BusinessTools TECH STRATEGIES

Inbound Marketing

Solid content development will help generate website traffic, leads, and marketing ROI.

By Dawn Zimmerman

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ne of the most common challenges that I hear from businesses is generating traffic and leads to their websites. Hubspot’s State of Inbound Report found that 63 percent of responding businesses feel the same way, followed by 40 percent clamoring for a proven Return on Investment (ROI). Both are possible with today’s marketing tools and rely on solid content development from beginning to end. Once, creating a blog, posting good content on social media or sending targeted emails were enough to generate traffic and leads. But as the prevalence of all of them has grown, organizations have had to become more

audience can create more value – when published and compounded overtime —than generating half a dozen posts to keep your website “fresh” or timely. ________

can use their content marketing to elevate brand awareness and establish their thought leadership (fairly quickly), but it must begin with developing the content. ________

2 Value is the priority.

5 The goal is action.

Selling should not be the reason you write and publish, although it certainly will be an outcome. The primary focus is providing valuable content and experiences to an intended audience. How can you help them better understand a trend, solve a problem or become better? ________ sophisticated in their approaches. It requires leaders to think more strategically about an integrated digital marketing strategy, including leveraging inbound marketing — a methodology for drawing in visitors and potential customers. Inbound marketing is how start-ups have quickly established their brands and become major players in a matter of months, how mature businesses are staying relevant, and how large businesses are accelerating their market share. What do you need to know to get started?

1 It’s often not about doing more.

Quality trumps quantity. One blog that resonates with an

3 It’s a journey.

Buyers will typically view 3-5 pieces of content before formally initiating the sales process by contacting a rep. Consumers want to do their research on their own and come in more armed to make a decision. When creating content, step back and map out content that takes them on the journey from awareness to consideration to decision. ________ 4 The power is in the integration.

Inbound marketing thrives because it integrates content marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and branding. They all work together to achieve results. Organizations

contributor Dawn Zimmerman is CEO of The Write Advantage, a St. Cloud-based strategic communications company. She can be reached at dawn@writeadv.com

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Each piece of content, whether it’s a blog or a targeted email, needs to include an opportunity to take the next step – or a call to action link or button. This can range from a simple (but effective) sign up, submit a question, get started to download a guide, complete an assessment, or join a webinar. These all provide an opportunity to capture information for a lead. ________ 6 The power is in the tracking.

In the inbound world, everything’s trackable – from the link in an email to time spent on a website by a specific user to conversion rates. The technology has robust reporting to fuel additional digital and on-the-ground efforts, including the option to receive alerts when multiple people from the same organization visit the site. The answer to more traffic, more leads, and a greater marketing ROI may start with a blog and an integrated digital marketing strategy. The results can vary. It’s simply not enough to “do all the things.” Strategic execution is everything. All the tools and all of the elements within each of them matter.