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5 Of The Hottest Trends In Marketing Right Now, According To Industry Experts

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By  Brenda Stoltz

The thing about marketing trends, particularly for B2B marketers, is that they change frequently. If you don’t stay on top of them, you risk missing out on serious potential for revenue growth and customer acquisition.

So what’s hot these days? What do you need to pay attention to and learn to embrace? Recently, I interviewed several industry leaders to see what they consider to be the most significant marketing trends happening right now.

We’re getting down to creepy levels of personalization

Just a few years ago, personalization in marketing meant customizing an email to address the recipient by name. Brandi Smith, VP of demand generation marketing at Uberflip, says we’ve come a long way since then. Account-based marketing (ABM) and technology are being used to dive deep into an audience base to deliver highly personalized content, especially for B2B marketers.

If you don’t stay on top of the latest trends, you risk missing out on serious potential for revenue growth and customer acquisition. Industry leaders share what’s hot.

Smith says, “We can creep their social profiles to see what information is hot and trending to them, we can look at their company’s annual reports, and look at the footnotes or just the content in general to find out what might actually be a key focus in a key directive for their business moving into the new fiscal year.”

It’s necessary, she says, to use tools like artificial intelligence in meaningful ways to create a personal experience without the customer feeling like the company has crossed a line into creepy.

Nissar Ahamed, senior director of demand generation at Atomic Reach, agrees with Smith. “There’s too much noise, which makes it more difficult and also more expensive to create content that hits the mark and converts,” he says. And that’s why, according to Ahamed, hyper-personalized content based on the buyer’s journey, demographics, location, etc., make for much more effective marketing. He cites the example of emails that Amazon sends: no two are the same because they’re based on a shopper’s past history, profile, and demographics.

Ahamed encourages marketers to invest in tools and automation that can help personalize content in a meaningful and relevant way.

Email marketing is making a comeback

Though we’ve heard this claim already, “email marketing is just as effective today as before,” says Ahamed. That’s due, he says, to the fact that it’s become more integrated with content marketing to build audiences. As algorithms and advertising policies change on social media, it has become more difficult to own an audience there.

Meanwhile, reliable email marketing offers distribution and the ability to build an audience through an established and proven channel.

Other Articles From AllBusiness.com:

Content is becoming increasingly interactive

Content marketing certainly isn’t a trend; it’s here to stay, but its delivery and consumption continue to evolve.

Gaurav Harode, founder and CEO of Enablix, sees that content is becoming more and more interactive. “So, right now we have static content, maybe some web content and video. But I think there is going to be a middle ground where there are going to be a lot of platforms and a lot of flexibility where content is going to be interactive,” he says.

One example Harode gives is calculators that businesses use to attract leads. You can use these calculators to calculate ROI, auto or home loan payments, and more. But what’s less obvious is these are interactive content tools designed to drive business to a company.

Ahamed concurs: “Content is no longer a siloed department within marketing.” He says it’s now a cross-team function, and he also sees more integration of content in other aspects of marketing, sales, and other departments.

AI is no longer a mysterious black box

Ahamed also says that 2019 is going to be the year of heavy exploration and implementation of artificial intelligence for brands. He believes that as companies of every size start to realize that AI isn’t there to replace humans and jobs—that it is, in fact, there to augment and complement those roles—more brands will adopt AI in innovative ways through marketing.

Chatbots are going to take charge this year

Smith also sees that chatbots are going to increase their presence in 2019. In fact, 35% of consumers would interact with one to resolve a complaint or problem, and 33% would use one to make a reservation at a restaurant or hotel.

There are plenty of marketing functions chatbots can serve, from directing a website visitor to a particular product, color, and size to offering instantly redeemable coupons. And as more brands find proven success with chatbots, we’ll see an increase in adoption as well as inspiration for how to use them to reach an audience.

Trends matter

If you’re serious about reaching your customers on their terms, pay attention to these trends. While they may evolve (or even disappear completely) over time, right now they are an effective means to build a real and sustainable relationship with your audience.

Feature Image Credit: weyo – Adobe Stock

By  Brenda Stoltz

I am the president of Ariad Partners, a marketing and sales firm specializing in creating breakthrough growth strategies for small to mid-market companies. I also blog about small business, lead generation, and sales at B2Community.com, AllBusiness.com, FoxBusiness.com, Business.com, HubSpot.com, Eloqua.com, and SharpSpring.com. Connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Facebook.

Sourced from Forbes

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5 Ways to Get More People Subscribe to Your Facebook Messenger Chatbot

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By Krystal Manrique

Aside from your usual Facebook business page, having a Messenger chatbot is a great way to boost your brand awareness and your online presence. A Messenger chatbot can receive pizza orders, schedule meetings, and answer queries. Quite a number of brands are continually coming up with more and more ways to make this feature still more useful and effective.

With chatbot software widely available, you don’t have to be or hire a computer programmer in order to create one in just a matter of minutes. But when you make your chatbot, make sure that you provide a brief description for Facebook to check and verify and for users to read. You should also add your chatbot into the appropriate primary and secondary categories so you can reach your intended audience. Think about ten keywords that your target Messenger users will type into their chat line that would make Facebook’s algorithms show your chatbot link, and include these keywords among your bot’s properties as well. These are the minimum requirements to make your chatbot visible.

As simple as making a chatbot visible may be, it is very different from making it grow in popularity. You must craft a separate strategy to ensure that it gets the right amount of promotion so that more people will know, use, and spread the word about your bot. Here are a few things that will make more people subscribe to your Facebook Messenger chatbot:

1. Include a Messenger button on your website

Adding a social button to your website is one of the easiest ways to generate traffic for your Messenger chatbot. It is a great idea to give website visitors something to click through to go to or share content on your social media channels. A “Send to Messenger” button on your website is sure to enable more users to connect with your chatbot. You can do this by copying and pasting embed codes from your Facebook page that would bring the site visitors to your landing page. You may also use plugins. Adding a “Send Message” button on your Facebook business page itself may also help to generate traffic for your bot.

2. Share only your best, top-performing pieces of content to sustain your audience

Instead of sharing as many pieces of content as you can, make a point of ensuring that your Facebook Messenger chatbot subscribers receive only the finest quality and most popular material so that they will not unsubscribe from you or worse, block you. Since your audience is most likely to engage with you on Facebook Messenger, don’t annoy them with spammy content. Be selective about the content that would want to propagate among them so that you don’t appear to be too invasive.

Messenger

3. Utilize Click-to-Messenger Ads to promote yourself and generate more traffic at the same time

Click-to-Messenger ads can be used to reach out and attract potential subscribers among Facebook’s users. Not only will you be able to advertise your brand or service but you would generate more traffic for your Messenger chatbot as well. Those who will become interested will click your ad to be able to subscribe to your emails, online newsletters, announcements, podcasts, and other content. Just make sure to make a relevant and compelling ad that is strategically targeted towards an audience to make them more likely to click through. The team at Mobile Monkey with Larry Kim have developed an elite Facebook Advertising Virtual Summit that helps users understand more about Facebook advertising and best practices.

4. Insert your chatbot link along with your e-mail signature

Adding a link to your Facebook Messenger chatbot along with your email signature in your emails can also help spread awareness for your bot. You can also insert your Twitter handle and other social media links. To see how effective this move is, add a UTM code to the link, or use a URL shortening service like bit.ly. Doing this will give you the stats as to how many people are clicking on the Facebook Messenger chatbot link embedded within your email signature.

5. Have your Bot included in Facebook’s Discovery Tab

Facebook’s Messenger Discovery Tab is another arena in which you can become more well-known. However, you will need to start by filling out Facebook’s submission form in order for your chatbot to be included in the Discovery Tab. Facebook’s algorithms will make your chatbot link appear in the Discovery Tab of Facebook users whose psychological profile would make them more likely to click your bot.

By Krystal Manrique

Sourced from Digital Marketing Experts International

 

 

 

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Build Your Brand Reputation With These 4 Techniques

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By Susan Gilbert

Today I have some branding strategies to help you create more visibility and increase your brand reputation. Here’s four links with tips and tricks to kick start your work week.

Establishing your business as a leader in our industry takes time and cultivation through the right relationships and marketing methods. Using the strategies can help you connect more with your audience and influencers. There are several ways to help you focus your efforts and improve awareness. Take advantage of these ideas, and let me know how these work for you!

1 – Go beyond online marketing

Build a wider audience through offline marketing. With this strategy your business can reach interested prospects by being active and engaged with them at places like industry trade shows, concerts, book signings, and more. By making a personal connection you can create a memorable experience that will translate into your online properties as well.

2 – Create trust in your community

People who trust your business enough will the spread the word online and offline. This is free advertising for your company that can have a continual payoff. As you build relationships within your niche through methods such as exclusive events, live video, and Twitter chats your customers will have an opportunity to share their experiences. As you take a positive, and encouraging approach with a high value offer you will begin to see your products or services being recommended by others online.

3 – Leverage influencer marketing

Make an action plan to connect with leaders in your industry. This will open the doors for guest blogging opportunities and recommendations that can help bring more visitors to your website and social networks. Engage on places like LinkedIn, Medium, and other blogs to attract more brand followers. After establishing your expertise and authority it won’t be long before your business or name is recommend on authority websites.

4 – Podcasts and video marketing

Would you like people to find your brand online quickly? This is a powerful and popular way to bring interested prospects into your business, provide a how-to segment, or showcase an expert interview. Hosting a podcast or uploading videos to YouTube are effective with both live and pre-recorded methods.

Hopefully you will find these brand reputation methods useful to your online strategy. Are there any that you would like to add as well?

Have fun with these tips and tools.

By Susan Gilbert

 

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5 Steps to Help You Find Inbound Marketing Happiness

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How can inbound marketing impact your customer’s happiness level? The answer might be in the reviews. The growth of social media has led to the growth of consumer power. If a customer loves a product, they have the power to recommend it to friends and family. If a customer felt like they didn’t receive a five-star experience, they have the power to let you know.

Due to the pressure of maintaining a positive online reputation, many brands are beginning to dedicate a customer service specialist to manage and monitor their online reputation. In fact, in 2018, 78 percent of people who complain to a brand via Twitter expect a response within an hour. If the customer holds the power to your online reputation, then shouldn’t they be the focus of your marketing strategy?

Out(bound) with the old, In(bound) with the new!

The way we communicate is evolving, and so is the way marketing operates. Traditional outbound marketing meant fighting for your potential customer’s attention. Inbound marketing differs because it is customer-centric. By generating content curated to tackle the needs and problems of your ideal customers, you appeal to qualified prospects and build confidence for your business.

Why is this important? Because “customer success is your success!” Reviews and customer opinions matter.

Eighty-one percent of people trust advice from friends and family over advice from a business. 69 percent do not trust advertisements.

Customers are your greatest marketers!

Funnel vs. Flywheel

The inbound marketing process is known as a flywheel, while traditional outbound marketing is thought of as a funnel. This funnel starts with marketing, then trickles down to sales and ends with customers as an afterthought. The issue with the funnel is that the only way to grow is at the top because growth is confined to what you can put in for marketing efforts, which are becoming increasingly expensive.

Meanwhile, the flywheel places customers at the center. The customers are the driving force. The basic definition of a flywheel is a mechanism that stores energy and releases it. In a car, a flywheel is designed to keep an engine running even when you aren’t “pressing the gas pedal,” which is what your content is doing online. The flywheel concept forces you to really take stock and invest in your customers in order to achieve growth.

Flywheel Elements: Attract, Engage, Delight

The flywheel puts the customer at the center with three elements based around the customer’s experience with your brand. The goal is for your content to keep attracting, engaging and delighting customers. There are three parts that make up the flywheel components:

Attract

In this stage, through relevant and helpful content you attract potential customers, they “enter your flywheel” and interact with your company for the first time.

Engage

In this stage, through conversational tools like chat and email, you engage with potential customers to promise continued value. In return, this influences the decision-making and purchasing process as early as possible.

Delight

In the final stage, you delight customers by continuing to act as an understanding guide and expert in your field. In return, it gives customers the potential to become advocates for your company.

Inbound Marketing Content Ideas

The content necessary for creating a successful inbound marketing approach needs to pull rather than push. It needs to educate rather than interrupt, and it needs to provide value rather than to sell or persuade. Below are five unique ways to stand out while providing inbound content.

1. Facebook Live

With Facebook Live the possibilities to offer inbound content are endless from expert interviews to meet the team specials and more! Customers watching also have the ability to comment and hit reaction buttons to what is happening during the live video. Through this tool you can provide customers with helpful knowledge in a creative and interactive way.

2. Blog-Like Posts on Instagram

Instagram is a visually driven platform, but when helpful information is turned into a post it can be a game changer. Simply feature creative graphics, created on a program like Canva, which contain blog-like information in either a carousel or single image that provides customers with tips, knowledge, or tools. It’s a growing way to grab a potential customer’s attention.

3. Free Trials

Who doesn’t like FREE? By offering a free trial of an online service or e-book, you have a chance to catch your potential customer’s attention with a more in-depth story than a short social media blurb, and the customer feels they are getting something of value in return. The most efficient way to offer a free trial is to have potential customers enter their contact information in a form. That way you have the ability to engage with them in the near future.

4. Templates

People love content that is ready-to-use and a  template can really appeal to a customer. For example, a social media manager can offer a free calendar template for planning posts. An accountant can offer a simple excel template for formulas. The most efficient way to offer a free template is to offer the download after a potential customer enters their email in a form. That way you have their contact information to engage with them in the future.

5. Podcasts

Podcasts are becoming extremely popular as many people are on the go! Fifty one percent (144 million) of the US population has listened to a podcast – up from 44 percent in 2018. Potential customers can listen to podcasts while commuting, working or just on their own time. A podcast gives you a unique chance to humanize your brand through your voice and stories. According to Podcast Insights, Podcast listeners are much more active on every social media channel (94 percent are active on at least one – vs 81 percent for the entire population). This is important to note for the delight stage of the flywheel.

The Best Marketers Use Flywheel

We are entering into the review revolution where customers have more power than brands do. Your best marketers are your customers.

By building a flywheel, you can take advantage of the power of your customers’ influence through inbound marketing. Using a flywheel strategy you can transform your company by doubling down on customer success. It’s not easy and it can be costly to make this change in your organization, but it’s an important one to get right.

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Sourced from Social PR CHAT

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What to Do When Your Inbound Marketing Fails

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There’s no debate today about whether blogging works or not. Studies show that inbound marketing can deliver a high volume of leads. However, inbound marketing isn’t exactly a silver bullet. Just because it works well for one type of company with one type of product trying to reach one type of customer, doesn’t mean it will work well for you.

Here’s why problems pop up and what you should do when they happen.

Where Inbound Marketing Commonly Fails

Inbound marketing can work well for most companies in the long run, as long as you plan for:

  1. How long it will take to pay off (years).
  2. Knowing it doesn’t always attract the right type of buyer.

New companies don’t always have the luxury of waiting around for a few years for enough inbound leads to flood their salespeople’s inboxes.

And other content-based campaigns like blogging or webinars almost never get to hard-to-reach people that need to sign off on six or seven-figure deals (think: lawyers, CEOs, etc.). These people barely have enough time to answer an email, let alone attend a webinar for a full hour (or longer).

Blogging acts like a net, helping you to attract and catch people who may one day need what you sell. But like fishing, you’re also going to catch a lot of stuff that will never, ever convert. Instead of tossing out some bait and waiting around for a nibble, you need to go spearfishing.

Related Article: Beware the Inbound Marketing Trap

How You Can Generate High-Ticket Leads (Instead of Inbound Marketing)

In “Predictable Revenue,” Aaron Ross writes about how his team generated over $100 million for Salesforce in new recurring revenue. They did that by first qualifying the types of companies who need what they do, and then conducting outreach to get introductions to the right person inside each large organization. That sounds easy enough on the surface, right?

Call it account-based marketing or just call it good direct sales. The concept is simple: you need to directly get in touch with the right types of buyers through email, phone calls, direct mail or conferences.

The problem is most marketers don’t do enough of these activities quickly enough. High-ticket deals can take months to close. The revenue you’re booking this month actually comes from the work you did over the past three months (or longer).

The reality is you can’t just focus on increasing the top of your funnel like most marketers and advertisers do. Everyone’s familiar with reach and frequency. Reach is the number of new unique people, while frequency is the number of times you reach the same person.

Direct marketing and selling place a greater emphasis on increasing frequency, instead of reach. It transitions you from mass, one-to-many tactics to one-to-one tactics as quickly as possible. Because the data is pretty clear no matter where you look:

And anyone who’s ever had to sell anything will tell you how much easier it is to close face-to-face than through a digital alternative.

All of these activities are labor intensive. You won’t be able to reach the same number of people, as easily as throwing up a few blog posts. But instead of impressions or eyeballs, you’ll get something much more valuable in return — more sales-ready leads who can turn into new revenue tomorrow.

Feature Image Credit: PHOTO: Paul Bergmeir

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Neil is the co-founder of Neil Patel Digital. The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he is one of the top 10 marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies.

Sourced from CMS Wire

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Mailchimp expands email offering to full marketing service

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New expansion is a natural progression from its existing services

The email marketing company Mailchimp has announced that it will soon expand beyond email to offer a full marketing platform aimed at SMBs.

The new platform will feature a number of new products including technology to record and track customer leads, ad retargeting on Facebook and Instagram, social media management and the ability to purchase domains and build websites.

Mailchimp will even provide its users with businesses intelligence that leverages AI to provide recommendations on how and when to market to potential customers.

The company is also changing its pricing by moving from three tiers to four and new customers can sign up for its free plan or pay either $9.99, $14.99 or up to $299 per month with its plans scaling depending on usage and features. If you’re already a Mailchimp customer, don’t worry as existing paid users will be able to continue using their plans with the option to move to the new packages at any time.

From email to marketing

Mailchimp’s expansion is part of a larger effort to widen its scope by building more serviettes for the small-business segment which is typically overlooked by larger firms.

The company’s co-founder and CEO, Ben Chestnut explained how the rise of the internet has empowered small businesses, saying:

“What’s really key is the role digital apps, digital publishing and social media have played. We can have a 10-employee company with a customer base bigger than 1 million. That’s a combination you couldn’t achieve before the growth of online.”

The move from email marketing to offering a full marketing service makes a great deal of sense for Mailchimp as the company already has a big marketing presence. According to Mailchimp, more than 1.25m ecommerce orders are generated through its campaigns daily and last year alone, 450m ecommerce orders were made as a result of its campaigns.

Via TechCrunch

Feature Image Credit: Pixabay

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How to Combine Outbound & Inbound Marketing [Examples & Ideas]

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By Mark Schmukler

All marketers do it differently. From in-house departments and big-box firms to HubSpot agencies and boutique operations, all marketers have the freedom to enact their own approach and execute their favorite tactics. New trends are constantly emerging in attempt to keep up with changing customer preferences, and as marketers, we have creative freedom to satisfy those demands in our own way.

In this inbound-obsessed era, it can seem like there’s no room for traditional “outbound” marketing. However, focusing all marketing dollars on inbound causes us to miss opportunities to make meaningful connections through traditional tactics. As a result, more marketers are employing an integrated marketing approach that combines inbound, through platforms like HubSpot, with outbound tactics.

Not sold yet? Let’s look at the advantages these tried-and-true outbound tactics bring to modern marketers, as well as how to execute them. Then, we’ll show you how these tactics integrate with inbound strategies to generate a higher return on marketing investment (ROMI).

1. Event Marketing

When it comes to event marketing, it’s a classic case of “you had to be there.” Special events and tradeshows occupy a specific marketing niche that new technologies and internet content simply can’t touch. The live demonstrations and in-person interactions of a tradeshow allow for a special kind of engagement where prospects can really get to know, and understand, what a company has to offer.

Tradeshows play an even larger role in B2B marketing, where businesses can connect with companies and establish a personal relationship with the decision-maker before a purchase. In fact, 46% of B2B marketers place tradeshows and events in their top sources of sales and marketing leads.

To be successful with event marketing, companies need:

  • design and marketing help so that their tradeshow materials (banners, business cards, leave-behinds and promotional items) look attractive, on-brand and cohesive
  • to frequently refresh their materials so they’re in-step with changes to brand appearance and contain up-to-date information
  • to develop new, engaging ways of obtaining leads, such as by having QR codes on tradeshow materials that allow prospects to use their own phones or tablets to open a lead-capture form
  • to follow up quickly with leads, ideally within 24 hours, while event momentum is still buzzing

Tradeshows are an outbound tactic that complements inbound marketing because it allows a sort of “in-person version of the inbound methodology” (attract, engage, delight):

  • prospects are attracted by a company’s booth because the materials are informative, on-brand and well-designed
  • prospects engage with the company’s representatives and find that they would like to sign up for an email list and learn more about the company
  • prospects are delighted when the company promptly reaches out and follows up with them using the contact information they exchanged at the tradeshow

2. Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Digital tactics are so thoroughly engrained in the modern marketing mindset that even the most inbound-obsessed marketers lump online display and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising in with their accepted set of tools, thinking of them as part of inbound.

In fact, because they’re paid advertisements meant to catch the attention of prospects, these ads are actually an outbound method, just with the inbound twist of being targeted towards certain prospects based upon keywords.

For success in pay-per-click and display advertising, companies need to:

  • bid on the right keywords in search engines so their PPC ads appear in relevant searches
  • use location, age and interests to target audiences
  • develop clear, concise copy for text ads so that the clicks they pay for come from interested leads who clicked with intention

Thanks to automated retargeting that finds prospects who didn’t convert to sales upon their last visit to the company’s website, targeting is easy with display ads, but display ads have a design component, which means companies need to get creative. These ads need to be compelling with a clear call-to-action and aesthetically pleasing while aligning with brand image and messaging.

PPC ads in particular tie in with inbound content marketing in a very important way. Promoting gated content through PPC search ads extends the reach of your content and brings form fills (lead conversions) that represent new opportunities to engage and delight.

3. Print Advertisements

Though print advertisements don’t generate a huge number of qualified leads, every lead has the potential to turn into a satisfied customer who then passes on the good word about your company. Print advertisements can be a great opportunity to combine important details with eye-catching design.

Print ads tend to share more detail than PPC or display ads that prospects might encounter and speak to what sets your company apart. That’s why companies need to place print advertisements in specialized publications like trade papers and industry journals. The beauty is, you can repurpose copy and creative from display ads for print advertisements and add more to make your print ads informative and detailed.

4. Outbound Emails

Email marketing tends to fall on both sides of the line between inbound and outbound. Inbound emails are those that are sent to prospects who have already indicated their interest in your company by filling out a form or chatting with a representative or chatbot on your website.

Outbound emails are those sent to contacts that didn’t fill out a form or otherwise directly submit their email address to your company; usually these contacts are obtained by purchasing a contact list.

Outbound email is important because email is the most widely-used and frequently-checked communication channel. Email has the most engagement of any communication channel, with almost all customers checking their inbox at least once per day.

So, whether inbound or outbound, companies need to create emails that:

  • are conversational and relevant
  • have compelling subject lines and preview text
  • create relationships with contacts by providing helpful, human content
  • introduce the company to the contact in a personal way
  • are as personalized as possible

Here’s an example email sent to a prospect who’s evaluating your product:

As with PPC ads, outbound emails area great way to share inbound content. They’re also a great way to promote tradeshows and events.

Wrapping Up: Take an Integrated Approach

Inbound may be at the forefront in marketing right now, but that doesn’t mean that outbound can’t play an important role. When you complement inbound content with outbound tactics, you’re leveraging the power of integrated marketing (you can find more on this in the Whitepaper: The Case for Integrated Marketing) and taking advantage of every opportunity available to build meaningful relationships, maximize brand exposure and gain marketing return on investment.

By Mark Schmukler

Mark Schmukler, CEO and Co-founder of Sagefrog Marketing Group, LLC, brings more than 30 years of global marketing and consulting experience to the agency, leveraging his B2B background to lead brand strategy and business development.Based in Doylestown, PA and Princeton, NJ, Sagefrog Marketing Group is a full-service B2B marketing agency with specialties in healthcare, technology and business services. Founded by Mark Schmukler and Suzanne Morris in 2002, Sagefrog’s mission is to accelerate client success through integrated marketing including branding, digital, public relations, social media and traditional services. Visit Sagefrog.com

Sourced from MARKETING Insider Group

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7 Marketing Myths Debunked

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Facts are funny things. Myths go hand in hand with them. It is deciphering what is which that is sometimes the hard part. But, their separation is necessary to understand how to market at an optimal level.

Myth Busting

  1. More content, more traffic! False – Content creation is a requirement for success, but quality outweighs quantity. Speaking in an expert voice is a better draw than words for word’s sake. The inbound framework consists of web design, SEO contextual keywords of value, social media, email marketing, and building trust with an audience.
  2. Thinking the inbound traffic framework is merely a fad. False – Internet fads do exist. However, many people do not like change in marketing and believe inbound strategies will fade away like most Internet trends. Business coaching and mentoring are available for people who find the changes startling.
  3. Return of Investment, or ROI, cannot be deciphered using the inbound traffic strategy. False – The myth about ROI’s has existed since the beginning of inbound Internet marketing. Automated Marketing Platforms began its existence so that businesses could track the ROI easier than ever.
  4. Digital Media costs too much and get nothing in return. False – The particular myth is entirely backward. Digital Marketing creates revenue, not the other way around. Online digital content has no expiration date. Eyes over a never-ending expanse of time mean more for the buck in the long run.
  5. Having only a website is enough! It does not have to be cellphone accessible. False & False – People are not going to visit a website randomly. Thousands of companies are competing with each other at any given moment, regardless of industry. And without a mobile accessible site, the chances of inbound traffic is even lower.
  6. Word of mouth is magic and will do all the work. False – Entire industries continue to *only* use word of mouth. The old school approach is a habit hard to break because there was a time when it was all a business had to gain new patrons. The method integration into a marketing strategy framework is available, but no one should rely on referrals and word of mouth even if it were the most gainful means. Facebook advertising is proof that word of mouth and social media methods go hand in hand.
  7. In the about section of the website, a simple paragraph and photograph are fine. False – The first giveaway that it is a myth is the fact no SEO exists when throwing a call to action paragraph on a website. The simplicity of the approach does not draw search engine attention through Google, or any other search engine. Quality content is indispensable.

Food for Thought

Over eighty percent of online marketing are small businesses using the Internet Marketing strategies. The decision to change methods of marketing is huge, but the integration is a requirement in the era of online marketing.

Businesses that utilize inbound marketing see their ROI triple compared to outbound marketing. Workshops are available to even those who work from home.

Inbound marketing strategies are here to stay. It is better for consumers and companies alike to deploy a modern marketing plan.

 

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Melissa is a mother of 2, lives in Utah, and writes for a multitude of sites. She is currently the EIC of HarcourtHealth.com and writes about health, wellness, and business topics.

Sourced from Axcess News

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Performance Planner In Google Ads Predicts Impact Of Campaign Budget Changes

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By Laurie Sullivan

Google Ads Performance Planner, a planning tool that predicts the impact of campaigns on conversions and clicks, is based on billions of search queries and auction data updated every 24 hours. The planner, which Google announced at Marketing Live, became available this week.

The Performance Planner identifies the best budget amount to spend for campaigns to drive incremental conversions. On average, Google has seen advertisers drive 43% more conversions by using the tool, according to Ahmad Ismail, product manager at Google Ads.

“Let’s say you have a $92,000 monthly budget across 100 Search campaigns,” Ismail wrote in a post. “The planner will recommend how to distribute that $92,000 across those Search campaigns to maximize conversions and project results from these changes in your forecast.”

He explains how advertisers can use the planner to try other adjustments such as different spend levels and CPAs by clicking on various spend points to see how results change the conversions.

“For example, you can see the difference in conversion volume you could receive at a $12 CPA against a $20 CPA,” he wrote.

The planning tool allows advertisers to create a plan to see forecasts for campaigns, explore forecasts by adjusting different campaign settings, and quickly implement changes to the plan.

Among the benefits, marketers can identifying the campaign’s projected monthly and quarterly performance, as well as gain suggestions that can help campaigns perform better for the same spend.

The tool was announced at Google Marketing Live.

By Laurie Sullivan

Sourced from MediaPost

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The Art of the Soft Sell in Content Creation and Inbound Marketing

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By Michael McNichols

Not everyone likes a hard sell, but sometimes it works. It’s blatant and upfront in what it wants you to do. If it catches you in the right moment and offers you the solution you need and the offer is intriguing and reasonable, you might just go for it.

Outbound marketing can depend much on hard selling, as TV and radio ads, fliers, and physical mailings are hitting you right away with what they want you to buy. They’re targeting a mass audience and not you as an individual, so they cut right to the chase.

Some people prefer being courted, though. They like marketers to know their preferences and quirks to design marketing materials based upon them. They also prefer not to always have to deal with a full-on sales approach.

This is where inbound marketing comes in. Inbound marketers design content to build up their brand as a thought leader, knowledge resource, and problem solver in their industry. They post this content where it can be found by their audience, rather than sending it out. Once someone has shown an interest and given you their contact information, then you the marketer can follow up with emails, texts, white papers, and more that offer more specific solutions and answers for their problems and concerns.

Content marketing and inbound marketing come together in producing materials with a soft sell. The more personalized you can make these marketing materials, the better a chance you have of intriguing and interesting your prospects, as you are speaking to them more closely as individuals and at their level.

You do not need to hit them over the head with sales offers and put any undue pressure on them. They already know that you can present solutions for their problems, due to your thought leadership, reputation, and online presence. Your marketing materials engage them by offering further information, educating them, intriguing and interesting them to want to learn more about you and your solutions.

Any selling you do is subtle. It’s more about showing them that you understand their situation, you know how to help, and you can do so in a way that nobody else can. In so doing, you are priming and readying them to make a decision about whether or not they want to go with you. You are nurturing a lead with the right information and taking them to the point when they might want to become a customer. Much of the time, when a prospect is finally turned over to a sales representative to bring it home, they have already decided whether or not to sign on due to the marketing.

If you reach out and connect with a customer, show that you understand their frustrations but can help, as you’ve helped many others with the same problems. You’re letting your brand, your solutions, and your reputation seal the deal, but it is up to marketers to communicate all this information to the right customers at the right time. Knowledge is power. Not only do you need as much data as you can have on a customer to personalize your marketing and better target them, the more information a customer can have how on what you can do and what solutions you can provide will help all the better to make a sale.

With inbound marketing and a soft sell, you are swaying and influencing a prospect and nurturing them as a lead, but really you are mostly helping them make up their own mind.

Find out more about proper lead nurturing with “Lead Nurturing for Modern Marketers.”

Read the guide

By Michael McNichols

Sourced from Oracle

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