Inbound Marketing v2.0

2.0

A few years ago, we wrote an eBook on the secrets of inbound marketing. It outlined some of the basics of inbound and why it was an improvement on traditional marketing methodologies. But that eBook was written in 2014 when inbound was still a relatively new concept.

A lot has changed since then.

Donald Trump was elected President of the USA, Leicester City won the Premier League and the Spice Girls are back. Zig-ah-zig-ahh.

Meanwhile, inbound marketing has expanded and evolved. Although the key principles of inbound remain the same, the methodology is unrecognisable from what it was in 2014. In this guide, we’ll explore where inbound marketing is now and some of the most important techniques your business needs to adopt.

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1. What’s inbound 2.0?

2. Why inbound? The indisputable stats of inbound marketing

3. Flywheel - the extended version

4. Know your persona

5. Setting goals

6. Beyond HubSpot

7. The future of inbound - what lies ahead

1.What’s

inbound 2.0?

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So we’re all on the same page, here’s a very quick definition from our friends at

HubSpot.

Inbound marketing is a business methodology that attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences

tailored to them. While outbound marketing interrupts your audience with content they don’t want, inbound marketing forms connections they’re looking for and solves problems

they already have.

At the core of inbound is the aim of delivering value to customers. Every blog, social media post and email should be created with the customer’s needs and pain points in mind. This idea has been part of inbound since Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah coined the term in 2005.

It’s almost 15 years since the term inbound marketing started to be noticed in the corners of websites and search engines, so now seems a good time to reassess its journey and what’s changed.

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You only need to look at old blogs and videos about inbound marketing to see how things have changed. One of the most obvious is the move away from the traditional funnel towards the new and improved flywheel (more on that later) which was announced at INBOUND 18.

Inbound 2.0 is a look at what’s working right now and the future steps businesses can take to achieve success in saturated markets.

We’re 100% inbound marketing at Digital 22 and we’ve spent the last six years experimenting,

tweaking, learning and growing with inbound. We know it works. Head to the next section for the

statistics that prove it.

2.Why inbound?

The indisputable stats of inbound marketing.

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There are so many different surveys, studies and statistics we could reference in this section that highlight just how effective inbound marketing is. Here are some of the best.

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75% of inbound teams feel that their organisation’s marketing strategy is effective, compared to only 62% of outbound marketers.

53% of marketers agreed that they saw a higher ROI from inbound marketing tactics than outbound.

47% of buyers view at least three to five pieces of content before deciding to speak to a member of the sales team.

On average, inbound marketing generates three times more leads than traditional methods.

Inbound leads cost 61% less on average than similar outbound alternatives.

Properly executed inbound marketing is 10x more effective for lead conversion than outbound.

Content marketing leads to triple the leads of traditional marketing and costs 62% less.

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55% of marketers say blog content is their top inbound marketing priority.

59% of marketers believe that inbound produces higher quality leads for the sales team.

The average website conversion rate increases from 6% to 12% with inbound marketing.

The average cost per lead drops 80% after five months of consistent inbound marketing.

It’s clear from these statistics that marketers are enjoying the improvements caused by adopting

inbound. More leads, higher ROI and an increase in conversion rates - inbound marketing has risen in

popularity over the last few years because businesses simply can’t ignore these benefits any longer.

3.Flywheel -

the extended version.

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INBOUND 18 saw the introduction of the flywheel. If you’ve adopted inbound marketing at your business, then it’s likely something you’re already familiar with. The idea behind it is fairly straightforward, but it’s always good to know how to explain it to someone who might not have a clue what you’re talking about.

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Basically, a flywheel works by minimising friction and fully utilising the force it’s put under. When everything is working as it’s supposed to, it’s a super-efficient way of harnessing energy.

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So, in practice. We attract consumers to our website and this gets the flywheel moving. As long as there isn’t much friction between the inbound marketing content and sales conversions, then there isn’t a drop in leads and the flywheel keeps spinning.

The flywheel works best when you focus less on closing deals and more on establishing relationships with customers. Let buyers engage with you on their terms. They’ll come to you via their preferred channels and at a time that suits them best.

Once you make a sale, we shouldn’t forget to continue to delight customers. Customers are good, repeat customers are better but loyal brand advocates are best. By delighting customers, you solidify the relationship.

This stage is one of the most neglected by marketers. It’s easy to focus on the earlier stages and turn our attention elsewhere when visitors have converted.

If your customers are delighted, they’re more likely to shout about you to their network or continue to purchase from you again. This puts more energy into the flywheel via more leads and more sales happen as a result. Meanwhile, the flywheel keeps spinning and you drive growth as a result.

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So, the flywheel’s stages are attract, engage and delight. But what does that actually mean for us marketers? What should we be doing at these stages? Well…

Attract

Grab someone’s attention with the answers they’re looking for. Make it as easy as possible for a user to find this information. The more obstacles you place in their way, the more likely it is that they’ll head to your competition for the answers they need.

• Educational blogs.

• Infographics.

• Industry reports, analysis and stat-heavy pieces.

• Top tips and step-by-step guides.

• Thought leadership eBooks.

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Engage

This is your opportunity to present the user with an answer to a problem they have. Create content that outlines how you can solve their pain points and why you and not your competition, are best-placed to help.

• Podcasts.

• Webinars.

• How-to videos.

• Q&A style blogs.

• Technical blogs.

• Downloadable tools and templates.

Delight

Exceed a customer’s expectations and ensure they return in the future. Delight-stage content is an opportunity to cement a positive experience and encourage customers to share their great impression of you with others.

• Follow-up emails.

• SMART content.

• Feedback surveys.

• Demo videos.

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The How

So we’ve touched on why inbound marketing is the right course of action for your business, so let’s focus on how you can go about doing it. In the past, blogs, smart content, workflows and landing pages were just some of the actions marketers took when delivering effective campaigns.

These tactics are still useful today but now there’s so much more marketers can do to elevate their work and really get the most from inbound. Things have changed. For example, the above image doesn’t feature some of the most effective tactics that can be utilised today.

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• Inbound video - you don’t need us to tell you how massive video is. 54% of consumers said that video is their preferred form of content from brands. It’s difficult to find categorise video as being right at any particular moment of the buyer’s journey. It’s engaging and useful at all points, from first contact to post-sale.

• Paid social - social media is likely to already be a key part of your marketing strategy. But with so many voices shouting across so many different platforms it’s easy to get lost in the noise and fail to reach your target audience. With paid search, you can reach the right people to convey your message.

• Paid search - with paid search results taking up so much of the results page on Google, can you really afford not to incorporate it into your campaign. Falling early in the buyer’s journey stage, it’s a great way of driving traffic to the right places.

• Conversational marketing - ensure your campaign is working hard 24/7 with a chatbot. This frees up the marketing team to focus their efforts elsewhere and allows customers to receive the valuable information they need quickly and easily. Plus, you can keep an eye on conversations and step in to say hello if necessary.

• Live chat - Live chat is a fast and effective way of delivering real value to your customers. By simply talking to your customers, you can identify their pain points and any missed opportunities that your business could be taking advantage of.

Plus, HubSpot has a bucket load of new apps and tools available that can accomplish pretty much anything you need. There’s more on integrations and the HubSpot App Partner Program a little further on.

These are just some of the latest tactics that your business really needs to be utilising to ensure you’re delivering inbound marketing campaigns that have reached their full potential. To understand which tactics are right for your target audience, it might be time to refresh your personas.

4.Know your

persona.

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Are you currently producing content your personas are looking for? Is it in a format that your target audience regularly engages with? If the answer to either of those questions is no, then you need to reconsider your content strategy.

Revisit your personas. Are they still relevant?Before you can answer this question, you need to consider your existing personas. Do they capture your target audience? It doesn’t matter how good your blogs, videos and podcasts are if the right people aren’t finding them.

If it’s been a while since you created your personas, then it’s worth revising them. You need to make sure they fully capture your target audience and are updated with any new information you might have discovered about them.

This information will shape not only what you focus your content marketing efforts on but also where your persona wants to consume it. Knowing if they prefer podcasts or written content, short-form blogs or deep-dive pieces and whether they use Twitter or Facebook is all vital.

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Where to focus your content • 83% of women use Facebook compared to just 75% of men.

• 71% of Instagram users are under the age of 35.

• 40% of LinkedIn users visit the site at least once a day.

• 32% of adults have listened to a podcast in the last month.

• 54% of consumers want to watch more video content from a brand or business they support.

Stats like these show just how important it is to focus your content distribution in the right direction. With so many different things vying for our attention online, if you’re posting in the wrong place then your brand will get lost in the noise.

Consider some of your business’ key engagement metrics. Things like blog sessions, social media followers and podcast subscribers can determine where your brand is currently connecting most meaningfully with your audience.

Are you dedicating time, money and energy on an email newsletter that no one’s looking at? These resources would be better spent elsewhere (or on a newsletter that’s engaging, direct and sent at the right time).

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What should you do?Blogs, emails, social posts - analyse everything you’re currently doing. Are these blogs and posts having the desired impact with your persona? Some of the key metrics we mentioned above will provide a good insight into what’s working but the best thing to do is actually speak to your audience.

Ask them what they want to see and where they want to see it. Customers will happily answer a few quick questions if they feel as though their voice is being heard. Some of the answers you receive might surprise you and lead you to reevaluate your existing strategy.

One of the key takeaways of this process might be the confirmation you need to embrace some of the emerging content formats. Videos, podcasts and chatbots are all relatively new ways of engaging with your customers. If you aren’t exploring these formats already, then you’re falling behind the curve.

Customers today want to be able to watch a product review video or find the information they need from your website quickly via a chatbot. If they see you aren’t producing videos or podcasts and your website is difficult to navigate, then they won’t stay loyal to you for long.

Video in particular is a format you just can’t ignore any longer. Brands of all sizes and from different sectors are showing just how important video is to inbound marketing. Read our inbound video pillar page now for tips on getting started with video at your business.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO PILLAR PAGE

5.Setting goals.

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Are you working towards established goals right now? Did you hit your targets for the last quarter? Setting goals is a crucial part of inbound marketing but it’s something that many businesses fail to do effectively.

When setting a goal, make sure it’s SMART. This might be a term you’ve come across already, perhaps in relation to self-improvement. Setting SMART goals ensures that goals are always:

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Specific

The more specific your goal, the more focused your work towards it can be. Vague goals are much harder to find success with as it’s more difficult to know when you’ve actually achieved it.

Who’s working towards it, what are you looking to achieve and when do you think it will be completed? There may be smaller key objectives that need to be met along the way to achieving the goal.

Measurable

Goals should have milestones that can be measured. There needs to be key metrics that signify how well your business is progressing towards that goal.

Blog views, new leads, profit levels, social media followers - whatever your goal, find a metric you can measure.

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Attainable

Be honest. Can you achieve the goal you’re setting out? Unrealistic goals are disheartening for the team and can cause you to lose focus.

If you currently have an email open rate of 10%, then a goal of 15% is attainable. Setting a goal for an email open rate of 50% isn’t.

Relevant

Are your goals relevant to your business right now? There’s no point in creating a long-term goal that isn’t useful at the moment.

Don’t set a goal for 5,000 new social media followers if the biggest challenge facing your business right now is your sales figures. Social media engagement might be one of many factors you think about to achieve higher sales but it shouldn’t be the key focus.

Timely

Long-term thinking is good for any business but your goals should be a little more time-sensitive than that. Giving yourself five years to achieve something isn’t especially proactive.

Put a deadline on your goal of six months and it’ll give you the motivation you need to work towards it successfully.

SMART goals work at all levels of the business. Set yourself some goals to improve your performance at work or speak to the leadership team about top-level business goals that will drive growth and ensure everyone is pulling in the same direction.

6.Beyond

HubSpot.

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There used to be a time when inbound marketing just meant using HubSpot. The innovative platform did so many of the things we needed but there were occasional functionality gaps. That’s completely different now.

New apps, features and packages allow us to use HubSpot for so much more now. Whatever you need, there are apps available on the marketplace that can help. However, if you’re new to the platform, it can be quite a lot to get your head around.

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This image from HubSpot shows just how far-reaching the program is. When first starting with HubSpot, there’s always a worry that you’ll be unable to use some of the systems that are really useful. That isn’t the case thanks to the partnerships HubSpot has with some of the biggest names in lead generation, video, live chat, content, sales and more.

If you’re already using Drift, AdRoll, Accelo, Seventh Sense, Vidyard or any of the other software that’s featured in the image, then you can take advantage of seamless integrations thanks to HubSpot.

HubSpot App Partner ProgramHubSpot knows that your business already relies on software and systems from a wide range of providers. That’s why they have the App Partner Program. It was originally put in place in 2015 and since then it’s grown to include over 300 different partners.

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HubSpot App MarketplaceThe App Partner Program shows you who HubSpot’s working with but the App Marketplace is where you go to get the extras you need. Discover new integrations and innovative systems all in one place.

Visit the marketplace and find all of the essential information you need about each integration. Its pricing details, data flow structure and even demonstration videos can all be accessed quickly and easily from within the marketplace.

There’s also a really useful filter and search feature that makes it easier than ever to find the app you’re looking for. Choose from useful categories that are specifically curated for marketing teams, sales teams, startups, agencies and more.

Gmail, Outlook, Mailchimp, Zapier, WordPress, Slack and Google Search Console are just some of the most popular apps that are currently available on the marketplace.

7.The future of inbound

- what lies ahead.

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Here’s what Digital 22’s Founder and Director Rikki Lear and Head of Creative Paul Mortimer had to say:

What do you think is working in inbound right now?

Rikki: “Video is working, it has been for a while now but people are actually starting to do it at scale. Look at LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook [and so on] - the posts that get traction have video. Behind the scenes, you can see the same is true for other mediums such as landing pages and emails.”

Paul: “A multi-faceted content ecosystem is a must. Using a singular medium simply isn’t enough. People want to consume video, short-form content, long-form content, email, events, training courses... they have multiple content consumption contexts and we need to cater for them all.”

We asked some of Digital 22’s resident inbound experts to think about what’s coming next. They’ve seen how the methodology has changed over the years and witness the death of the funnel and the emergence of the flywheel.

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What do you think the next big thing is in inbound?

Rikki: “Of the current trends, conversational marketing seems to have the potential for the biggest impact in the next few years.

“Conversational marketing is using what you know about your visitors to provide a tailored conversational outlet for them to quickly get the information they need.

“Many marketing software companies have moved into this space, such as HubSpot, the key to success with this isn’t technology but implementation. [It’s about] making sure it genuinely can help the user get what they need and speak to the right person, rather than it being another frustration point.”

Paul: “Training courses. But don’t tell anyone.”

Do you see any key turning points in the road ahead?

Rikki: “Google is getting more aggressive on providing zero click results, i.e. the number of searches they solve themselves rather than directing people to a website. Most weeks, there is a new tool, calculator or feature which solves the whole query, keeping people on Google and reducing organic traffic.

“At some point, the balance will change where Google is a competitor to a huge amount of companies, rather than the place leads come from. Depending on your business, this could happen soon or very far down the road. At this point, you need to be aware of the possibilities.”

Paul: “Personally, the death of the 1,000-word run of the mill blog very shortly. It will be replaced by video, short form and long form pieces only very soon. Why read 1,000 words when a video will tell me the same level of depth in two mins?

“But people will want to read thousands of words of well researched and well written prose. Always have, always will.”

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What has been the most significant change in inbound up to this point and any final thoughts?

Rikki: “The inbound methodology is more than 10 years old. What is always important to remember is that the tactics under the methodology can and will change every couple of years.

“But the key message remains the same - find a way to attract new people to you, help them and give genuine value, provide opportunities for them to convert at all stages of the buyer’s journey and use the context you have to help your sales team close.”

Paul: “Topic clusters. It’s changed the planning and formation of effective content strategy entirely. I kinda miss the days we could target on a keyword by keyword basis.

“From training in-house marketers this year, what’s key is really moving the content subject away from your product and right up to the start of the buyer’s journey. True awareness content is still a revelation to most in-house marketers I speak to.

“It’s easy in the inbound agency world to think we’ve reached a saturation point of knowledge of the methodology but we haven’t.

“One key tip would be for our readers to not be afraid to talk about stuff that just helps their persona rather than talks about their product.”

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Book a call.

Interested in getting the absolute most from HubSpot and inbound marketing as a whole? Speak to a member of our team today to see how we can help you to unleash the potential of inbound marketing.

We’re a Diamond HubSpot Partner, the #1 HubSpot agency in the UK and able to offer everything your business could ever need from under one roof.

Holmes Mill, Greenacre Street, Clitheroe, BB7 1EB T: 0370 218 7180

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