business 7 Inbound Marketing Priorities for Your Business September 27, 2018 Is your marketing department having trouble juggling priorities? Have no fear—there are steps you can take to maximize your marketing efforts and ensure you produce positive results. As a marketer, you want to make sure you aren’t wasting any time and are focusing on tactics that will bring you results. Whether your department is a one-man show or a 10 person team, there are things you should be prioritizing to maximize your marketing strategy. What should your main priorities be? Determine your goal and how you will measure it- Before you begin sending emails, or scheduling tweets, you will be more effective if you have properly set goals for your marketing strategy. Once you have established your goals, map out a route to get there. All goals should be measurable and focused on driving revenue. This should be your number one priority! Does your website need a redesign? - Your website is really the most important element of your digital strategy. It showcases information about your team, services/products, tells your story and customers get a real understanding about your business. Is it responsive, user friendly, and ADA compliant? Is it aligned with your goals/strategy? Does it have contact information on every page? Taking an objective look every year is critical to understanding whether your current design is hitting the mark in achieving your goals. Establish exactly who your audience is- With so much effort put into producing content, you want to make sure your content is on target and effective. First, determine who is in need of your product or service. Who will most likely use your product or service? Draw on existing data when available; who are your current customers, which products/services are they using? The analysis of multiple sources can help you identify your target audience. A customer relationship management (CRM) system is an integral part of your strategy – Find a CRM that will help everyone to learn more about your clients and prospects. Use a CRM system to hold your database of contacts. Segment by industry, title, etc., whatever information helps you reach your ideal audience. When you uncover your CRM’s data, it can become an integral part of your overall marketing strategy. Produce new content- It’s integral to keep your website updated with fresh blogs, guides, videos, ebooks, etc. Your company is filled with people who are experts on your services and products—reach out to colleagues and have them write a blog post. Create a content calendar to keep you organized, easily see what you are writing about, and help you to stay consistent. There are several tools that you can use to create a content calendar – most of them are free! Focus on the right social media platforms- Social media has become the most popular on-line activity and its growth shows no signs of slowing. Be strategic about where you spend your resources, choose the channels that will complement your business. Choose the platforms where your target audience spends most of their time. Where do you successfully engage with your customers? Develop a social media plan, research where your customers are engaging and choose the platforms that help you reach your goals. Automate as much as you can- If you can automate or streamline something, you should. Efficiency is key to profitability and marketing automation is just about as efficient as you can get. Automation software can help with email campaigns, welcome emails, holiday emails and just about any email that is triggered by a certain date or season. It can also help you with getting the most relevant content to the right audience at the right time. Remember that the industry is constantly evolving. Be sure to attend marketing conferences and read as much as you can. Sometimes the best pieces of advice come up when you get out of the office for a day or two! Questions? Contact us.
