As masses of consumers and prospective employees search the Internet for services, news and information, organizations in virtually every industry are shifting budgets away from print advertising, trade shows and direct mail toward more measurable and effective inbound marketing strategies.
Inbound marketing refers to marketing strategies in which consumers choose to learn more about you by conducting a search online, subscribing to your RSS feed, downloading your case studies, opting into your email newsletter, watching your videos, listening to your webinars, becoming your “Fan” or “Follower,” visiting your social network or commenting on your blog. It's a framework advocated and propagated by industry thought leader HubSpot and one that I've adopted for myself and clients. Below is a template that outlines the main components of an Inbound Marketing campaign:
Establish Brand & Define Audience
- Cement the value proposition of your company. Determine what you want to be known for.
- Define audience profiles of target market with an emphasis regarding online behaviors.
- Determine goals and approach for each audience by conducting interviews or surveys.
Perform Website Strategy Audit (www.websitegrader.com)
- Review your website or web destination to ensure it explains who you are, what you provide and why it matters.
- Ensure website encourages lead generation through calls-to-action and is sticky by providing engaging content or offers.
- Perform keyword research regarding the terms you wish to target and ensure they are used judiciously on your website.
Develop Social Media Content Strategy
- Selection and set-up of the most appropriate channels for communication (I.e LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter). Be strategic about your choice.
- Dedicate or outsource one full time equivalent person to manage social media activities and content creation.
- Develop an editorial calendar for content creation
Create Digital Content - Videos, Blogs, Social Profile Branding, eBooks, Etc.
- Develop any new digital assets and content to support the above requirements (I.e. Web design, blog, videos, white papers, etc.)
- Manage and build subscriber list for email marketing efforts
- Customize your social media spaces with fan gateways and branding. Give people a reason to "like" or "follow" by offering an incentive.
Execute Search Marketing (Pay-Per-Click, Search Engine Optimization, Links, Etc.)
- Utilize Keyword analysis to identify the best triggers and terms to include on website and in adverts.
- Evaluation and creation of pay-per-click campaign (AdWords, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, etc.).
- Monthly maintenance to ensure ads and optimization efforts are delivering results.
Keep Digital Marketing Scorecard & Perform Maintenance
- Implement process for tracking the success metrics of efforts
- Scheduled reviews of efforts and assistance with maintenance
