideal customer will follow your business with pleasure and over time see you as somebody they can count on. Not only because they see you as somebody who has the expertise, but as well the business who can help them in their problems. La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 9
LEADS Email Marketing Nurtering Strategy Content Mapping Workflows Customer Relationship Management Closed-loop reporting CLIENTS StepIbyIstepItoIaIlongItermIprofitableIbusinessT La Casita Del Cuco www.casitadelcuco.es.close - Convert to clients
_ Close Convert to clients After obtaining more qualified traffic and leads to your website, the focus is on nurturing these leads with the right content at the right time, in order to help close them into customers. In this step of the Inbound Marketing strategy we focus on the subscribers we have at our mailing list. We focus on sharing content with our subscribers that may help them in specific and more personal problems. This according to the specific needs of your Buyer Personas. It is interesting to have in this step more than one Buyer Persona. Because as the steps in the strategy progresses towards the point of selling, also the specification, the difficulty and as such also the value of content progresses. As such we need to have an accurate knowledge on the specific complex problems our ideal clients have. Providing a solution does not mean that you solve their problems completely for free. Providing a solution can be as well an explanation how your services will solve the problem and what they can expect. Your ideal client will evaluate and compare your services and products with the ones of your competitor. How to convert your potential clients into clients? Email Marketing You have now the contact information from visitors to your website. Contact information you have obtained through strategies you have organized at your website. If your subscribers hasn t become customers yet, you can do that through email marketing. Build trust by sending useful and relevant content. Headings, text and call-to-actions of your email, are inviting and make your subscribers to open the email, read it and eventually click on a link and bring them back to your website. Nurturing strategy How closer you get your ideal client to the sales process, how more complex it becomes. You need now to develop a nurturing strategy which addresses the specific behavior of each of your Buyer Personas. You need to have an idea which specific actions your leads make at your website. This will give you the possibility to develop automated campaigns which engage your ideal client and will lead them towards a sale. Content mapping There are two types of content you need to develop. First it is content which give your client the possibility to compare your products and services with those of your competitor. Personalized content that addresses the specific needs and goals of your potential client. This type of content you mainly provide at the end of a nurturing strategy. A nurturing strategy starts with content that comes in the right place and at the right time, and never bothers your lead. For example do not push content to a potential client when he/she did not previously told that he/she is interested in that subject. La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 10
Make a map of the various buying cycles (online or offline) your potential client makes and the various actions they take. Develop content for every level of these cycles, content that will guide your ideal client towards a sale. Keep track on what is happening so that you can shorten and improve the sales process. Workflows Developing a more personalized approach ask a lots of time, and mostly it is an unpleasant task as well. Especially when you prefer creating, as I do. As such, develop a workflow for an action or group of actions in the content map and automate where possible. A workflow is a repeatable pattern of operations a business makes to provide a service or process information. Workflows give you the possibility to cut costs in time and work, in relation to what it provide in sales. Customer Relationship Management A customer Relationship Management tool help you to keep an eye on the contacts you make and the companies you are in contact with. Depending on which system you use, you can keep contact details, sale details, organize campaigns, make reports, and so much more that help you to engage with your leads. Closed-loop reporting Gives you an idea on which marketing efforts offer you the best way to convert a lead into a client. Reporting always provide useful information to do better or to find solutions for what is not providing sales. Content In this stage of your Inbound Marketing you focus on content that align with your followers wishes and that make them consider to be a client. They will compare your content with your competitors and make an evaluation. Content might be : Newsletters Resource page Infographics FAQ Review Video Online Chat Webinar Rating Testimonies Sales Page Catalogue Brochures Demo s Free Trials Free Samples La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 11
Coupons Discounts Estimates Performance analysis Indicators you can follow to see if you succeed in your email Marketing, Nurturing strategy and Content mapping : Email open rate Click rate on link in email Unique visits to the nurturing strategy landing pages Orders Revenue Average Order Value Conclusion Success in sales comes when you slowly build up a connection between your ideal client and your business. First by attracting your ideal client to your website. Once you have them there, you provide content that make your business more interesting for them. They will give you the credit and the opportunity to keep them updated by email. So now you need to astonish them with more useful information that provide solutions to their problems. In this step you make yourself as a business they can trust on, so much more stronger. La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 12
CLIENTS Surveys Ongoing Communication Smart Content SmartGCalls- To-Action RE-ENGAGE PROMOTERS StepGbyGstepGtoGaGlongGtermGprofitableGbusinessL La Casita Del Cuco www.casitadelcuco.es.delight - Convert to promoters
_ Delight Convert to promoters Once a lead becomes a customer, the process of achieving valuable business equity is only just beginning. Continue the positive experience with social monitoring, exclusive content, and further assistance, to help to create business promoters, who in turn, deliver referral business. In this stage we first can gather useful information that helps us improving our content. This information can help us to update our Buyer Persona. Beside that creating the additional content what your customers are looking for. As such you keep your customers part of your business. By constantly keeping them pleased, they will become eventually the promoters of your business. Word-of-mouth marketing is the most powerful promotion a business can have. Your customers become as such a valuable asset to your business. How to delight your client and make them promoters? Surveys This is the moment where you can obtain useful information from your customers. There is only one way to know what your customers want and that is by asking them. After you finished a service or delivered a product, ask for feedback and do a survey. Ask for where you can improve, but also for what they are missing or wish more. Update your marketing plan and content marketing with the information obtained. But update also your Buyer Persona if needed. Ongoing Communication Our goal is to keep our client as customer, and keep him or her purchasing our products and services. In fact you wish to have them back in the second step of your Inbound Marketing strategy. Through email marketing you keep them guiding back to your website. But the experience your client will have, must be different from that of new visitors. Smart Content You have the knowledge, you know what your customers wish, now create the content your customers wish to see. First of all that can be additional content that gets the most out of the service or product they bought. Secondly introduce your customers to new products and feature. Bring them to landing pages where clients only have access to and to content that only make sense for them. Because marketing efforts are distinct for potential clients you wish to make a purchase or clients who have already done, and as such the content approach as well. Smart Calls-to-Action As our marketing efforts are different between first time visitors to the website and clients, also the calls-to-action are different as well. To keep customers close to our business we must bring different content as well between a first time or a regular client. Clients know the benefits of our product by now, as such the call-to-action promise an additional experience to get even more. La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 13
Content In this stage you give more to a client then they have asked for. Or as they say, under promise and over deliver : Ofertas Discounts Exclusives Gifts Performance analysis Indicators you can follow to see if you do succeed in the last step of your Inbound Marketing strategy : Repeat Purchase (Lifetime Value) Referral Conclusion Keep your clients close to your business. You have done so much effort to get clients, so why you should move them aside and only focus on new clients. Your clients know you and if they are happy and if you make them more happier, they will become clients again. If not, they will gladly promote your business. Did you enjoyed this ebook? Check out www.casitadelcuco.es for more free downloads and ebooks. La Casita Del Cuco http://www.casitadelcuco.es info@casitadelcuco.es Page 14