We spend a significant portion of our prospect meetings going over what exactly the Inbound Marketing plans should include. It’s usually a rather lengthy discussion depending on the particular client’s needs. Though there is a list that we recommend for most clients (a foundation if you will), it is important to customize each package to the client and their goals. A lot of the conversation seems to circle around how each of the different pieces of the plan will help that particular business.
Comprehensive Inbound Marketing Package
The way we see it, there are about 10 pieces in a full program. Not every agency will include all of these elements, but for clients willing to invest in the whole Inbound Marketing experience this is the way to go!
- Ongoing Strategy & Analysis. An effective strategy is built on an understanding of the client’s goals and their target audience’s persona. We invest a lot of time in understanding what exactly motivates those you are trying to reach and how we want them to respond. Making sure we consistently hit that moving target requires ongoing analysis of the data from our efforts. We continuously adapt our strategy according to the data to ensure your ROI is as high as possible. Part of what makes this possible is your account manager.They are your advocate within our company, and they keep an eye on the analytics. Your account manager makes sure your Inbound Marketing strategy is running smoothly and handles any challenges that may come up.
- Social Media Publishing & Monitoring. We create custom content, publish it and monitor the responses coming into your social media channel. In the creation of content, we will incorporate royalty-free photographs, custom videos, etc. We act as our first responders, so you don’t have to worry about the response time. In most circumstances, we will respond within an hour. The most effective social media channel for your business will depend in part on where your company is in the US and where your target market is currently interacting. For a robust strategy, we recommend 2-3 channels. For example Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest or Facebook, Twitter, and SnapChat. For some clients, we focus on just one.
- Blogging. Quality, relevant content keeps your website current and increases your leads by two-thirds (according to a recent HubSpot survey). The best way to keep your website updated is to blog regularly. For smaller blogging packages we post twice a month, but ideally, we post once or twice a week. Our dynamite content creators write custom blogs based on questions your target audience is asking. By answering these questions, your website rankings increase as do your leads and conversions.
- Content Creation. Putting out quality content is critical to a successful Inbound Marketing strategy. Content varies from webinars, YouTube videos, to whitepapers, infographics, and more. Our content creation process typically involves idea creation and research, copywriting (if needed), artwork/photography/videography, SEO optimization, web design and coding (if necessary), and publishing.
- Landing Pages. When people are looking for a particular service or product, they often do not want to dig through your entire website and will bounce off your site before “converting” to a lead. The solution to this is to provide a “landing page” that focuses in on a specific service, offer, product, or piece of information that is of particular interest to the end user. When an interested party clicks on a PPC (Pay Per Click) ad of Google, a Facebook ad or a sponsored or promoted post it will take them to a landing page on your site. The user must then provide some basic contact information to access or receive what they are looking for. It is a “win-win” for both parties. The end users get the information they need, and our clients receive contact information for future marketing.
- Pay Per Click (PPC). Is also called cost per click, is most often referring to Google AdWords, but Facebook has increased their ad system. In both cases, we leverage Google or Facebook’s targeting systems to ensure the ad shows up to the right target market. Our clients only pay when someone clicks or in some way interacts with the ad. We employ PPC to direct traffic to our client’s websites and their landing pages.
- Google SEO and Web Maintenance. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a confusing term to grasp and this is in part because it is another moving target. Google is constantly changing their search algorithm, that thing that determines which website ranks where in attempts to improve the user experience. Blackhat marketers are always trying to figure out ways to fool the system. So there is never a clear target for long. We make marked efforts to stay on top of the newest Google requirements to ensure your website is organically ranking in a way Google approves of. This, in turn, keeps your site on good terms with Google, so it doesn’t get blacklisted. We spend time each month updating keywords, manually managing link-building, etc. Additionally, we maintain content on your website as needed for staff changes, new services, and more.
- Email Marketing. It is not enough to just collect lead information; you must have a system to follow up with those leads. Email marketing through newsletters sent out at regular intervals is a powerful way to foster and develop leads into converting to regular customers.
- Video Content. Facebook now has more videos being uploaded every day than even YouTube. Videos are becoming the most widely viewed content on the internet. On social media, 15-30 second videos are the most effective. We work with clients to create the strategy, record and post the videos on various social media channels.
- Campaigns & Special Projects. Finally, campaigns can span multiple marketing methods and greater periods of time. They are a concerted and coordinated effort to push out a specific message or to tell a story. The size of the campaign will vary depending on the budget, the goals, and the impact required. We bring the full weight of our diverse creative team to bear for our clients to put together effective, innovative strategies that achieve their goals.
We love sitting down and brainstorming with our clients to come up with the best plans with the most value. If you are interested in what Inbound Marketing can do for your business, please click on the link at the bottom of the page for a free consultation or drop me a line at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!
This blog was originally published in November 2015, but was updated for content and accuracy.