Marketing is important to any business. We all know that we need to keep up with best and new marketing practices, or risk falling behind the competition quickly. What kind of marketing is relevant these days?
You’re likely to find Inbound Marketing at the top of the list.
Inbound Marketing is the practice of providing an “opt-in” strategy vs. an “opt-out” strategy. It’s delivering the right content to serve your audience’s needs instead of pushing out your message to people who didn’t ask for it in the first place through email blasts, print advertising, billboards or cold calls.
Why does inbound work? Because the consumer has the power. He or she initiates the search for a solution. If you are not creating content that addresses their needs, well, you’re toast. That might sound harsh, but it’s the truth.
So if you’ve already decided Inbound Marketing is the right strategy for your business, thumbs up! The next step is to avoid the common problems, pitfalls and mistakes many people learn the hard way when first starting out. Be on the look out for these common inbound mistakes and fix them before they become a real problem for your business:
1. Setting Unrealistic Goals (or NONE at all!). Many businesses fail to set goals at all for their marketing efforts. And if they do remember, many don’t pick goals that can be realistically achieved. Sure you want to triple your audience overnight. And wouldn’t it be great if every video went viral? Absolutely! We get it. It would be awesome if everything could happen overnight, but it won’t. Inbound Marketing is a long-tail strategy that grows like a solid investment.
TIP: Set small goals to begin with, that can easily be measured. Then continue making more, bigger and better, as long as you can measure and track. Be specific and relevant. Maybe one trackable goal is writing one blog post a week. Or another could be interacting on social media for one hour every day. Write the goals, stick to them, and adjust.
2. Balancing Too Much at Once. There is a lot in a successful inbound marketing strategy. From social media and blogging to nurturing leads, it can be hard not to pile too much onto your plate. But take a step back and look at it this way– if you are trying to balance too much, you aren’t doing anything great. At best, all of your work is good. You aren’t going to attract more people with good content.
People will want to be a part of your business community only if you give them extraordinary content. Otherwise, how will you stand out? There are many businesses trying to accomplish your same goals. And you have to be better!
TIP: If you find yourself getting overwhelmed, focus on only one or two channels in the beginning. Start with a blog and maybe one focused social media channel. If that doesn’t work, consider adding someone else, such as an intern to start, to provide more support.
3. Not Having a Blog. In order for people to find your company, you need to have pages and content. The easiest way to make sure you have new content on a regular basis is to start a company or brand blog. Without a blog, you don’t have much of a platform. Every new post can be added to your business page and make it that much easier for people to find you and your content in their search. However, make sure you are authentic. Tell real-life stories. Share your expertise and knowledge. It will pay off.
TIP: Start a content calendar, or your blog is destined to fail. This will help put all blog topics and ideas in one place and give you clear dates to deliver. It will also help you strategize when it is best to post, but you have to watch the metrics.
4. Creating Content No One Cares About. For inbound marketing to work you need to have people interested in what you’re saying. Only then will they become interested in your company. The only way you will find an interested audience is if you create content they actually need to read for their own success. Don’t just think of random topics. Find out what your audience wants and needs. Where are their pain points? Create content that directly provides solutions and value.
Remember, the content you create should follow these key rules:
- Educational- You need to answer questions
- Remarkable- Make it unique from what’s already online
- Valuable- Content needs to help your audience!
TIP: Do some research. Ask your current audience what they’re looking for and talk to them about their needs. Also, look into what content has been the most engaging based on your digital analytics. Use that information to lead you to content that works!
5. Forgetting to Measure. After you’ve been pouring all of your efforts into your inbound marketing strategy, it really would be a shame not to measure the results. You can’t possibly know what’s working if you don’t watch what’s happening. Want to keep it simple?
- Understand who is looking at your content
- Understand when people are looking at your content
If you only want to focus on those two metrics, you’re going to make significant progress, but you can find out more. You can learn when most of your audience is online, what they are reading and for how long, and even discover what your competitors are doing.
TIP: Focus on 2 to 3 metrics that are most important to you. Do you want to narrow down what content is most effective? Look at click-through rates. What calls to action are working the best? Look at which ones have given you the most leads. The only thing you should never do is forget that metrics are your friend, and lead to better decisions.