The New Competitive Marketplace and What it Means for Your Business

By Nancy LeVasseur

Think you’re competing against your competitors’ product? Think again. You're competing against your competitors’ ability to market information about the product you both sell.

Part of competing effectively in the search experience means actively creating and providing information, (primarily through your website and social channels), that educates and helps solve your prospects’ problems.

You may have the best product in the industry, but if you don’t share what you know along with your expertise in your field, people who are actively looking for you may never find you. Instead, they’ll be on your competitors’ website getting the information they want and need.

The New Internet Consumer

Today’s consumers are better informed and more empowered than consumers were 10 years ago. They are using the internet to their fullest advantage to make informed decisions about the products they purchase.

The new Internet consumer, interested in your product, no longer has to call your sales team to get information. They go online to find the information they need. They read product descriptions and reviews, and if they don’t find what they’re looking for on your website, they could go to your competitors’ website.

For products with long sales cycles, the new internet consumer is more than half way through the research and vetting process before they call your sales team - if they decide to call your sales team.

The New Internet Marketing Approach

The new Internet marketing approach is called “Inbound Marketing.” Part of the inbound marketing strategy includes content marketing – providing unique, exceptional information about what you know to address your future clients’ needs and solve their problems.

Your content should. . .

• Be created and written with a specific client persona in mind. 
• Be empathetic and address the needs of your buying personas. 
• Grow in depth as the buying process evolves. The further along, the more detailed the content. 

The New Business Differentiator

You might think content marketing has nothing to do with your differentiator. But this blogger contends that it can be the starting point of what sets you apart from your competitors. Your content marketing differentiator should be your ability to:

• Anticipate your future clients’ needs and concerns before they even know what they are. 
• Provide solutions for your clients’ problems. 
• Know and share the latest industry news so your clients can be ahead of the industry curve. 

How can Inbound Marketing help you?

Increased qualified sales leads and client retention - that's how. Staying ahead of the curve with your industry’s latest changes and trends, and sharing that information online, is going to make you invaluable to your current clients. They’ll stick with you for the long haul because you are a trusted resource.

How's the end-user's experience when they visit your business's website? Are they getting the information they need, or are they going to your competitor’s website?

Content Marketing in 6 Easy Steps

By Nancy LeVasseur

"The best way to get what you want is to help others get what they want."

This mantra, made famous by Dale Carnegie, is the essence of content marketing - creating and publishing meaningful, valuable information online with the intent of educating and building trust with your future clients.

The theory is that if you openly share what you know, you will build loyalty and ultimately be rewarded with more conversions and thus more clients. Help others gain the knowledge to make an informed decision, and you’ll increase your client base. And isn’t that what we all want?

Very briefly, online content can include blogs, videos, white papers, articles, e-books, infographics and webinars. Regardless of the format, the content should be unique and exceptional. If possible, it should offer information that your users can’t obtain anywhere else.

Exceptional content. . .

• Provokes comments and conversations.
• Allows and encourages social sharing across multiple channels.
• Should be created and written with a specific client persona in mind.
• Should be available at all stages of the buying process.
• Should grow in depth as the buying process evolves. The further along, the more detailed the content.

Getting started - Here's How

Determine who needs your product/services. Clearly define that group of people. 

Example: Women 20 – 40 years old who run to stay fit – aka semi-serious runners who participate in amateur competitive running events.

2.    Research your. . .

         a. Demographics’ buying habits (online versus bricks and mortar), social trends, mobile          and other channel usage like YouTube, eBay etc. so you know what channels to use                when you publish your newly-created content.

   b. Competitors to determine how they are engaging your demographic. If possible,    generate some unique content that your competitors are not offering.

3.    Figure out (more research) what information your demographic needs.

Example: women’s health and running, injuries common to women, balancing kids, career, and running. 

4.    Create content such as videos, articles, and blogs that solve your demographics’ problems mentioned above. 

Example: Start a blog on balancing kids, careers and cardio! (Catchy uh?) Write an article entitled, “Common Running Injuries for Women.” Create an exercise video that focuses on avoiding injuries. List upcoming races for women only!

5.    Put yourself in your demographics’ shoes, (okay, maybe pun intended!), and figure out what they’ll need in the future. This will probably take a bit of research on your part, but it will be well worth the effort. Being the first to provide content about unforeseen trends will build trust and keep your users coming back to you frequently. They will view you as the expert and will be delighted to “know” you! 

Example: If you’ve reached out to those women runners 20-40 years old, how can you retain their interest when they turn 41?

6.    Deliver your new content, created for the above demographic, in a way they would expect to receive it based on your research above in No. 2.

To be an effective content marketer today, one must focus on creating and providing unique, exceptional content via the internet. Content created for a specific demographic, in order to meet their needs or help solve their problems, is most effective for educating, building trust, and ultimately acquiring new clients.

How are your content marketing efforts going? What are your greatest challenges with content marketing?

Inbound Marketing: Fact or Fiction?

By Nancy LeVasseur

Last time, we talked about inbound marketing and its focus on attracting new prospects and leads by providing helpful, meaningful information, (via your website) to the people who need your products and services.

We also noted that inbound marketing is client-centered and emphasizes providing solutions to your clients’ and future clients’ most important challenges.

But does it work?

Here’s what the Inbound Marketing pundits are reporting! 

• Inbound marketing produces 54% more leads into the marketing funnel than traditional outbound leads.
• 41% of marketers who adjusted their budgets did so because of past success with inbound.
• 48% of marketers plan on increasing their IM budgets in 2013.
• This marks the 3^rd year in a row that inbound marketing budgets are increasing at or near a 50% pace ( “2013 State of Inbound Marketing Report,”  HubSpot.com.)

Success breeds success! In other words, it’s working for businesses that have actively embraced the principles of IM. Those companies that have bought in to this relatively new concept are having success and are building on that success.

Can I measure my ROI? 

• 41% of those who participated in Hubspot’s survey (Jan. 31^st - Feb. 14^th) reported that inbound marketing produces measurable ROI.
• 79%of companies that blog report a positive ROI this year, compared to just 20% of companies who do not blog.
• 82% of marketers who blog daily acquire a customer using their blog, as opposed to 57% of marketers who blog monthly.

Take aways . . .

Get on board! It’s not too late to get started with an inbound marketing strategy. This is a relatively new approach to marketing, and you could still be the first one in your industry to take a significant lead over your competitors.

Don’t wait for your leads to dry up before shifting your marketing efforts to inbound marketing. If you want more leads, that are more qualified, and are cheaper than using traditional marketing methods, don’t wait any longer!

Have you gotten started with your inbound marketing campaign?

6 Reasons to Get on Board With Inbound Marketing!

By Nancy LeVasseur

Inbound marketing attracts and converts visitors into clients by providing solutions to their most important challenges. 

Like a magnet, it draws prospects to your website and sets the stage for ongoing interaction and a lasting relationship.

By contrast, outbound marketing is the once tried-and-true advertising approach that pushes information to people whether they want it or not. Print ads, mailers, telemarketing, and cold calling are all examples of the now, not-so-effective, traditional outbound marketing methods.

6 Reasons Why You Should Adapt This New Strategy

 

1.    The world has changed, and like it or not, we’ve changed with it. Need info on the best pair of trail running shoes? Google it! Want to know what others are saying about the mountain bike you’re thinking of buying? “Bing it on!” Information, on just about everything, is available for us to find. All we have to do is look for it. Inbound marketers know this, and that’s why. . .

2.    It's here to stay! Yes, inbound marketing is still very new, but it’s gaining traction every year. More and more businesses are seeing the value of this new marketing strategy. Why? Because it’s based on how we, as consumers, have changed our buying habits. Did you know that in 2013, for the third year in a row, almost 50% of marketers plan to “up” their inbound marketing game?

3.    With inbound marketing, sales leads are more qualified. In the “2013 State of Inbound Marketing,” HubSpot reports that “inbound delivers 54% more leads into the marketing funnel than traditional outbound leads.” Translation? Inbound leads are more qualified, than traditional outbound leads, because they are actually looking for you and what you do. They want what you have!

4.     And, return on investment can be measured! In fact, in the same survey, 41% of marketers agreed that their investment could be measured, and 82% of those that blog reported seeing a favorable result for their investment. 

5.     Inbound marketing expenses are considerably less than traditional methods, and that makes the cost per lead significantly lower.

6.   Traditional outbound marketing is fading. While not gone all together, businesses are relying less on traditional forms of advertising. Return on investment is difficult to measure, blocking methods such as do-not-call lists and caller ID have increased, and for the dollars spent, the results just aren’t there.

What does inbound marketing mean for your customers?

It means the client acquisition process begins and ends with your customers; they are at the heart of a successful inbound marketing campaign. Most businesses tout, “The customer is always right!” Inbound marketing is an opportunity to give that motto “legs.”

Still have questions? Do you have an inbound marketing strategy? Leave a comment!

Content for this article was taken from “2013 State of Inbound Marketing Report,” by Hubspot.com.