Digital Insight for Business Marketing

Social Media is everywhere, which means your target audience is most likely there too. Which ultimately creates a quandry.  It is difficult trying to participate across all the main social media platforms, yet doing so is vital to increasing awareness and lead generation for your business.  Our solution?  It is one of our marketing tactics called “cascading content.”

It seems every year, there is a new flavor du jour when it comes to social tools and platforms to drive business.  Facebook is a monster, but has serious limitations when it comes to selling B2B (business to business).  LinkedIn is a powerhouse in the B2B space, but lacks the size of Facebook.  Enter Google+.  The opportunity is there for it to be a powerful presence on the digital business stage.

Entrepreneurs and business people will agree that for a business to thrive and maintain a steady growth in terms of profit and success various measures are put in place. One such measure is the inbound marketing for business strategy that has given marketing a whole new face that makes it more exciting. This is a type of marketing that is magnetic.  It natures prospects by using content that is attractive rather than interruptive.

Today, almost all business internet presences require some form of content marketing for leads and blogs are the tip of the spear in performing that function. They are brief, pointed, no-nonsense messages, small businesses can use to target their audience, draw them in to visit their websites and take valuable action to turn leads into sales.  

Content marketing for small businesses offers an effective way to build web traffic and drive prospects into your sales funnel. If you are running a small business, leads are very important. They help drive the sales cycle. The best way to get qualified leads is with rich quality content.

Here are three companies who have had success with content marketing for small businesses:

Company # 1: Security Management Solution Company

Problem: This company provides a specific solution to manage security incidents and events. Their earlier market was specific and narrow. After introducing a new product with a lower price, the company wanted to expand its market.

Campaign Goal: To open up their solution to a wider audience and to compete effectively against their 22 competitors. Their focus was to become the go-to website for customers who wanted information on their industry.

Work Done: The company hooked up with experts in their particular field to produce a variety of content including articles, white papers, and podcasts. The content focused on sharing information instead of hyping their products. The company implemented careful tracking of leads and their interests. This allowed sales staff to engage the prospects intelligently and effectively.

Outcome: Qualified leads increased by 171 percent within a year. The conversion rate for leads to customers increased from 42 percent to 75 percent at the same time. Revenue increased by 38 percent.

Company # 2: Law Firm Specializing in Consumer Law

Problem: A law firm had the chance to capitalize on the use of Chinese drywall in construction. The drywall caused health problems for residents of buildings where builders had installed it. 

Campaign Goal: The law firm wanted to become the go-to firm for victims of this drywall problem. Because other firms were going to move on the same issue, this firm wanted to move quickly and effectively.

Work Done: The law firm grabbed a relevant URL related to the problem. Within a few weeks, the website was full of rich content with up-to-date information added all the time. The content provided information. The mention of the law firm was subtle. With a solid SEO base of content, the law firm took to social media to spread the word.

Outcome: The law firm holds their own on the first page of search engine results. Almost 4000 unique visitors come to the site monthly. Fifty percent of the law firm's leads come from the blog and website currently.

Company # 3:  Environmentally Friendly Thermoplastic Manufacturer

Problem: This company produces environmentally friendly thermoplastics. The company faces high levels of competition from traditional thermoplastics manufacturers. Potential customers hesitated to use an untried product.

Campaign Goal: To educate potential customers on the environmentally friendly thermoplastics available.

Work Done: The company commissioned a white paper focused on the benefits and reliability of the company's products. The white paper focused on one of their customer's use of the technology. They placed the white paper on their website for customers to download and read.

Outcome: The white paper generated a great deal of interest. It caught the attention of an industry magazine who wanted to feature the company in its pages. Over 500 leads came directly from customers reading the white paper on the website. Existing customers increased their purchases after reading the innovations outlined in the white paper.

All of these companies were the small businesses trying to play with the big companies. They used content marketing to give their companies the boost necessary to go to the next level. Companies of many sizes can use rich content. When it comes to marketing for small businesses, content rules the roost.

The web is constantly evolving and with it, so is business. Many businesses are beginning to shift a higher percentage of their marketing budgets and resources from traditional marketing efforts to focus on inbound marketing. However, businesses must carefully evaluate their industry, current marketing ROI, and buyer behavior and demographics to determine whether an inbound or outbound marketing strategy will work best for them. 

General Items

Converting web traffic to website revenue is usually the goal of having a business website. Whether your business is retail, wholesale, auction, services, or any other model, you want to gain attention of visitors and make them into customers.

A term you may or may not have heard of is the sales funnel. This concept addresses the stages that people go through from the time they become aware of a company until the moment they become a paying customer. The number of visitors at the beginning of the funnel is larger than the number of people who will become paying customers. But, you want to get as many paying customers as you can.

Here are seven steps for converting your visitors into paying customers:

When company owners and entrepreneurs first foray into the realm of inbound marketing for business, the sheer amount of data purporting to prove the efficacy of said online marketing method can seem too good to be true. It's more affordable than traditional display marketing, more flexible and targeted than outbound marketing, and can provide more lucrative ROI compared to both. How can this be?