Inbound Marketing Blog

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 one of their blogs. 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.

Safe Content Sucks.

If you’ve read a few blog post on our website, you’ve probably seen a few links for our free self-assessment. (And if you haven’t read a few blogs, you should. Really. They’re pretty good.)

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Years ago when I was in high school, I worked for a landscaper. He was brilliant. The properties he took care of were always immaculate.

The one problem was that he never took care of his own yard. His sprinklers didn’t work. His grass was more dirt than vegetation. It was awful.

He’d get home at the end of the day and his own yard was the last thing he wanted to think about.

When it comes to managing our own businesses, it’s no different. And, for Tribute Media, we’ve found that it’s hard for us to market ourselves as effectively as we market for our clients.

Why?

Digital marketing is constantly changing, but what hasn’t changed is its relevance.  For a small company with a business-to-business focus, the digital transformation can seem daunting.

As a B2B company, you want to ensure that you're connecting with businesses in the most accessible way possible. Sure, you can have salespeople connect with them face-to-face or cold call, but nothing is more convenient than a business being able to connect with you online at their own convenience. If you do your web marketing right, you may answer some of their questions and lead them further through the buyers journey even before they meet with you. 

Sometimes, business people think of their website as an ornament or an accessory. Everyone else seems to have one, so they decide to get one too.

They build the website—or they hire someone like us to build it—and once they have gone through it with a fine-tooth comb and analyzed all the minute details to make sure it is absolutely perfect, they take it "live." The average length of one of these website build projects is about 12-16 weeks, though sometimes it can last much, much longer.

After the site languishes on the internet for a year or two or five, these business owners might decide to update it. So they start from scratch (trends and user behaviors change a lot in half a decade). They throw away the old and start the whole 12-16 week process over. The new site goes live again and and sits for another stretch of time. And then the process starts all over again.

As you may have sensed already, there are some major problems with this approach to web design. Here are some things you should know about your website and what it means for your business.

Who’s Afraid of Web Marketing?

When the subject of web marketing comes up, some people might get that glazed-over, deer-in-the-headlights look in their eyes. And when terms like “search engine optimization” or “conversion rate optimization” start getting tossed around, those same people might start feeling like the apes freaking out over the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The basic concepts of web marketing really aren’t that hard to grasp, though. In fact, it’s pretty easy to take old-school marketing approaches and ideas and apply them to the process of building your online presence. Let’s take a look at the similarities between web marketing and traditional marketing.