Inbound Marketing Blog

I don’t know about you, but I like to check out several companies (online and in person) when searching for a particular product or service. If time permits, I could be searching for several hours. Researching is always my go-to when I'm on the hunt for something specific. You wouldn't believe the time my husband and I recently put into finding a new mattress. In our search, there were a few factors that really swayed us in our decision. Quality of the product and how it solved our needs were obviously the top two. But the third factor had to do with the companies themselves. Our online experience with each company played a huge part in  determining which stores we actually wanted to take time to go to in order to try the mattresses. Let me tell you, there were a lot of brands we dismissed right away. Maybe their product WAS as great as they tried to market it to be, but the experience we had on their websites and the reviews they had floating around swayed our minds away from doing business with them.  Why was that?

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the more times you connect with your customers, the more likely they are to remember you and choose your company's product and/or services over a competitor.

In marketing, the official term is called ‘touches’ – an instance where your customers see or interact with your company. 

When it comes to customer delight [see the Four Actions of Inbound], 'touches' can go a long way. According to Stacy Willis on iMPACT, "When expectations are met, you have customer satisfaction. When expectations are exceeded, you achieve customer delight. How do you get there? By being human. Listen to your customer and their needs." 

Studies have shown that it takes at least 7 or more touches to generate a person’s interest. 

So, how do you make sure you interact with customers in an engaging way and often enough so that your company becomes memorable without you spending a fortune trying to do so? 

When I look at the successes and failures in business, I think I have found consistency between them.

The successful businesses remember their primary objective and the businesses that fail have forgotten what they are working for. Their efforts are misplaced because they forgot the reasoning and goals behind their efforts.

Let's put a practical example with this concept.

Display Advertising can be a powerful tactic to drive brand awareness for your company. With its ability to re-engage past customers and launch new products and services, it’s certainly come a long way. Out with those old neon signs, and in with the new digital ads. 

2018 is almost over and, even though a handful of companies started planning their 2019 marketing strategies during Q2 or Q3, it's better late than never! Here are five marketing questions for your company to review before the new year:

If you’re a data nerd like me, then you know that one of the most frustrating things in marketing is to *not know information about the users browsing your site content.* Sure, you could sift through all the information that Google Analytics provide, but there’s got to be an easier way to get some quick insights about leads and users…

Cue Lionel Richie singing “Hello, is it me you’re looking for?” as a Hubspot Free Marketing Software banner pops up on your screen.

What’s this? Hubspot has software that does this? And it’s FREE?

Imagine, if you will, an office where everything is gray; the chairs, the walls, the floor. The employees are all similarly dressed in gray tones as well. There are no expressions on their faces and their voices are monotone. It’s cold and robotic. 

Now think about the last time you were on a business’s social media page or reading their content. Was it fun and personable or was it drab and gray? It is surprising how many businesses are still following this no-personality, all-business persona. Maybe it's because they are afraid they'll be perceived as unprofessional, or maybe they just don't have the right person managing their web marketing and social media accounts, either way, they are failing to engage their audience.

If you are one of these businesses, then it is definitely time to rethink your company’s image.

In 2015, when we started planning our first  Web Marketing Checkup Clinic, I wrote the original version of this blog post. Now that we've hosted a few of these checkup clinics, as well as conducted countless one-on-one checkups for clients and non-clients alike, I thought I would revisit how it all began and why this exercise is so important to us.

Hopefully, you've had the opportunity to have a web marketing checkup or have joined us for another workshop or event, here at the Tribute Media office. If you have, you know two things:

1) They are always fun and educational

2) Corey cooks some mean BBQ

But other than food and fun, why do we do it? Why do we lend our time and expertise to businesses... FOR FREE?

In short: Because we love building businesses.

While developing one of the latest tools we'll be offering on our website—a nifty campaign planning tool and webinar—I thought I'd whip up a truncated, tactical guide to planning an inbound marketing campaign. Of course, seeing as we'll need a webinar AND a workbook to take you through what it takes to plan and manage a campaign, this post is only meant to guide you through at a very high level. 

Here is a quick look at the many elements of an inbound marketing campaign—a TL;DR version, if you will…

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I've been in the marketing world for a very...very...very long time. Everything from being a Marketing Manager who hires—and fires—marketing agencies, to now working for a web marketing agency. Working on both sides of the fence gave me the ability to be empathetic for each side.

But this blog isn't about me, it's about you, the client. Your needs, your goals and ultimately your successes.

Take this scenario; your current marketing agency does an excellent job at print, radio and billboard advertisements but probably isn't the best at digital marketing campaigns. And that's okay. It stands to reason that not every marketing/advertising agency is the best at everything.