I spoke with a prospective client this week in the marketing services business and after a brief introduction she expressed her frustration, "We’re doing all this marketing 2.0 stuff, but we're not getting in the door".
Prior to the call I ran a Marketing Grader report and her Website scored above 65% in all three areas of all sites graded for Inbound Marketing potential by HubSpot's Marketing Grader.
The crux of the problem is that you can be doing all this Marketing 2.0 stuff and still failing if you're off target in your messaging and out of sync. with market and using sub-optimal practices.
In this case, the marketing services business is transforming rapidly from the old interrupt driven model of push-marketing, advertising and PR placement, to the opt-in, inbound marketing model of content creation, social networking and community building, underpinned by analysis and testing.
The issues that surfaced during our conversation are common symptoms of the structural change in this sector and they are summarized below;–
- No-one's reading our email newsletters,
- Cold calling is a simply not effective and we're not getting any voicemail callbacks,
- We have a WordPress Blog, but no-one is reading it,
- Our referrals and word of mouth leads have dried up,
- We have a Twitter and Facebook account; what a waste of time!,
- We have inquiry and registration forms on our Website, but we're not getting any leads,
- I fired all the sales guys and now it's me calling and I suck at it.
- No-one has ever heard of us, despite the fact that we advertise, spend a healthy sum on Google AdWords and have been in business for 10 years.
The above list may be familiar in many companies who have embraced the tools of Inbound Marketing without a cohesive strategy and a realistic view of the road ahead.
As a consulting firm specializing in helping companies transform from the Old World to the Inbound Marketing model, this conversation is familiar and happily we have clients who will vouch for the sequence of events and methodology we recommend.
The other major consideration is that all of the tools in the marketing 2.0 mix need be integrated and made to work together...or productivity will be an issue.
The answers to the following basic questions should serve to focus inbound marketing efforts;
- What is a lead worth and how many leads do you need to produce a year, based on your conversion ratios to hit your revenue goals?
- Who is your target audience, who are the buyer persona's you wish to engage?
- How will you reach your target audience, where do they hang out online?
- In what areas can the agency claim thought leadership; how does the agency create unique value for clients, how does this connect to your brand?
- What are the major marketing messaging themes that will resonate with buyers and what keywords do you want to rank for on Page 1 of Google?
- What is the goal of the email newsletter, how will you track conversions and improve performance?
- What is the goal of the Website and in particular, what is the goal of the home page?
- Have you created compelling content that can be easily shared, downloaded or viewed in exchange for contact details?
- Have you created calls to action that lead to high quality landing pages with compelling offers? ("A Contact Us" page tends to collect more SPAM than leads)
- Is there a blogging platform to amplify thought leadership, that integrates with the main Website, with hyperlinks to and from main Website pages, where content is easily shared....or is the blog stranded, lost Robinson Crusoe style in the vast ocean of the Internet?
- How will you nurture prospective customers that do register as leads, but are not yet ready to buy?
Take-aways
To make this marketing 2.0 stuff, (Inbound Marketing) work, you need the following
- Clear messaging to engage your target audience,
- Proven inbound marketing methodology,
- A toolset that's integrated and productive, that enables small agencies to compete with the big boys,
- Inbound marketing training for Marketing Agencies, (which can be found for free),
- Consistent input, ongoing analysis and optimization, a strategy to drive it and top down commitment to making it happen,
- Easy access to a trusted, skilled talent-pool and services marketplace, to leverage in-house skills.
