INBOUND MARKETING IS NO LONGER AN OPTION

Adopt Inbound Marketing to manage customer relationships

The “Inbound Marketing” approach consists of putting in place the elements of the conversation at each stage of contact with the customer or user, using appropriate content according to their level of maturity toward your offer. This allows you to send the right content at the right time and encourages them to increasingly share their interests spontaneously in exchange for the content that interests them.

The “Inbound marketing” approach also offers the advantage of being up to 60% less expensive – Hubspot

Showcasing your expertise through the publication of content makes it possible to build a value proposition that attracts consumers to the website, or any other digital touchpoint such as blogs or social networks.
This non-intrusive approach is widely favored by internet users themselves, who seek to assess the relevance of the proposals made to them BEFORE committing.

Inbound marketing goals by company type in 2015. Hubspot 2015 study conducted among 4,000 B2B companies in 150 countries.

By asking the internet user to leave their contact details to access premium, high-quality content, the company regains control over the relationship and effectively organizes its prospecting. The spending allocated to buying keywords on AdWords and other retargeting systems to acquire traffic then stops increasing in proportion to activity.

Regular content production offers an additional advantage. It naturally and sustainably improves the company’s position on the keywords that matter to it in search engines (SEO4 benefit).

B2B companies observe an average increase of 67% in their prospects when they create content – Social Media BtoB

Offering your clients an “Inbound marketing” approach to gain visibility, prospect and convert means establishing a long-term collaboration, which moves you beyond one-off operations. Once the relationship is established, it must be nurtured until the desired conversion. Finally, your actions and services tied to precise objectives become easier to understand.

Inbound does not exclude the use of “push” actions more oriented toward “Outbound marketing” (emailing, advertising campaigns, AdWords purchases, Facebook Ads). The two systems do not oppose each other; they complement each other. Prospect acquisition can be optimized through the use of Marketing Automation tools, a tool open to all types of organizations whatever their size and business sector.

88% of marketing professionals in the United States have implemented a content marketing strategy in their company – Content Marketing Institute

It is up to agencies to seize the opportunity these tools offer them. Already possessing the dual expertise of consulting and creation, they can offer companies full management of customer relationship steering while enabling them to increase their attractiveness.

H2H5 COMMUNICATION

Even if the consumer decides, brands today have a real treasure, made up of all the data they leave behind throughout their journey. This is the famous “Data.” Whatever their domain, agencies are seizing it. Because drowned in the volume of information that does not concern them, internet users favor individualized content that brings them the right information at the right time. Being told about kitchen units is only of interest when you are renovating your apartment or buying a house. Managing customer relationships means placing yourself at the crossroads of all communication operations!

76% of marketing professionals in the United States plan to publish more content in 2016 than in 2015 – Content Marketing Institute

THE 4 FUNCTIONS OF MARKETING AUTOMATION

Marketing automation makes it possible to optimize the inbound approach at every stage of the customer journey

1. CAPTURE

During the prospecting phase, Marketing Automation tools make the investment made in content pay off.
Thanks to behavioral tracking, users’ IP addresses are stored and their behaviors recorded.
Is your client (or you yourself!) launching a new offer? Automation gives you the possibility to easily create, thanks to an intuitive interface, a “landing page” and capitalize on all contacts. You can follow up with a prospect by phone or send a personalized email – or any other medium such as SMS, print mail, or social network push notifications – directly related to their journey according to previously defined scenarios.
Once the prospect has provided their contact details to access “premium” content, you can, via dynamic forms, set up a respectful progressive qualification process while taking the opportunity to learn more about their profile (for example the company’s business sector or the position they hold).

2. QUALIFY

Automation brings valuable time savings and increases the performance of sales teams.
The software remembers visitor behavior and ranks prospects according to configurable priorities by assigning them points, what is called “lead scoring”. Thanks to these operations, you can quickly isolate a group of prospects you want to work on by retaining, for example, the traffic source, certain actions taken on the site, consultation duration, the opening of an email, and many other criteria. The main advantage: hot prospects, quickly identified, can be handled faster. The sales cycle is shortened and the conversion rate increases because the key moments in the sales cycle are better identified.
A “hot” prospect has been identified on the site? The Automation software triggers an alert to the sales department, which can then contact them quickly and multiply the chances of conversion.

3. NURTURE

The segmentation offered by Marketing Automation tools supports business development by making it possible to personalize the relationship.
No more inappropriate promotional messages, even damaging a successful customer experience with unsuitable content: imagine the effect on the consumer when they receive a 20% discount voucher for a product they bought just a few hours earlier! It is the customer who triggers operations based on their current behavior, and no longer based on their past purchases
Automation tools allow you to create all the content you need and integrate it into your campaigns effortlessly. Email, SMS, videos, contests, recorded webinars, you can even delegate the production of your daily newsletter via integrated content production marketplaces that connect you with professional writers.

4. MANAGE

Performance analysis reports on scenarios offer a vision of ROI across all digital communication actions. You have full visibility into the content that drives conversion, and you track the entire value chain of the sale of your products from end to end. You know how to allocate your budgets across the media that capture consumers’ attention, and you bring in people – call centers or dedicated salespeople – at the right moment.
The ease of configuring Automation tools makes it possible to implement “test and learn” procedures aimed at constant scenario optimization. A/B testing, for its part, makes it possible to choose the content offered and how it is presented.

WHAT IF YOU LED BY EXAMPLE?

Delivering the right message, at the right time and to the right person is now the communication challenge that all agencies are trying to meet. The result? Companies and advertisers are finding it increasingly difficult to understand what makes each of them unique. Show the power of Inbound Marketing and Automation by applying to yourself what you recommend to your clients. Make your communication a relational space serving your expertise and your brand.

Automating the relationship increases revenue by 10% in 6 to 9 months – Gartner Research

Not only will you acquire new advertisers at a lower cost, but above all you will stand out from agencies whose promises only engage those who listen to them. You work for yourself, to increase your visibility, your reputation and your credibility.
It is then all the employees of your agency who carry the message of Inbound and Automation by practicing it: developers, salespeople, project managers, all embody the values and techniques that enhance the relationship.
If there is one thing those looking for a service provider to handle their communication are sensitive to, it is the quality of the relationship they will be able to establish with them.
More than your deliverables or your services, it is you that your clients choose!
The fact that you get directly involved by adopting an “inbound marketing” approach for yourself proves the seriousness of your recommendations. Let us wager that after six months, you will have at hand all the data about yourself necessary to set your clients on the path you recommend to them. You become your own “Business Case”.

THE 6 STEPS TO IMPLEMENTING A CONTENT STRATEGY

Audit & definition of the strategy
Creation of “buyer personas” and nurturing programs
Implementation of the content creation system
Implementation of lead collection and management tools
Tooling for carrying out the first tests
Performance analysis

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The “Inbound marketing” strategy highlights companies’ expertise through content production.
It brings visibility in the web universe where fierce competition trivializes offers.
Particularly effective in B2B, the agency must apply an “Inbound” strategy to itself in order to collectively learn best practices with its employees and demonstrate its expertise.
Acquiring prospects with “Inbound marketing” is 2 times more profitable than “push” practices.
Developing personalized scenarios and “lead scoring” enrich the relationship and allow “hot” prospects to enter specific programs.
Marketing Automation tools, at the service of this strategy, allow the capitalization of behavioral profiles of contacts across all multichannel campaigns.

The 6 key factors of the connected agency

As comprehensive as it is pleasant to read, the guide is structured and paced with advice and interviews from connected agencies. The studies with concrete, quantified cases provide you with the essential points to remember to grow your business:

Discover the other chapters