An Easy Checklist To Measure The Competence Of Your Inbound Marketing Agency
Jul 12, 2016
10 min read
Inbound Marketing has many synonyms like- online marketing, Search marketing, Internet Marketing and Digital Marketing. It doesn’t matter with what name you call it- it takes time and specialization to get results. Few industrial, B2B companies have an inhouse team to handle the various components of Inbound Marketing, while others interview Inbound Marketing agencies that can help them drive to their goals. But the real question is what should an interviewer look for in an Inbound Marketing firm to determine whether they are the right fit for the business or not:
1. Do They Have The Required B2B Experience?
A firm with only one token in its roster of clients or none for the worst of it, is probably not your best choice. You should look for company that has a long history and extensive list of work experience with B2B or industrial service marketing. If you find one with experience in your industry domain, even better. Even if the experience in the right domain is present, the next level to judge a B2B marketing firm is that how well is there track record in the industry sector. You can ask them for case studies for industrial companies and especially B2B Inbound marketing. Other indicator could be the samples of their monthly reporting to other clients.
No matter what an Inbound Marketing agency tells you to close a deal but there is a huge difference in industrial marketing and B2C, or retail marketing. The bottom line is that if you select the right firm with industrial experience, you’ll not end up explaining every single thing to them; you’ll get better service; no time would be wasted to get things done; They’ll be able to make necessary changes or recommendations in the methods they employ to attract clients; all of this will maximize your Return On Investment(ROI).
2. Can They Strategize And Execute?
Most Inbound marketing firms have separate departments that execute the various components of Inbound Marketing Campaign- SEO, SMM, and Content Marketing. Make sure that you work in tandem with the lead strategist to understand how they are going to make your campaign work. There is not one method to implement Inbound marketing. The strategies change not only with the difference with the industry type in B2B space, but also with unique demands of every business. Every client is unique and there will be variations in strategy and tactics based on goals, budget, and internal resources.
3. What Technologies Are Employed by Them?
If designing your company’s website is the first step for you, then make sure that you hire a firm that utilizes an open source web development software, such as WordPress, ModX,Joomla, or Drupal. A custom made CMS for your website may sound more enticing to you because of its cheap development cost, but after a few years you’ll realize that only this Inbound marketing agency will be able to migrate it to any other platform of your choice. If you use a website that is built on an open source then you can find any programmer who will be able to migrate your entire website to a new platform if required.
The other technologies that concern you are what automation software or what analytics software is used for reporting the stats to you and what is the frequency going to be for reporting.
4. Do They Have a Cohesive Unit to Work on Your Project?
Many Inbound Marketing agencies have been found to include Inbound Marketing in their promotional material as their main-stream product but the reality is that they outsource most of their services to freelancers. There is a proliferation of freelancers who specialize in Search Engine Optimization, Social Media marketing, and Web Content Marketing.
Look for a firm that can offer you the team according to your requirements. Ask them to meet the key players like- the strategist, the team leaders or the designers who are the “technical wizards behind the curtain” that most marketing agencies never give a client access to.
5. The Agreement- Make Sure You Read it
Most of the Inbound Marketing firms require to sign a year contract or even more to work with a new client. Make sure you understand the terms you are agreeing to, and that it is acceptable to you.
Conclusion
Do your homework; ask all the questions above or even more that come in your mind to satisfy yourself that you are choosing the right firm. Apart from this, communication with the agency is very important after you have made the decision to hire the agency; be responsive, work closely with them, and provide whatever information they need to buid traction and deliver results.
4 Top Tips to Boost your Content Marketing Strategy
Traditional marketing practices, tactics of door-to-door sales, or cold calls are the things of the past. They are no longer effective in this fast-paced digital world. Now, content marketing has become the new way to reach customers. It has made an astounding impact on the marketing industry. Content marketing is more than just preparing, sharing, and distributing content in order to generate leads, improve branding, connect to a large audience and achieve marketing goals. A content marketing strategy analyzes or inspects the different ways content marketing can be used across a consumer’s journey along with their varied experiences. But in order to boost this strategy, you need to go beyond this. So, let's take a look at these 4 useful tips that will improve your content marketing strategy: 1. Style your content attractively Sometimes reading content online can be boring so make sure you put extra effort to style your articles effectively. Keep it short and simple. Divide the sections of your content with short, compelling headings and subheadings, and try to keep your paragraphs crisp and brief. Use bullets or pointers to present the content as a list, this will help your readers to get drawn to these bulleted texts. Also, have thorough research on the topics related to your industry and look for sources of inspiration. 2. Try to create more visual content Visual content simply means content with pictures and videos. Visual content always performs better than any other type of content when it comes to sharing. This simply means that if your content posts and links are not getting enough shares, you could change them to visual content. Create custom images, infographics and share video tutorials to improve your content outreach strategy. 3. Improve your promotional efforts For you, your content should be like a living thing: It needs to be supported and nurtured in order to grow properly. This simply means that your promotion efforts are equally important for a successful content marketing strategy as your content creation efforts. All sources that you have used to create content, whether original or curated, should be given a chance to be promoted and shared within their circles and on specific channels. 4. Share your content at the right time The time to share your content is very critical regardless of how attractive or appealing your content may be. If you are sharing your articles or content at a time when most of your audience is at work or asleep, there is a big chance that your content might not get the number of shares it really deserves. To know more about content marketing services and the latest digital trends of marketing, Contact us! ...
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5 Top Zero Low-Cost Cutting Marketing Tips Every Marketing Agency Should Use
Every business now engages with Digital Marketing Services to get noticed, bring in leads and turn those prospective leads into business sales and ultimately generate revenues. These sales-generating activities are accomplished via online channels such as social media handles, attractive business websites, blog content, and email targeting and putting Search Engine Optimization (SEO) into productive action. There are a variety of online channels and marketing leads that help businesses reach out to their target audience . Often researchers conclude that a tailored marketing approach lets you acquire the relevant consumer base that you could have otherwise missed, by appointing redundant marketing tricks that almost every business use. Having that said, if a business is seeking assistance over marketing services from a marketing agency, there are a number of requests that need to be fulfilled by the latter party. Having a Digital marketing agency work for your business allows you to focus on your core departments and withdraw yourself from taking marketing decisions. Taking it into account, the marketing agency you’d hire would strive for better marketing solutions and increase the product sales via their years of experience and market knowledge. The function of a Digital Marketing agency is to lower the advertisement cost, campaign evaluation and get efficient, performance-driven results in lesser time. A business will only invest in an ad campaign given that it is generating trade for them and the marketing agency plays an important role here to forecast the outcomes and strategize beforehand. Low-Cost Cutting Marketing Tips Well, it is obvious that a business would do anything possible to cut down costs, and if there’s a way with adopting highly effective marketing strategies, then it would be first in their objective list. Here are a few marketing tips a marketing agency can use - Study and Analysing The Market: The primary part of a marketing agency is to know the business trade market and key demographics to come up with a relevant and customer’s desire-driven marketing campaign. Such surveys are important to realize the market potential and requirements so you can provide your business client a filtered customer base and guarantee ample leads. Use The Most Of The Internet: It is not new for marketing agencies to associate their functions with internet tools, mostly, they are the ones that make use of social media platforms, search engine tools, organize webinars for reaching prospective customers, and engaging them to let everyone know about the business. Focus On Local SEO: As a marketing agency, it is helpful for your business client to acquire the local customer base in and around the business premises, to gain trust, and improve brand credibility via word of mouth. Use local addresses as search words to get an edge on the search query scores. Work On Catchy and Improved Infographics: What customers also like is a detailed piece of information that describes the business product/service and are significantly pleasing to the eye. Therefore, a marketing agency could adapt alluring elements in its campaign infographic, depending upon the relevance of the customer base. The simplest and advanced traffic leads could be generated in no time. Encourage Better Content: If your business client’s onsite content isn’t worthy enough to seek customer leads, it is your responsibility, as a digital marketing agency, to take requires measures to bring forward their best food via the information they’ll display. Publishing good product/service content not only allows a business to seek credible traffic but also provides an easy medium for the customers to better understand themselves. Benefits Of Digital Marketing Services The traditional approach of marketing proves to be less effective in the era of advanced technology, and when people can be successfully engaged via online channels, it is better to tap those opportunities and gear up sales. Speaking of online channels, the digital modes of acquiring consumers revolves around connecting distinct people with similar interests under one umbrella of business trade. The aim is to reach out to a customer whose presence is universal and its needs could be catered via the internet, at the right time and right place. The following are a few major benefits that businesses get from Digital Marketing Agencies: Cost-saving Gone were the times when business enterprises used to reach out to their target audience via flyers, physical copies of their ad campaigns, and render a significant cost on the printing and outreach process. However, with the introduction of advanced technology, all kinds of businesses have come on a single playfield, which means a big MNC or a mid-size trading business have equal opportunities to attract interested customers and drive sales conveniently. A Well-monitored Technique The actual failure of the traditional approach of marketing was when businesses weren’t able to track the effectiveness of their marketing methods implemented at that time. But, when you want to know where your marketing cost is getting utilized, it is imperative to use digitally-backed methodologies whose effectiveness and target performance are measurable. Since you cannot give a visit to every customer when you target them via the old traditional marketing approach, you can surprisingly monitor the origin of your sales and it is only possible with the help of Digital Marketing. Know Your Target Audience Base Digital marketing enables you to only knock on the doors of those people who will be interested in your business product or services rendered. Having that said, it will only be niche-specific and only the key interested consumers will buy your idea. It also eliminates the cost of reaching out to the masses, without filtering out those who wouldn’t be captivated with your trading units, thus reducing the overall marketing cost. Altered Campaigns It is obviously not possible to edit the information on the flyers and physical copies of the ad campaigns, once they are sent out. This reduces the authority of the business enterprise to alter the relevant details and puts them in a position to incur significant printing costs all over again. However, an ad campaign that is digitally broadcasted can be edited by the enterprise, the content put can be changed subject to the marketing strategies adopted, with time. The social media tags can be altered, SEO links could be optimized, etc. ...
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How Omnichannel Presence Creates a Seamless Customer Journey
Not long ago, the debate revolved around the terminology and correctness of using ‘multichannel’ and ‘omnichannel’ interchangeably. The difference, though subtle, holds a lot of significance now. To understand the difference between these similar-sounding terms, let’s unpack their meaning first. Gone are the days when brick-and-mortar stores were the only option. Nowadays, customers expect brands to offer multiple channels of contact, including online stores, social media, and even chatbots. But is it enough to simply be "multichannel," or should we strive for something more? This is where omnichannel retailing comes in. Yes, it may sound like just another buzzword in the ever-evolving marketing world, but omnichannel presence is so much more than having multiple channels of contact. It's about providing a seamless and consistent customer experience across all channels, from the physical store to the website and everything in between. In this article, we'll dive deep into the world of omnichannel presence and explore how it can make all the difference when it comes to building customer loyalty and satisfaction. What is an omnichannel presence? A brand's omnichannel strategy strives to offer customers a seamless and integrated experience across a variety of touchpoints or channels. E-commerce channels that might fall under this category include social media, email, websites, apps, mobile SMS, phone/call centers, and physical storefronts. Businesses can increase customer happiness and loyalty by offering a consistent experience across all channels. For instance, a consumer who searches for fashion advice on Instagram, goes shopping in person, and then purchases something online wants the same degree of support and assistance throughout the process. The consumer is more likely to feel appreciated and satisfied if a company can do that. Furthermore, delivering a great client experience requires a seamless transition between channels. Regardless of their channel to communicate with a company, customers anticipate their interactions will continue where they left off. For instance, if a customer adds an item to their online cart but chooses to finish the transaction in person, they anticipate finding the identical item in their basket when they get there. Therefore, an effective omnichannel strategy should strive to deliver a seamless and uniform experience across all touchpoints, encompassing both online and offline channels. Businesses can use this to promote client loyalty and happiness, increasing sales and revenue. Starbucks and its Amazing Omnichannel Strategies In 2018, Starbucks had 60 million monthly customers who had no connection to the brand online. In March 2018, the business made the decision to gate free Wi-Fi as a response. Customers first have to register with an email account in order to access the internet. In exchange for free Wi-Fi, Starbucks was able to obtain consent to reach customers via a new channel (email). Customers who had entered their email but had not yet registered for Starbucks Rewards (SR) were referred to as "digitally registered customers" internally. Since launching this category, Starbucks has added 10 million new digitally registered customers to its database. Starbucks developed exclusive discounts and experiences specifically for Rewards members to encourage channel adoption further. For instance, Starbucks Rewards members who order a handmade beverage in advance through the app (grande or larger) receive a coupon for a free drink that can be used within a week. Customers are encouraged to use the Starbucks app as part of this promotion, which calls for them to be signed up for Starbucks Rewards. Starbucks provides Rewards Members more than just one-of-a-kind deals. They frequently design whole experiences for their customer base. For instance, during their yearly "Starbucks for Life" promotion, Rewards members can amass game pieces by purchasing particular goods. Starbucks for Life is one of the rewards, along with $500 gift cards , Bose earbuds, and more! Starbucks has been successful in creating a digital relationship with clients through the use of these methods, converting them into devoted patrons who use the app to place orders in advance and pay for their drinks. This is an illustration of how Starbucks expanded its omnichannel retailing strategy through incentives and forced channel adoption and how other eCommerce companies might benefit from their technique. Steps to the Best Omnichannel Strategy Making sure that a customer's experience is seamless and consistent across all devices, channels, and platforms is a key component of implementing an omnichannel strategy. Providing a comprehensive view of the customer journey necessitates integrating and synchronizing several touchpoints, including social media, websites, mobile apps, email, chatbots, and in-store interactions. Starbucks is just one example of the multiple businesses that have expanded the capabilities of what their company can achieve by adopting a great omnichannel presence strategy. Here is a short guide on how you can build yours. 1. Analytics Don't worry. You're not the only one that struggles to give your customers a seamless buying experience across all platforms. The good news is that a solution is available in the form of omnichannel marketing analytics. For this to work, you'll need to set up a cutting-edge data and analytics tech stack. Fortunately, many external tools and solutions, including Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), can assist you in determining how efficient your sales and marketing initiatives are. Using data visualization, you can monitor all marketing initiatives made across all platforms, ascertain what is actually happening on various platforms, and immediately take necessary action. However, with 65% of marketers having issues with data centralization, data silos, and centralization are the second-biggest obstacles to a well-rounded omnichannel marketing plan. The first step is collecting information on who is visiting your website or other touchpoints, how they got there, and if they convert. ETL, or "extract, transform, load," is the procedure you must go through in order to examine this data. This entails gathering data from many sources, repurposing it, and placing it in a data warehouse. After you have all of this information, you can create the ideal omnichannel strategy by combining the following four elements: Prediction: More often than not, you should be able to anticipate what will happen next. For instance, you can expect that presenting consumers who are browsing a certain product page with comparable products will enhance conversions if you discover that they convert more frequently. Real time monitoring: Dashboards should enable you to keep an eye on your marketing and consumer interactions in real time. For instance, you can act right away to look into the issue and make improvements if you see a dramatic decline in website traffic or email open rates. Customer information: You should be able to Extract customers' historical and profile-related data as well as their current behavioral data from your website and app, email campaigns, social media, customer reviews, comments, and ratings, support tickets, or claims. You may then customize your marketing initiatives by developing a thorough understanding of each customer's journey. Cohorts, segments, and workflow: Create cohorts, segments, and workflows that enable you to identify accomplishments and issues quickly and take immediate corrective action. For instance, you may establish a cohort of clients who have made several transactions over the past year and extend a loyalty program to them in an effort to keep them coming back. 2. Trace the Customer's Journey Building an effective omnichannel strategy that grabs your consumers' attention, resonates with them, and turns them into repeat customers requires a thorough understanding of the customer journey. To do this, you must figure out where your clients are currently present and what platforms they frequently use, as well as information about their purchasing patterns, preferred social media sites, and events that catch their attention. Yet, simply knowing where your clients are is insufficient. You must comprehend their path from discovery to purchase, as well as their Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT), or the point at which they decide whether or not to buy your product after doing some research. This frequently happens before consumers ever reach your website, emphasizing the value of being present across a variety of platforms and touchpoints. You must map your customers' pre-purchase journey using analytics in order to determine the best conversion paths. You will gain knowledge of their interactions with your brand and the most effective touchpoints as a result. Using this information, you can design an omnichannel purchasing process that converts every digital touchpoint into a customer action. Making each touchpoint interact with your clients in an integrated and personalized way is essential to attaining this goal. This can be accomplished by directing your clients toward conversion with the help of targeted advertising, email campaigns, social media involvement, and tailored suggestions. In the end, developing a successful omnichannel strategy necessitates ongoing investigation, evaluation, and development. You can design a purchasing experience that thrills and inspires your customers by understanding their requirements, interests, and behaviors. This will foster long-term loyalty and success for your company. 3. Make Every touchpoint count Customers today want a smooth purchasing experience, which necessitates making every touchpoint shoppable. So, exactly what does that mean? It implies that every time a customer engages with your brand, they need to be able to make a purchase easily and smoothly. Consider a scenario in which a client visits your website and adds a product to their shopping basket. Later, while they peruse their social media stream, they come across an advertisement for your company that features the very same item they were debating. When they click the advertisement, they are immediately redirected to your website, where the item is already waiting for them in their shopping basket. This is an illustration of a shoppable touchpoint that promotes customer loyalty to your business and eventually results in a sale. Email is yet another illustration of a shoppable touchpoint. It's possible that a consumer added items to their cart but decided against making the purchase before checking out. Sending them a reminder email with a quick link to their shopping basket allows them to quickly resume where they left off and complete the transaction. In conclusion, establishing a seamless customer experience that reduces friction and increases sales potential entails making every touchpoint shoppable. It all comes down to giving customers a convenient and tailored purchasing experience that satisfies their demands and encourages repeat business. In Conclusion Finding their strongest consumer touchpoint and providing clear incentives for channel adoption are crucial for eCommerce stores aiming to extend their omnichannel shopping strategy. Saffron Edge's portfolio of products and services, which are intended to increase consumer engagement and boost revenue, can assist eCommerce organizations in achieving this. Visit our website right away to find out more about how we can assist your eCommerce company in developing a digital interaction with clients and in enhancing your omnichannel retailing strategy. ...
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