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Featured Member |
Martin Zabell is a longtime business writer who is seeking to expand his clientele. For the past few years, he has ghostwritten innumerable business articles for clients. This article is one of those articles. Please contact him at [email protected] if you are interested in him writing for you.
You have recently been given the responsibility of marketing your company. If you’re like many marketing directors, the first thing you’ll think about will be advertising. That could be a big mistake.
According to a study by HubSpot, an expert in inbound marketing services, inbound marketing creates 54 percent more leads for sales than outbound marketing. Inbound marketing services are often significantly more cost efficient. That’s particularly important if your company is a small business or a startup company. How much more cost efficient? Inbound marketing strategies cost 62 percent less per lead than outbound marketing strategies.
“If you are not using inbound marketing yet you are missing out,” wrote Incisive Edge marketing manager Michael Kaeflein in “Top tips: How to benefit from the rise of inbound marketing,” the article that reported HubSpot’s positive findings about inbound marketing services.
Inbound marketing can be a better way to promote your company than outbound marketing for several reasons. Do you prefer convincing people via intrusive outbound marketing tactics like cold calling and handing out flyers or convincing people via inbound marketing tactics like well-written blogs and well-produced podcasts and videos? In short, are you a shouter or a thinker?
If you’re more of a thinker, you should know that you can promote your company without explicitly promoting your company. You can utilize blogs, e-books, newsletters, podcasts, social media, white papers, and many forms of content marketing to subtly promote your company -- to convince prospective clients that your company is outstanding at what it does rather than make sales pitches that people are justifiably skeptical about.
Here are five tips for subtly promoting your company via inbound marketing services:
1. Write Blogs About Your Industry: Writing about the greatness of your company is something virtually every marketing executive does -- but many prospective clients won’t buy your sales pitch. Do you know about the concept of ‘show, not tell?’ Instead of telling people your company is great, you should show your company has expertise by writing knowledgeably about the industry. You could write a column with ‘how to’ tips or a column analyzing recent industry developments and trends. Your company could gain stature -- and clients -- with these kinds of blogs.
2. Post A Video Or Podcast Showing Your Expertise: The concept of Tip No. 2 is identical to the concept of Tip No. 1, but it adds a personal touch. Videos and podcasts posted on your website could give several of your company’s executives an opportunity to talk about their expertise on important industry issues. These broadcasts can make prospective clients more comfortable with the people running the company -- and the company. Blatant sales pitches aren’t needed. Effective broadcasts can market your company without explicitly marketing your company.
3. Share Info Your Prospects Might Be Interested In: Besides the blogs you’ve written, you should also post blogs relevant to your industry. These blogs could be news or advice columns written by other industry experts. The best way to present this information is to write a headline, start the text by talking directly to your audience about the news or column, share the news or column’s highlights, and provide a link to the entire original blog. Sharing others’ blogs increases the chance they’ll share yours. Updating your website regularly with interesting news or columns is crucial to luring your prospects to visit your website regularly.
4. Start Conversations On Social Media: Giving prospects an opportunity to “talk” to your company about industry news and issues is another way to promote your company. You can do that via a comments section below each blog. You can also post a link to the blogs on social media websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn and start conversations about the blogs below the posts. LinkedIn is particularly crucial. You should join its pertinent industry groups so you can enhance the chances that you will ‘talk’ to as many prospective clients as possible. Friending lots of prospects is beneficial.
5. Produce E-Books Showing Your Expertise: What if a prospective client had the opportunity to download or print the highlights of your how-to columns and analysis of industry news and developments via one e-book? Or one white paper? Or a regular newsletter? The point is that you can show your expertise in a document that could be a keepsake for prospective clients who want to know about your industry. Business experts are always advising business executives that they can raise their profile and credibility via books. You can do the same thing for your company via inbound marketing services.
It’s true that subtle inbound marketing tactics can often take more time to work than just using inbound marketing tactics to sell your products and services, but your company could be significantly better off in the long run if it increases sales by establishing itself as a credible expert in its industry.
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