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Happy Independence Day, everyone!
Before you run off to enjoy your barbecue, beach day, or even just jump back into bed, I want to share a bit of Inbound Marketing American history with you.
While marketing and advertising truly found its footing in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the practice is age-old and was beloved by many of our Founding Fathers long before. -- Ok, maybe not, but their wise words can serve as profound inspiration for your inbound marketing initiatives.
Let’s take a look at six of my favorites:
Believe it or not, Honest Abe was a huge advocate for conversion rate optimization and testing.
When it comes to inbound marketing, not every campaign or strategy will work, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a waste of time.
Take every loss or “failure” as a learning experience. Look at the performance of your content, whether it be a page, offer, or blog article.
Take note of what worked and what didn’t and then use that insight to create similar success or avoid the same shortcoming. Yesterday’s mistakes are tomorrow’s lessons.
When trying to establish site authority and expertise, make sure to reach out to “men of good quality,” or industry influencers.
Co-marketing with these individuals and brands or guest blogging will not only help you expand your reach, but also let you capitalize on their brand recognition and reputation to improve your own.
Always strive to provide educational value to your customers. By better educating your audience about your product and industry through SEO-friendly content, you will be helping them become more well-equipped to make informed decisions and attracting new people taking to Google for answers.
By producing useful content, your audience will increasingly turn to your brand and website for information and solutions, not only increasing your audience and regular website traffic, but also establishing yourself as an industry expert.
I’ve said it time and time again; Any organization can say that they are accomplished, but it takes the real deal to prove it (or “verify,” as Reagan would say.)
Go the extra mile to build trust with your audience by providing social proof of your claims and marketing messages. This proof may include:
- Customer Testimonials
- Product Reviews
- Industry Awards
- Industry Partners
- Certifications
- Case Studies
- Social Following Stats
- Social Shares
Seeing this external or third party support of your business or product helps ease common qualms your prospects may have about doing business with you. It lets them tangibly see what your company is capable of, instilling their confidence in your brand and increasing their comfort in converting.
Relationships of trust and mutual benefit (like a friendship or a business partnership) often require time and attention. They need to be nurtured in order to mature, grow, and advance to the next stage of their bond.
Similarly, many leads need to be nurtured down the sales funnel before feeling comfortable enough to make a purchase.
When creating content and prospecting, always keep your persona’s buyer journey and decision-making process in mind. Depending on where they stand in these two paths, you’ll want to deliver different content that answers their specific questions and concerns at that time.
Brand loyalty is a lot like patriotism. When you truly love your country, you want to see it succeed and aren’t afraid to show your love.
When you love a brand, the sentiments are pretty similar, except instead of hanging a flag from your porch or voting for president, you are recommending it to a friend and returning to it if/when you need their product again.
The best way to ensure brand loyalty is through Customer Delight or showing your customers (“countrymen” if you will) that you care about them and are thankful for their business.
Depending on your audience, “Delight” may come in the form of anything from an exclusive freebie or discount to a newsletter or even the product itself. The bottom line is to show appreciation for your audience and in turn, they will do your marketing for you.
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