#flipmyfunnel boston 2016 - kipp bodnar - a brave new world: insights from 10 years of inbound...

Lessons From 10 Years of Inbound

#GrowWithHubSpotTrust is the glue of life Its the foundational principle that holds all relationships.

- Stephen R. Covey

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Trust is so important to me as a marketer. Why? Trust is important to any relationship, even the one between a brand and a consumer. People buy from brands and people they trust. People love brands they trust.

Well I was curious about the relationship between trust and marketers and sales professionals. So we went out and did some research.

Trusted professions in North AmericaMarketerCar SalesmanSalespersonLobbyistPoliticianStockbrokerServices/Customer ServiceProfessional AthleteInvestment BankerJournalistBaristaSoftware DeveloperLawyerProfessional MusicianAccountantDentistNurseDoctorTeacher0%0%

1%

1%

1%

2%

3%

3%

3%

3%

4%

6%

9%

9%

13%

19%

41%

48%

50%

60%FirefighterMarketerSalesperson

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Of course, you might expect firefighters, teachers and doctors to be at the top of the list.

But look how far down marketers fall. People trust politicians, lawyers, and even their local baristas more than they trust us.

As someone who chose marketing as a profession, this was pretty staggering. We are at the absolute bottom of the list.

Why dont they love us?

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Why dont people trust us?

Well, its because we do some pretty awful things.

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We interrupt people. How many of you have gone to forbes.com and been annoyed by this pop up? This has to be the most hated ad on the internet.

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And then in order for them to get past the interruptive ad, we use snarky and passive aggressive statements like this one - No, thanks I like my marketing poopy. Or how many of you have seen things advertising health and cosmetic products with lines like No thanks, I dont need healthy skin.

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And we dont listen. We continue to batch and blast emails out to the same people, with the same message, even if they dont show interest in our products.

This is a real example from Susannah, one of our marketers. They are clearly automating this email every 7 days. What makes them think shell care more about this 7 days later?

Clearly she is not interested in whatever John is selling here.

From: [email protected]: Sun, Apr 17, 2016 at 1:26 PMSubject: www.hubspot.com

Hi,

My name is Olivia and I am an Online Strategist. Ive been tracking the success of your website while doing some research on your industryIm impressed with your company, but there are some real opportunities for growth that you currently are missing.

Are you interested in several proven strategies to use content and social media to drive relevant traffic to your site? In 20 minutes I can show you how to fuel your brand and generate more revenue from search engines and social networks.

This is a real value which comes free of charge.

Id like to follow up about this with a quick phone call. Can I call you this week to discuss your campaign?

Thank you

Best regards,

PhilSr. Web-Developer


Hi,





Thank you

Best regards,



Hi,





Thank you

Best regards,



Hi,





Thank you

Best regards,



Hi,





Thank you

Best regards,


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And sometimes we dont arm our sales teams with the right information and they send baffling emails like this. This is another real example.

Theres no personalization here, theyve just said hi.

Then the person introduces themselves as Olivia, an online strategist.

Olivia clearly doesnt know what we do at HubSpot because she wants to offer me a strategy to utilize content to drive more traffic to my website. (Spoiler alert - thats something we are going to talk about today!)

And then I love this part. Shes now Phil and shes a Senior Web Developer!

Weve been banned from space.

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If this wasnt enough, heres just one more example for you. In 1993, there was a proposal to build a giant advertising billboard in outer space that would appear roughly the same size and brightness as the moon. The project didnt meet funding and actually inspired a bill to ban any advertisement in outer space.

Wow, weve been banned from space. Our government cant agree on much but they came together to agree on this. What other profession has been banned from space?

emailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailsubmitted formsubmitted formsubmitted formsubmitted formsubmitted formsubmitted formsubmitted formsubmitted formsubmitted formopened emailopened emailopened emailopened emailopened emailopened emailopened emailopened emailopened emailopened emailopened emailopened emailsubmitted formwait 1 hourwait 1 hourwait 1 hourwait 1 hourwait 1 hourwait 1 hourwait 1 hourwait 1 hourwait 1 hourwait 1 hour

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Instead of trying to improve on bad tactics, weve automated them. Weve created crazy, robotic and ineffective workflows like this. Maybe this is what John Bianchi was using?

We have churned through 100s, 1000s of tactics, but never fixed what actually needed fixing, which is that our marketing needed to be designed for humans.

Why do we do these evil things?

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Why do we do these evil things?

Is it because were bad, awful, evil people?

1% of cold calls work

The other 99% hate your guts.

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Well, no. Its because sometimes, it works. Sure, 1% of cold calls work.

But you know what? The other 99% hate your guts!

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Alright, but lets say you dont care about people and you dont care how much they love you. Youre a business after all, and youre here to make money right?

Well even then, you need new tactics.

Marketers see an average increase of 20% in sales when using personalized web experiences.

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Sales go up - ALOT - when web experiences are personalized.

Relevant emails drive 18 times more revenue than broadcast emails

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Relevant emails drive more revenue than broadcast emails.

Because 61% of consumers say they feel better about a company that delivers custom content, they are also more likely to buy from that company.

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Consumers are more likely to buy from you when you deliver custom content.

Turns out you cant justautomate shitty marketing.

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So it turns out, you cant just automate bad marketing.

And in a few years,it wont even be possible.

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And in fact, in a few years, it wont even be possible anymore.

phone numbershome addressesemail addresses

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10-15 years ago, we bought and sold lists of home addresses.

Then, we moved on to buying lists of home phone numbers.

And then we bought lists of email addresses.

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But in the next 3-5 years, you wont have channels like email that can be easily bought, sold and abused.

Email will still be important sure, but there will be all these other channels you need to communicate in, too, and you wont be able to easily buy, sell and abuse them.

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And even if you could get your hands on them, the buyer is in control. The buyer is ignoring you.

Theyre blocking ads. 198 million people had Ad Blocker software installed at the end of last year. And that cuts across many demographics.

84%of audiences age 25 to 34 have left a favorite website due to intrusive advertising.

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Consumers are leaving even their FAVORITE websites because of intrusive ads.

86%of consumers skip TV ads

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Theyre skipping TV ads.

Or, throwing out cable all together and investing in things like Hulu and Netflix, which offer ad-free or limited-ad options.

Ad acceptors.

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Lets talk about the people buying the limited ad option. The industry calls these people ad acceptors.

Ad zombies.

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But I would argue that theyre more like ad zombies.

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Because you know what happens when an ad comes on? People get up to change laundry, get into their phone, get up to make popcorn, check email, etc.

How many of you have done this?

We have to change.

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Weve dug ourselves into a pretty big hole as marketers. No wonder we have a trust problem!

We have to change.

Cold CallingCold Emails (SPAM)AdvertisingOUTBOUNDInterruptionSeller-centricCalling with ContextRelevant EmailsContent & Free ToolsINBOUNDAttractionBuyer-centric

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The way to change is to move from outbound to inbound.

That means moving from things like interruptive ads, cold calling and one-size-fits-all or cold emails - things that are centric to your company, to things that are centric to your buyer - helpful, relevant content, personalized emails and workflows that are human, not robotic.

1. Not Enough Awareness2. Not Enough Conversions3. Not Enough Revenue1. Not Enough Awareness

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Problems like this.

Lets start with number one.

Content

Distribution

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This is where content and distribution come in.

You need to create awesome stuff and then distribute it in a really smart way - both on your site and off your site.

It used to be that these things were separate but today, theyre really the same thing.

went from 2.8 billion to 7 billionmonthly views of its content

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In the last year, Buzzfeed has increased monthly views of its content by 2.5x, from 2.8 to 7 billion. Wow.

They must have just created a lot more stuff, right?

Wrong.

75%of those views happen off buzzfeed.com

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They got there by creating a diversity of content. 75% of those monthly views happen off buzz feed.com They happen on other channels. This is how you have to think about content and distribution. You want to create amazing content and then distribute it in all of the places that make sense to your audience. Now, yes, you want to start with a blog - and we are going to give you some concrete examples of how to do that. But the world is changing and we cant afford to ignore the diverse set of traffic and awareness sources that exists today.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Wait - Im already doing content marketing.

55%of marketers are unclear or unsure what content marketing success looks like

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Yes, the large majority of B2B and even B2C marketers report having a content strategy or using content marketing.

But - only about half feel like they know what success looks like.

Why is that?

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Shopify does a great job with diversity of content.

Look at all those content types in the navigation. They have articles, guides, podcasts, free tools, success stories and more.

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Square has a great resource center for small businesses with great content. Youll find everything from articles on small business loans to technical resources about things like the decline of the magstripe.

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Free tools are another great way to provide valuable content. Here, this solar company is offering people the ability to calculate how much they might save by moving to solar energy.

What do these things have in common?

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What do these things have in common?

Theyre valuable and helpful.

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Theyre valuable and helpful. They resonate with the audience because they deliver information people need and are looking for.

And guess what? When you have this content, people can find you!

DEC 2013DEC 2015

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Heres a blog post that we first published back in 2013. Look how much traffic it was still getting 2 years later.

Think about the initial investment we made in writing that post, and how much its paid off.

Why is getting so much traffic, so many years later? Is it because we promote it every day? No.

12,000 monthly searches

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No, its because people are still searching for keywords related to this post. And its answering their questions.

Today, it still ranks #1 for press release template, a keyword that gets over 12,000 monthly searches

12,000 monthly searches

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And it ranks #3 for how to write a press release, another keyword that gets over 12,000 monthly searches.

This is the type of leverage that you get by doing inbound.

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Impact of Total Published BlogPosts on Inbound Leads

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And when you do this at a regular cadence over a sustained period of time, you get even more leverage.

Because your level of effort stays constant.

This is why inbound can provide much more leverage than paying for advertising. Now, yes, there is a time and a place for paid - it can help jumpstart a campaign or boost an already successful piece of content. But this type of leverage is what money cant buy you.

Think about the effort we put into that blog post two years ago. For a fixed amount of effort, were still getting leverage, years later.

2. Not Enough Conversions1. Not Enough Awareness1. Not Enough Awareness2. Not Enough Conversions3. Not Enough Revenue

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Now that youve got traffic and awareness, lets talk about conversions.

ValueE.g. an ebookPersonal infoand permission

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A conversion is essentially an exchange - where you are providing something of value and the person on the other end is engaging further with you. Usually, by providing more information about themselves.

This means youve earned the right to talk to them further.

The way that exchange happens is typically through a form, probably on a landing page, but it could be directly on your website, too.

Increase in conversionsIncrease in revenue

Increase in awareness

Increase in conversions

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This is your opportunity to move people a bit further down your funnel.

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Heres an example from one of our customers that I really love. Its from Yale Appliance and theyre offering an appliance buying guide, in exchange for some basic information about you.

When someone is considering a purchase, like a new kitchen appliance, they need information. Yale is doing inbound because they are providing content that will help that buyer make an informed decision.

(Kipp: Tells personal home improvement story here)

The path to conversion is key.

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Not only do you need opportunities for someone to convert and for that exchange to happen, but how they get there is really key.

Let me explain why.

Free Ebook & Template: The Newsworthy Guide to Inbound Public Relations.

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Im going to use the same blog post example we talked about earlier. Remember this post about how to write a press release? The one that was still generating a ton of traffic years after it was written?

Well it always got a ton of traffic, but it didnt always convert well. In fact, when we looked at our high traffic posts that didnt convert well, this one was at the top of the list.

Why?

Because people were finding this post mainly from those two organic search queries I talked about earlier - how to write a press release and press release template.

BUT - And this is a big BUT - all of the CTAs in the article were positioned as Free Ebook & Template: The Newsworthy Guide to Inbound Public Relations. I think we were probably trying to be a little too clever for our own good.

So, we updated the language and the CTAs through out the post. We also added CTAs in a few really key areas.

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First, an in-line CTA near the top of the post.

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Second, a slide-in CTA that appears when the person is about half way done with the article.

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And finally, a CTA at the end of the post.

Conversion Rates Before & After Post Update

+240%

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And after we did that, this is what happened.

Thats why your conversion path, in addition to just giving people the opportunity to convert, is key.

2. Not Enough Conversions2. Not Enough Conversions1. Not Enough Awareness3. Not Enough Revenue3. Not Enough Revenue

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So thats how you solve a conversion or a leads problem.

But what if what you need is more customers and more revenue?

Increase in revenue

Increase in awareness

Increase in conversions

Increase in revenue

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In order to drive more revenue, sales and marketing have a shared job to move people further down the funnel.

What does your sales team need?LeadsContextResources

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Lets look at what your sales team needs to close business and overachieve on their revenue targets. They need:

1. People to talk to2. Context about those people3. Resources and tools to close deals with those people.

And marketing is more of a part of this process than ever.

Well you can go ahead and check off the leads box. You just did this by generating awareness and interest and converting that interest into leads. Lets talk about what context they need.

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They need context like this. Lets say Michael Smith is a lead.

You want your sales team to know that Michael has read your content, opened an email, tweeted about your company, viewed the pricing page, or watched a customer testimonial video.

This is all information that you have as the marketer and you want to make sure your sales team has this context, too.

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Now lets talk about the resources and tools your sales team needs, post-conversion, to help close business.

They need things like case studies, email workflows, sales scripts, product sheets, competitor comparisons, email templates, ROI calculators and customer testimonials.

These are all things that marketing can create.

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When all of these things come together - great content, a solid conversion experience and then a relevant, human and helpful sales experience, you are able to generate more revenue.

Your brand will come through and your company will have delivered a holistic inbound experience to your customers.

#flipmyfunnel boston 2016 - kipp bodnar - a brave new world: insights from 10 years of inbound...

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