Okay, so creating an inbound marketing strategy isn't necessarily rocket science. It's totally possible that your business execs could come up with a strategy just fine.
But what about when it's time for actual implementation? Can your team correctly execute each one of the tactics? And will you actually see the same data-driven results that you'll get from working directly with a digital marketing agency?
Not likely.
Working with a professional inbound marketing agency (like Connection Model, cough cough) can ensure that your digital marketing strategy is created and implemented to perfection, so you actually generate more leads, customer opportunities, and revenue within your business.
The bottom line is that effective digital marketing is data driven, and you need to hire a team that is going to know which data should be collected and measured. There's a lot that a professional inbound marketing agency is going to know that you probably don't.
Let's name just a few of those things.
1. The types of data you should gather for your inbound marketing strategy.
Putting together a marketing strategy requires a lot of grunt work. You need to do market research, analyze your competition, create buyer personas, etc. But you need information, and you need data in order to do each of those things.
The most common types of data you'll need to gather when putting together your marketing strategy include information about the following:
- Your competitors
- Their engagement rates
- Their follow counts
- Info about your target market
- Social media analytics
- Website analytics
- Customer data from your CRM
- Prospect data from your CRM
And that's just getting started.
Now, what are you actually doing with this data?
Well first of all, when creating a strategy for your own online presence, it's imperative to know and understand what is and isn't working for your competition. The ultimate goal is to create an environment where your business name is synonymous with your product or industry, regardless of whether you're a local business or not.
For example, a southern-style restaurant located in Charleston wants everyone in town to think of them first - the instant they start craving fried chicken.
So you want to do everything better than your competition. And you'll never be able to do that if you don't pay attention to what they're doing in the first place.
Then, of course, you need info about your target market; get to know more about the people in this group, including how much they make, what their motivations are for buying your product or service, and more. You need your own analytics to see if what you've been doing has been working. And you need customer and prospect data to pay attention to buying cycles, buying habits, and who your actual customers are.
2. How to do more in less time.
One of the biggest perks of working with a professional agency is that we have the tools and the know-how to manage your online presence in a much more efficient manner than you could. We've got the monitoring and tracking tools we need to know if what we're doing is working. We're able to keep track of online conversations seamlessly without having to pore over every social channel all day long. We can quickly create and schedule content, ads, and campaigns because we have the experience, the team, and the tools to do so.
As a business owner, you're just one person, and we don't expect you to be able to handle it all. That's why we're here.
Plus, not to brag too much (but also, yes, to brag because we're a proud agency), we partner with a large number of prominent businesses, tools, and software in the industry, so we know that we can offer you and your business top-notch service.
3. Where your people are spending their time.
As an inbound marketing agency, it is literally our jobs to know where each various target market is most likely to spend their time, and how to reel them in. Since finding new clients is the number one pain point amongst most small businesses, that kind of assistance is essential.
Sure, you've got a basic understanding of who it is that's buying from you. But how do you reach them?
Do you know which social media platform your target audience uses for browsing businesses, products, and services they're interested in? Is it Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Pinterest? We have that information. And we can build an inbound marketing strategy based on those specific target markets, catering to the platforms that audience spends time on, the content they consume, and the messaging that's going to resonate with them.
4. How to generate leads from more than just referrals.
Studies show that referrals are the number one source when it comes to new leads in a business. And although referrals can be extremely powerful and provide high-quality leads, you cannot rely on that alone if you want to scale your business and grow.
Working with a digital marketing agency (like Connection Model, no pressure though) with a proven track record of generating leads and customer opportunities is a very good idea. We can implement a data-driven marketing strategy that can generate leads from avenues like your website, your social platforms, your blog, and more.
5. The software your business needs to utilize.
Not only do we know which software you need, but we likely are already using it for other clients, so we have access to it. This can save your business a ton of money - instead of investing directly into all of this software yourself you can rely on our access to the best software available.
There are so many different types of software: reporting and analytics, monitoring, community management, content management, and more. Using these can make your strategy implementation much more streamlined and easy to carry out.
Ready to hire a professional inbound marketing agency? You're in luck, because we are one! Contact us today to learn more about how we can help grow your business.
Written By: David Carpenter
