Inbound Marketing is a transformational approach to attract prospects with valuable content at each stage of the buyer process.
As part of a recent presentation on social media and digital marketing, I developed a Mnemonic AEIOU to help the audience remember some of the key elements of an integrated revenue architecture and associated marketing best practices. After all, most English speakers remember our vowels (A.E.I.O.U. and sometimes Y)!
This short slideshow introduces the model and offers a few AEIOU tips and practices for each element:
Developing ebooks and infographics can help your business be recognized as a thought leader in your industry. By creating a larger compilation or visual representation of the knowledge you want to share with your target market, you can create appealing material for downloads and viral sharing.
What are the benefits to you?
If you have an ebook written and ready to go, take some final steps: add chapter titles, page numbers, and proofread. Then check out tools like scribd.com, which can publish your ebook for free. Place the book on your website, link to it in online forums, include it in your email signature, and be sure to send it to all your friends and colleagues. Requiring visitors to fill out forms before downloading them is a great way to capture leads – just make sure the content is of a high enough quality to justify the registration!
Trigger-based emails, rules-based emails, real-time emails, or auto-responder emails are great tools for today’s marketers. Regardless of what you call it, these are the emails we receive as customers after doing something or buying something. We get order confirmations, email reminders, survey invitations, e-newsletter subscriptions and product cross-sell promotions. As an online customers , my inbox is bombarded. Some of them are relevant and timely and catch my attention, others I ignore and then eventually unsubscribe.
A “promise” of trigger-based emails is that you can “set it and forget it.” However, there are several variables in email marketing that can always be tested and optimized. Some examples are the subject line, preheaders, design, layout, copy, calls to action, timing, message/offer, etc. Given this, how can a trigger-based campaign be truly set and forgotten about?
I think some companies have forgotten about me. At some point, ignoring emails leads to annoyance and opt-outs. We have advised clients to look at bounces, open rates, and click-through rates to develop rules to purge non-responders, or move them to a campaign with fewer communications. While trigger-based emails are automated, they require the human brain to set them up for success. The last thing businesses need, especially in B2B, is customer fatigue and a shrinking opt-in email list they worked so hard to develop.
The arrival of ecommerce and other web technologies created a lot of talk about the leveling of the playing field between small / mid-sized businesses and large business. For a while, there was some truth to this. Today, scale and size are back in town. Big and well resourced firms can again spend their way to success supporting multi-channel, content-driven campaigns.
Channels
What started with a web site with some site analytics then advertising is now video, Facebook, Twitter, email, etc, etc, etc. Each channel has its own subtleties and each are rapidly evolving as all the players try to own the future. For the average small or mid-sized business – life in the fast lane is tough. Dizzying is probably the right word.
Content
Participating is a start but you are only really going to engage your target audience if you have some interesting to say. Not sure how many thought leaders there are in your business but inspiration is sometimes tough to find. Making sure the invoice goes out right gets the priority. Even collecting and distributing other people’s creative genius is hard work. How much credit do you really get for retweeting?
Support technology
This is a lot to manage. Staying on top of marketing automation, web analytics and social media monitoring tools etc, etc, etc is tough. Startups with great tools keep turning up but they are often focused on making their money by working with big companies so good luck getting a reply to your email. Otherwise, they are so busy developing their product that they don’t have time to actually sell it. So again, good luck getting a reply to your email. You can try signing up for a trial. Unfortunately, most providers have not taken the lessons of companies like 37 Signals. The monthly fee might be small but you have to donate half of one person’s week to figure out how to make it work. Multiple that by X for every platform that you want / need to try.
So…. What to do?
Don’t give up
Stay involved. Things will improve. Applications will get simpler. New solutions will emerge. Stake your claim on every new thing so you don’t have to come up with some convoluted user name / handle in the future.
Campaign in a box
A campaign in a box is coming. The obvious market opportunity is to wrap services around some good low cost technology applications to give small and mid-sized businesses what they need to compete. No learning curve, help with content and social media management in partnership with your existing team. More to come from us on this. We think that it is time to level the playing field (again).
Every day there is an article like this one in a local newspaper sympathizing with someone who was fired because of something they posed online. Thankfully for registered representatives, FINRA is catching up with the digital age and addressed the issue of regulation and social media, fittingly, on its blog. In early January 2010 it released Regulatory Notice 10-06 which is intended to serve as guidance for Registered Representatives. Though short by FINRA standards at only ten pages, it is as monotonous as other FINRA publications. But true to form it does spell out some key things to keep in mind when using social tools:
Record Keeping
Because Twitter, Facebook and any of the other numerous social networking tools are written communication, the correspondences must be retained if they relate to “business as such.” The content of the particular post governs if it falls under the record keeping regulation or not. There are tools from Arkovi and Socialware that help address this.
Suitability
The same FINRA rules apply to social media as every other communication with customers. FINRA suggests going in two different directions with maintaining Suitability compliance. You may either a) make recommendations but only let suitable customers see them or b) don’t make recommendations. Make sure that either your settings or comments are restrained enough to not allow a recommendation to be seen by the wrong person.
Static
Blogs, being a static environment, are considered advertising and must be approved by a regulatory principal. This means that both Suitability and Record Keeping regulations apply.
Interactive
Unlike other the social communications mentioned above, posting on Forums is considered a public appearance and is regulated by the same Rule (2210) that would govern any event you were at in person. The same standard applies to the comment areas of blogs, Facebook walls and other areas with interactive ability.
Facebook content falls under both of the two categories listed above. The Profile, pictures, banner ads and any content that users can’t interact with is considered static and must be approved by an appropriate regulatory principal. The wall, comments and any other content that non-firm employees can comment on, poke or engage in some activity is considered interactive. This means that a regulatory principal does not need to approve communications before posting. Due to an employee posting, well, anything on their employer’s wall could be construed as advertising it is not advisable to post non-approved principal approved comments.
As illuminating as this publication was, it is still merely guidance which FINRA offered to shed some light on these key issues. With social media and all other communication tools – Hello, Reply All button – common sense will protect will protect you more often and fully than any compliance officer ever can.
Stay tuned for more articles addressing platform specific concerns.
While companies ramp up their inbound marketing campaigns, something is happening to their house lists… they are getting tired. Naturally, hot leads find their way to sales. The rest of the new warm leads need nurturing, so they don’t die on the vine. Sending message after message may not get those warm leads any hotter. Unless those messages are targeted, relevant, and timely, companies are only exhausting their lists. The audience loses interest. Now, that’s rotten!
So, what are we left to do?
Continuing inbound marketing campaigns to keep feeding the database with new leads is an option. Augmenting the lists with third-party information to build a fuller profile, is another option. Analyzing customer lists, creating segmentation and a scoring system can help one gain a better understanding of customer’s needs. That is an option too.
No one, especially those in the B2B space, wants to see potentially good lead die on the vine. Sales people don’t want to waste their time calling cold or unqualified leads. Capturing leads, getting as much information as you can to build a profile, and segmenting them into groups is the first step to nurturing leads. Using the customer analysis, one can create targeted relevant messages to re-energize interest. This is the second part of the equation to keeping leads healthy. These tactics help marketers care and nurture healthy leads until they’re ripe sales opportunities.
Big national brands and their local affiliates can accelerate their charity impact AND drive brand value by using a network approach like good2gether.
Companies want to accelerate the impact of their charitable programs. The terrible news from Haiti is re-focusing us on getting involved and “doing good”. While pursuing charitable programs for all the right reasons, leading brands and small businesses are also asking the question: “How can we continue to accelerate our charitable impact while better communicating our positive activities with our target audience?” Bad press from the economic downturn and financial meltdown has had a negative impact on many corporate brands – particularly in the financial services industry. These brands would benefit from both accelerating their charitable impact and showing the world the good they do for important causes.
As we look at this challenge, we can see the obvious alignment with new marketing and social media – but obvious strategies may not be quite enough. We can accelerate our activities and get people involved using Facebook and Twitter, however as more and more brands use social media, it is difficult to get heard through the noise. This is one reason that I am so excited about the potential of using a compelling new networked solution for charitable impact: good2gether.
The good2gether Do Good Channel is a powerful way for brands to extend reach and awareness while also connecting their network of partners, affiliates and customers with local nonprofits that mean a lot to them. The networked approach lifts all boats – the brand, the affiliate networks, and the local charities. The good2gether ecosystem uses social media and web services sharing to extend the velocity and impact of the charitable mission while providing the big brand a powerful messaging opportunity. Partners and affiliates can also “do good” in their local community while being associated with a national brand’s program and benefiting from the halo effect of charitable giving. The local charity benefits from local sponsorships and focus – while being a part of a much bigger global network.
How does this all work? Here is a basic approach:
We are working with a few brands to explore the potential impact of the good2gether platform, along with Good2gether’s Greg McHale. You can find out more from Greg at www.good2gether.com and Contact Revenue Architects to learn more.
You recognize how the explosive growth of social networking – with tools like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube – is fundamentally changing the way your clients learn, evaluate, and ultimately make their decisions. You recognize that these web 2.0 tools are an increasingly important influence in the client engagement process. Prospects seek evidence online to validate decisions and get instant feedback from others by listening and participating in online conversations.
We work with leading wealth managers and financial advisors who recognize that their clients are using social media and the web to help them evaluate an advisor. The content and professional credentials visible online are an increasingly important part of their decision process. Successful advisors use their online presence to drive new business. They use blogs, Facebook Groups / Fan Pages, and Twitter to engage in online conversation, increasing referrals and attracting new clients.
However, new media marketing is not a panacea. Your online presence and activity won’t replace your existing relationship-building activities and the quality work you perform with clients. Your approach to new media marketing should be authentic—engaging in meaningful activities that enhance the quality of your work and personal relationships. Tackled the right way, a new media marketing approach will further accelerate your growth.
But where do you begin? Which networks should you join? How do you build an online presence? How do you avoid introducing risk with your current brand? What is involved in using social media and inbound marketing techniques day-to-day? To help you get started, we developed the following checklist. This ten-step plan will guide you in taking positive steps forward in your new media marketing plan. With a thoughtful approach and a committed strategy, you will be rewarded with a professional online presence and accelerated growth.
This Post by Kristen Luke was published on her blog on November 22, 2009.
Recently I have been conducting one-on-one LinkedIn training sessions for advisors on how they can better utilize the professional social networking site. Each advisor has different restrictions on how they can engage with the site depending on the rules set forth by their compliance department. I have found that most compliance departments will allow advisors to have LinkedIn profiles, but will not necessarily allow them to actively participate in groups, install applications, update their status or mass email their connections. For those advisors who are allowed to have a LinkedIn profile but have been restricted in their use of the site, there are still strategies that can be utilized to make LinkedIn a valuable sales and marketing tool. Below are four strategies to implement even if you can’t use LinkedIn to its fullest potential.
LinkedIn becomes more powerful as the size of your network increases. This is because you are only able to see profiles of people within your netw
ork (i.e. 1st, 2nd or 3rd Connections and Group Members). To make effective use of LinkedIn, you will need to continuously build your network. This will allow you to discover more potential clients and centers of influence. Start expanding your network by importing contacts. You can do this by selecting “Add Connections” in the Contacts menu and uploading a spreadsheet of your contacts’ email addresses. The resulting list will show you who is on LinkedIn and will allow you to send a mass invitation to connect.
Once you have started with your initial network, you’ll want to continue adding all new contacts to your network. Make inviting all new contacts to join your LinkedIn network a part of your weekly routine. This includes people you meet professionally and socially. You never know where the next client or referral will come from, so don’t exclude people from your network.
Another way to build your network is to install an Outlook toolbar which will notify you when an email contact is on LinkedIn. You can download and install either the LinkedIn or Xobni toolbar which will show you LinkedIn profile information about each of your email contacts and provide you with a link to send an “invitation to connect” request. These tool bars eliminate the need to manually look up a contact to see if they are on the site and then send an invitation request. Plus, they constantly remind you to build your network.
You may have been told by your compliance department that you can’t post a discussion question, answer a discussion question, post a news article, or comment on a news article. That doesn’t mean that joining groups is a waste of time. Even if you never actively participate in a group, joining allows you to expand your network. By joining a group, you are able to view the profiles of everyone in the group. This helps when you are researching prospects since their profiles might not be available to you otherwise. In addition, you are able to send an email directly to fellow group members without being linked in with them through the “send a message” function. Joining groups provides you with direct access to hundreds if not thousands of individuals who would otherwise be outside of your LinkedIn reach. Just be cautious when emailing through LinkedIn since some compliance departments require a screenshot of the message you are sending including the name of the person to whom who you are sending it.
LinkedIn provides a wealth of information about a prospective client. By reviewing a prospect’s profile prior to your first meeting, you can discover past employment history, educational background, professional associations and personal interests. This will give you a better understanding of the prospect and may assist in directing the conversation during a first appointment. The only limitation with this strategy is that you are only able to view profiles of people within your network. Having a larger network, as described in strategies one and two, will increase the likelihood of being able to see a prospect’s profile.
Do you know which of your clients have relationships with the types of people you would like to meet? If they have a LinkedIn profile you can easily find out. When you connect with your clients, centers of influence or networking contacts on LinkedIn, you can look through their connections to see who they know. By researching your LinkedIn contacts’ network, you can make informed decisions about who has the ability to make quality referrals and introductions and create a marketing strategy around that information. For example, you can ask for referrals and introductions to specific people within your contact’s network when you have a referral conversation. Or, you can plan a private client event and make extra effort to ensure that clients with strong networks attend. Researching your network will allow you to focus your referral efforts.
In my personal experience, the strategies listed above are acceptable by most compliance departments who allow advisors to use LinkedIn. However, you will want to consult with your compliance department before implementing any of these ideas to make sure you are in observance of your firm’s policies.
Kristen Luke is the Principal of Wealth Management Marketing, an affiliate of Revenue Architects. Kristen works with independent advisors to develop effective marketing plans and provides the back office support required to implement the strategies.
Razorfish recently published this presentation with a range of statistics that reinforce the key propositions we promote with our clients. They surveyed connected users and the presentation outlines why brands need to effectively navigate digital to be relevant. Check it out…
“How do consumers engage with brands in an increasingly digital world? That’s the fundamental question we set out to answer with this year’s FEED report”
Thanks, Razorfish. Good work.