How Inbound Marketing Will Boost Your Sales in 2013

How Inbound Marketing Will Boost Your Sales in 2013:from Business 2 Community by Fred Strahl
We are almost a full month into the new year and some companies still don‘t have an internet marketing plan. Internet marketing has become extremely vital to generating leads and sales.  Here are some basic questions that you need to ask yourself, as a business, if you are preparing to exceed all of your sales goals!
Do you have an internet marketing strategy?
Most likely you have a website at this point (You do, right? Good.)  However, the days are gone when just having a website was sufficient.  Every day you don’t make updates to your site, add new content, write a blog, or increase your social media presence; your competitors do.   According to HubSpot, 89% of marketers are maintaining or increasing their inbound marketing budgets.
Are you familiar with inbound marketing?
Inbound marketing is the philosophy to have leads come to you.  Cold calling, direct mailers, mass emails, and other outbound methods are out of date and no longer efficient in time or investment.  The ROI just isn’t there.  Here’s a fun video that explains the ineffectiveness of outbound marketing.  (I think fans of Alanis Morissette will enjoy it)  Read our free white paper to learn more about the topic and keep an eye out for live webinars in the near future.
Do you have a keyword strategy in place?
This is the first step in developing an inbound marketing plan for many reasons.  Even the most efficient keyword strategies are going to take time to develop traction with Google.  However, some argue this point just like the chicken and the egg.  Should you develop your keyword strategy first to generate traffic as soon as possible or develop a great site first for when the traffic arrives?  My opinion is this, due to the fact the keywords take time to gain traction, you should develop your keyword strategy first.  You will have time to improve your website while the keyword list begins to gain traction.  To learn more about developing a keyword strategy, contact us!
Are you present on social media pages?
Did you know that United States internet users spend 3 times more time on social media and blogs than email?  Just like a website, it is no longer sufficient to just create social media pages.  You must be consistently updating the pages and interacting with your audience.  According to Aberdeen Research, the top 20% of B2B marketers in social media lead generation have increased revenue by 20% in 2011.  These results don’t come by simply creating a page.  A lot of work must be happening on your end which includes consistent posts, engaging content, and interaction with the visitors of your page.  In addition, having a great presence on social media with boost your rankings in Google.  The Google algorithm has recently been updated to analyze social presence as well.  TIP: Some studies have shown that companies with a Google+ page get a great boost in SEO…surprised?
Are you able to blog consistently?
My favorite quote about blogging is from Freelance Journalist Kevin Anderson;
“The bottom line is that blogging is like sex. You can’t fake it. You can’t fake passion. You can’t fake wanting to engage with the public. If you do, it will ultimately be an unsatisfying experience for both the blogger and their readers.”
This quote is spot on.  Similar to social media, blogging is all about engagement.  You have to create engaging articles that will spark interest and discussion.  At the very least you have to ensure that people are reading them.  If you have a low amount of hits and subscribers to your blog you have to rethink your strategy and content.
I hope you were able to answer yes to all of these questions.  If not, there are many things you can do to improve yourself!  You may be behind now but don’t continue to fall behind.  As General Erik Shineski said “If you don’t like change, you are going to like irrelevance even less.”
Image Source: Carolyn Frith