A Guide to the Consideration Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

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Once you’ve managed to draw new leads to your brand by presenting content that helps consumers navigate their problems through the awareness stage, you’ll want to make sure that you have content living on your site (and on other channels, such as social media and email as well) that addresses the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey.

What Is The Consideration Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey?

The consideration stage of the buyer’s journey follows directly after the awareness stage. Once a consumer has a better understanding of what their pain point is as well as of what the potential causes of their problem are, they will begin searching for solutions. It’s during the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey that they will begin to explore their purchasing options.

At this point, you will want to explain what types of solutions will help with their specific problems as well as what their options are and present your products and services as a potential solution.

Let’s say the consumer has decided that they need to replace their current computer, which keeps freezing. They already know that they need to replace their computer and why they need to replace it. If you’re selling brand new computers, then you’ll want to present content that helps provide information that will help guide them to making the right purchase. They may have questions that include:

  • How much do new computers cost?
  • What kind of computer do I need?Image result for buyer's journey
  • Should I buy a new or used computer?
  • What brand is the best brand?

Content that addresses these questions is going to help consumers make a more informed decision about their purchase, thereby helping to get them closer to making a purchase.

How do you create great content with the help of the buyer’s journey?

Creating Content For The Consideration Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey

You will want content on your site that specifically addresses the consideration stage for consumers who have been doing research on your site from the beginning of their buyer’s journey. However, this content will also help attract consumers out there who already know what their problem is and are performing research for potential solutions from the get-go.

While you’ll want to present your products and services as a solution, you’ll want to make sure that your content is still on the informative side and not the promotional side. The more helpful your content is in explaining what the consumer’s options are, the more they will trust your brand’s authority, which will help make them more likely to choose your solution.

You’ll want to create a variety of content, including short-form and long-form articles, videos, case studies, demo videos and more. Topics you may explore that help inform consumers looking for a new computer could include:

  • The Pros and Cons of Used vs. New Computers
  • Mac vs. PC vs. Chromebook
  • Buying a New Computer on a Budget
  • What to Look For in a New Computer

Other forms of content to consider creating include product webinars and FAQs that consumers can explore to see what your company has to offer in terms of solutions to their problems.

During the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey, you’ll want to provide content that provides consumers with information about potential solutions to their problems while also introducing them to your specific products and services. The idea is to give them enough information so that they will feel comfortable making an informed purchase.

Learn The StoryBranding Process

 

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Email Opening Lines That Actually Work

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When it comes to email marketing, everyone knows how important the subject line is. It’s what gets the recipient to open your email in the first place, after all. If your subject line fails, your email may go unread. However, you’re not free and in the clear yet once you’ve managed to get your recipients to open your emails — you still have to get them to read through your content. This means that your email opening lines are extremely important. If your email opening lines fail to capture the attention of your B2B prospects, they’re likely to forgo reading the rest of the email. The following are a few tips for creating effective email opening lines:

Bring Up A Recent Event

Use your opening line to bring up a recent event relevant to their business. For example, a recent product launch or an interview in a magazine with their CEO. Doing so shows your prospect that you have done your research about their company. This will give them some confidence that you might actually have something of value to offer.

Establish An Immediate Connection

If you have a connection to the prospect, use it to get their attention in your opening line. For example, “(someone) recommended that I reach out to you,” or “We recently met at (recent event).” They will immediately have more of an emotional connection, which means that they will be more willing to read on about what you have to say.

Flatter The Prospect

While you don’t want to seem disingenuous in your flattery, it helps if you start out the email by telling them something about them or their business that you like, whether it’s about a new service that they offer, something positive in the news concerning them, or even a post that they made on social media. For example, “I thought the video you recently posted on YouTube was great,” or “I’ve been very impressed with the new (product) that you just released.” It shows that you’re not just cold calling (or cold emailing) potential prospects but that you’re actually familiar with them.

Learn How to Use Targeted CTAs to Increase Lead Conversion

Begin With a Question

Asking a question is a great way to pique their curiosity right away because they’ll be thinking about the topic you’ve brought up, which means that they will be immediately engaged. Of course, the rest of the email will have to follow in the line of that question. For example, “Are you having a problem with (something)?” or “Have you heard about the recent news about (something)?” You will then have to follow up with how you can provide a potential solution to the problem or how the recent news is relevant to them and how you can be of help as a result.

Get To The Point

You can also just get to the point immediately by positioning yourself as a business that can help their company. For example, “Our product helps businesses like yours to achieve (this goal).” Getting to the point right away by addressing their pain point and how you can solve it is a good way to get their attention for at least the remainder of the email.

A strong email opening line will help generate interest in what your email has to say. Use these tips to create effective email opening lines that will increase the chance that your emails will be read in full, thereby making it easier to nurture your leads.

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attraction marketing

5 Questions On Attraction Marketing Strategies To Consider

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As any business owner knows, marketing is essential if you have any ambition for growing your company. Without effective marketing, your ability to attract new leads and increase sales is going to be limited, which means that there’s a good chance that your business won’t last very long.

However, when it comes to marketing, there are two routes to choose between — prospective marketing and attraction marketing. Essentially, prospective marketing involves finding prospects and then marketing your services or products towards them, whereas with attraction marketing, you allow the prospects to find you — hence the term “attraction.” The following are five common questions that you might have about attraction marketing, along with strategies to consider for executing this type of marketing:

1. How Do You “Attract” Leads?

The idea is to put yourself in the position to be found. This is done by optimizing your website for SEO using high-quality keywords your prospects are likely to use when searching for similar products and services. You then provide content on your website that helps inform your leads about your brand and presents your brand as a valid solution to their problems or needs. Other strategies, such as the use of social media, also helps to increase brand awareness, thereby bringing more prospects to your brand.

Read more on How To Develop Content To Build Customer Loyalty

2. Why Is Attraction Marketing More Effective?

Prospective marketing requires that you force your marketing onto a prospect without knowing their interest in your brand. For example, cold calling is a popular prospective marketing technique.

With attraction marketing, you’re not forcing yourself on the prospect. Instead, you’re simply putting yourself in the position to be found by them. The prospects that find you will be more interested in your products or services, which makes them more stronger candidates as potential customers. Additionally, the lack of pressure means that they can do their own research on your brand on their own time, making them more likely to convert.

3. How Does Attraction Marketing Lead to Sales?

One of the strategies involved in attracting leads is to establish yourself as an authority within your industry via your content. When your website visitors educate themselves about your brand by reading through content that’s informative and relevant to their needs, they’re more likely to trust you. This trust makes it easier to capture your leads, giving you the opportunity to nurture them through the sales funnel and eventually, not only closing sales, but creating long-term customers.

Attraction marketing

4. Will You Begin Attracting Leads Right Away?

Unlike prospective marketing, attraction marketing takes a bit longer to implement. As a short-term strategy, attraction marketing isn’t going to seem very effective. However, long-term results are going to be much more impactful than short-term results, which is why attraction marketing is considered more effective than prospective marketing.

5. Once You’re Done, Will You Keep Attracting Leads?

Since attraction marketing is all about long-term results, it’s important to understand that it requires a long-term strategy. You can’t just set up a website and put up some content and then call it a day. For it to be effective, you have to continually create new content, continually engage with followers on social media, and continually adjust your strategy based on various analytics that you should be monitoring. If you do this, you’ll continue attracting leads.

Prospective marketing is a very short-term strategy based on closing sales immediately — and it’s one that’s generally not very effective unless you have a massive advertising budget. Attraction marketing is a more cost-efficient strategy that focuses more on attracting high-quality leads that you can develop relationships with, thereby creating long-term customers well into the future.

Inbound marketing will help you grow your business by attracting website visitors, converting them into leads and closing leads into customers

What is Attraction Marketing And How Can It Set Your Business Apart

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Attraction marketing is the culmination of your marketing efforts to draw customers to you and your brand. As with any marketing strategy, attraction marketing focuses on setting your brand apart from your competitors by making your company attractive to potential buyers. This is accomplished through developing your brand marketing strategy by evaluating your marketing goals, evaluating how your are performing, and adjusting your plan using metrics.

Attraction Marketing Strategy and Story

Attraction marketing is all about making your brand more attractive to your buyer personas as well as attracting them to you through inbound marketing. The two work hand-in-hand and should be a pillar of your marketing efforts, and it all begins with your attraction marketing strategy or strategies as the case may be — there is no one “right” way to market your brand but there are many tried and true ways to do it.

Strategy alone, however, doesn’t necessarily flow through to your customers but your story does and storybranding is how to give your brand an enduring and lasting impression on your clients. Be careful though, as storybranding and storytelling are two different animals.

Get Found and Be Seen

Your brand story sets up the foundation for who you are and what you do and, if done right, will be the thing that your buyers admire as they meander through your sales funnel. Of course, all of that magnificent storybranding will be for naught without a quality website and some killer SEO which is exactly why you need to shore up your website: to be seen.

We’re talking, of course, about your internet presence and how it affects your attraction marketing campaigns. The gateway to your brand story and to your attraction marketing as a whole goes through your website which may very well be your most valuable sales asset. Most importantly, it puts you on a level playing field with your competition through the necessary exposure of the internet.

Getting folks to that site comes down to search engine optimization which spans both organic and pay per click by optimizing your website for greater results. While SEO is an intrinsic tool to have, the quality of the content you provide on your site is what keeps buyers there and hooks them in to your sales process.

Want to learn more about how to create quality content? Read this article on how to create content for each sale funnel stage.

Thought Leadership

Possibly one of the most useful parts of attraction marketing for your business is that you become the thought leader in your industry. Buyers as well as industry leaders will turn to your brand to help solve their problems as you make them more aware of the issues they face.

Thought leadership though is more than simply having quality content and making that content relevant to your target audience. It deals with the entire suite of broadcasting your brand, who you are, and what you know about your industry and the solutions you have available across many different avenues. Social media, trade shows, marketing metrics, and lead nurturing all make up vital pieces of your thought leadership toolset.

More than that, the importance of thought leadership for your brand is to continue to set yourself up on a higher plane than the rest of your competition by delivering what you already know and conveying it in a way that attracts people to you.

Lead Nurturing Throughout the Buyer’s Journey

Once you’ve got a lead whether from a trade show, through your inbound marketing, or through social media, it’s time to nurture them through your sales process and guide them through their own buyer journey.

While there are many ways to nurture leads, keying in on how your specific buyer responds to different stimuli is necessary for landing sales. Tactics including drip emails, lead nurturing campaigns, and remarketing are all tools that should be part of your lead nurturing tool box. Additionally, towards the end of your buyer’s journey, your sales and marketing staffs should be on the same page for sales-ready leads.

Finally, you’ll need a way to evaluate your marketing efforts. Inbound marketing software, analytics, and metrics can certainly help, but having a strong OODA loop within your organization will aid in making decisions. Remember, it all starts with data.

The Nitty Gritty: Why Attraction Marketing?

The question you’re undoubtedly asking is why attraction marketing is useful to your business which is a very valid one. Think of attraction marketing as the magnet that draws customers to your brand at large. The deeper aspects of attraction marketing such as your content, thought leadership, and brand story make your brand something that sticks with them.

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visual metaphor

The Advantages of Using Visual Metaphors In Advertising

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When it comes to advertising, most assume that the message should be direct and clear to ensure that your target audience understands what you’re trying to say. However, a message can be more powerful if something more creative or meaningful is behind it. It’s why many businesses use metaphors.

Using visual metaphors in advertising will help deliver a strong message and engage audiences on another level.

What is a Visual Metaphor?

In a nutshell, a visual metaphor uses an image or object that implies something else. It’s essentially a picture representing a different idea.

Visual metaphors work because they tap into the power of your inner mind. You might not process everything right away, but you will understand some aspects of what’s being communicated on a deeper level. With repeated exposure to a visual metaphor, you will figure out what is being said underneath the surface.

Examples of Visual Metaphorsvisual metaphor

There are many common visual metaphors that you may be familiar with. For example, a red rose is often used to represent romance. A picture of someone walking out of the darkness and into the light can represent enlightenment.

A great example of a visual metaphor is Apple’s famous logo, which depicts an apple with a bite taken out. This image represents the biblical story of Adam and Eve, which talks about knowledge gained by eating from the tree of good and evil.

The bite of the apple indicates that Apple (the company) has gained knowledge from taking a bite off the apple. They applied this “knowledge” to its innovative and cutting-edge products. The apple logo can also represent the computer, the modern-day tree of knowledge

buyer persona guide for business

Types Of Metaphors In Advertising

There are two types of metaphors used in advertising: the pure metaphor and the fused metaphor.

The Pure Metaphor

The pure metaphor is when two unrelated concepts are connected. For instance, a picture of a snail might represent the slow service of a competing company. The snail itself has nothing to do with the business, but the audience will understand that speed is vital in what that company is offering.

The Fused Metaphor

A fused metaphor is a bit different. Instead of using something visual to represent specific characteristics, you “fuse” your product with another image to depict the idea you’re trying to express.

For example, McDonald’s ran a fused ad for its Filet-O-Fish sandwich that showed a fishbowl in the shape of a hamburger. It also showed a fish swimming right in the middle (as if between the bun). The fishbowl and the sandwich were combined to create a fused metaphor.

The Benefits Of Using Visual Metaphors In Advertising

The following are a few reasons why you should consider implementing visual metaphors in your advertising efforts:visual metaphor

  • Visual metaphors get your point across quickly: Using visual metaphors can save you the trouble of spending time describing something. It will result in less effort on your part while still attracting more attention from your audience.
  • Visual metaphors generate curiosity: They encourage audiences to pay closer attention to what you’re showing them to figure out the meaning of the metaphor. Once you’ve made your audience curious about your ad, they’ll become more curious about your brand.
  • Visual metaphors are memorable: Your target audience will remember ads that use visual metaphors because they are unique and creative. As a result, it makes it even more likely that they’ll remember your brand.
  • Visual metaphors help your brand stand out: It can be challenging to differentiate yourself in the market. Fortunately, visual metaphors can help you stand out from your competition.
  • Visual metaphors add a sense of creativity to your ads: By using visual metaphors, you’re not only getting your audience’s attention but also their admiration for how inventive and unique you are.

Use Visual Metaphors In Advertising

Although being clear and direct is useful in conveying a message, visual metaphors can help you be succinct. Being succinct is just as important. Additionally, using visual metaphors in your advertising allows you to showcase your brand’s creativity and personality. As a result, your ads will be more memorable, and your audience will be more engaged. With that in mind, be sure to incorporate visual metaphors in your marketing strategy.

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20 Tips To Improve Your Website Redesign Process

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Your website is your audience’s first impression of your business and what you have to offer. Today more than ever you only get one time to make a first impression. With so much competition out there and so many advancements in technology your website needs to keep up with the technology changes and deliver fresh new content. An essential part of attraction marketing is drawing in the target consumer.

Time to Redesign Website

The website redesign process may seem to be a daunting task however a redesign doesn’t mean you have to completely overhaul your site. A website redesign can just be changing graphics, rearranging page layouts, or other small design functions.

Before you start your website redesign process you need to come up a strategy first. Without a strategic plan your redesign could end up costing you more and contain elements that are not consistent what what you audience wants to see. Your website is your single most valuable piece of marketing so spending time strategically planning out the redesign is extremely important to the overall success of your sales. Begin your website redesign process with a thorough evaluation of your business KPIs as a whole and take them to the next level.

Read About Growth-Driven Web Design- Is It Right For Your Company?

20 Website Redesign Tips

1. Start with user testing to see what elements work for your users and which don’t.

2. Define the top three things you want to accomplish with your site.

3. Sketch out the new layout.

4. Go though the sales funnel of your site to see if it’s easy for a user to navigate.

5. Keep your conversion funnel as simple as possible.

6. Implement multiple lead capturing opportunities to grab your visitor’s email as much as possible.

7. Implement social media buttons prominently.

8. Have contact information be the easiest information to find on the site.

9. Select a color theme and typography that flows well together and maintain consistency on every page.

10. Keep call to actions limited to one to two per page.

11. Utilize motion in terms of layout and videos or image carousels.

12. Build a prototype of the new layout and have user testings performed before going live.

13. Think outside of the box by using disruptive imagery or bold colors.

14. Double check spelling and grammar- actually triple check.

15. Test all links and make sure they point people where they want them to go to.

16. Test site and mobile speed.

17. Make sure mobile site is user friendly and design elements maintain aspect ratios.

18. Optimize all of your pages for SEO and implement target keywords in page title, meta description, meta keywords, and page content.

19. Include some extra or fun pages. Users are expecting the standard contact, about us, and product/services pages. Make your website stand out with some fun or unique pages such as an FAQ page, a quiz page to match users to products/services, or industry pages that are directly relevant to users.

20. Incorporate testimonials.

25 Website Must Haves For Driving Traffic, Leads & Sales

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Growth Driven Web Design: A Website As Active As You

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No company is stagnant. If you are a business owner, you understand this better than anyone. Revenues and sales change from month to month, goals shift and adapt as deadlines draw near, and new employees bring fresh perspective and energy to the company. So why do so many websites stay idle as the company they represent continues to change? Growth driven web design is a new approach that many companies, large and small, are benefiting from. Regarding attraction marketing, a good website design will help to attract customers.

What Is Growth Driven Web Design

With traditional web design, it is typical for a website to remain unchanged for over a year. This could spell trouble if your website does not satisfy the needs of your visitors. If visitors find that your website does offer a solution to their needs, they will move on to your competitors website without a second thought. With growth-driven web design, you are able to adapt your website to better fit your visitor’s needs as you begin to understand them.

Read More About Discovering the Growth Driven Design Process

As customers come to visit your website, what would you like to know about them? Things like how long do they stay on my website, what are their favorite pages, and how many of them actually are interested in my product are probably some of the first things that come to mind, right? With traditional website design, these questions cannot be answered until the website is completed, but by then it’s too late. With this new style of website design, these questions are not only answered, but addressed. By seeing where potential customers are looking, small changes to the website can help lead them where you want them to go.

Why Growth Driven Design Works

So how does one decide which changes to make? Obviously, every website and every industry is going to be different. With growth-driven web design, you are able to determine which aspects within the website should be given the biggest priority based on the characteristics of your website’s visitors. For some, the best way to increase conversion rates will be focusing on the landing page. Others may notice that the blog should be given the highest priority because that’s where most of their online traffic is coming from. In either case, this new approach to web design focuses on making necessary changes to these pages to meet the marketing goals we’d like to see you achieve.

A website should be as active as the person who owns it. A good sales associate would never stick to a single sales approach for each of their clients. They understand that constantly changing and adapting leads to their desired outcome. So why not let your website behave in the same way you would? By constantly and consistently improving your website, you are taking steps to optimize your customers online experience. As more traffic flows into your website and more of those people find what they are looking for, your business will see a significant increase in sales and customer satisfaction. We know this because growth-driven web design gathers information from your website’s visitors and uses that data to drive the decisions that will make your website stand out.

What about you? Do you think your business can benefit from a growth-driven web design? What would you like to learn about your website’s visitors? To learn more, click the link below for more information.

25 Website Must Haves For Driving Traffic, Leads & Sales

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How To Use Social Media To Drive B2B Sales

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In spite of the enormous success of social media marketing, many B2B companies still haven’t successfully jumped on the social train. This because many B2B companies are unsure how to utilize their social media platforms to the best of their advantage. Sharing will help alot, when it comes to attraction marketing.

Social media channels enable you to reach a wide net of potential customers and connect with individuals on a more personal level. More people are using these platforms to research potential purchasing decisions. Therefore, your posts should be educating potential buyers about what you have to offer and showcasing why you’re an authoritative source. Despite what you may have heard, you don’t have to post memes or funny videos to stand out.

If you’ve put your social media strategies on the back burner, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. Here are some ways social media can improve your B2B sales:

How to reach your target audience:

The first step in developing your social media strategy should be to develop a roadmap of whom you want to send your social media messages to. This outline will help you reach the right people at the right time and ensure your messages won’t be lost in all of the noise. Your outline should include the messages you wish to send to your target audience. You’ll want to ask yourself the following:

  • Who is your audience?
  • What social media platforms do they use?
  • What is the end goal of your social media posts?

Once you’ve developed your plan, it’s time to set your posts into action.

Read More: B2B Branding Tips For The New Buyer

How to target businesses on social media:

When most people think B2B sales and social media, they think of Linkedin. While LinkedIn is known as the top social platform for businesses, this doesn’t mean other platforms should be ignored. Social media isn’t solely about generating B2B sales leads; it’s also about strengthening your brand awareness.

With social media, you’re able to humanize your brand by personally engaging with your audience. Since most people are turning to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter, to look for solutions to their problems, your company should be visible on these platforms and ready to assist them.

How to cater your message to businesses:

Social media is a great place to showcase your brand’s level of expertise and gain trusted adviser status. Since most buyers are 60% into the buying decision before they even reach out to a sales representative, your posts should reach them early on in their journey. You can do this by posting helpful and educational content that will nudge potential customers along the sales cycle without seeming “pushy”. Case studies, blogs, product demos, and videos are great ways to initially convey your messages to your audience.

How to turn interest into a lead:

Like all marketing, social media marketing’s end goal is to generate qualified leads. All of your posts should have a content offer or call-to-action in order to urge your visitors to take steps toward purchasing. Make sure all of your social media platforms redirect to your website, and vice versa. Easy navigation is key to successful online marketing.

Your company’s social media marketing will be successful if you create personal relationships with your customers and provide them with valuable and educational content. Social media gives you the opportunity to reach a larger audience than ever before. Take this opportunity and run with it!

Learn To Use Social Media To Find New Leads

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How To Develop Content To Build Customer Loyalty

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Today, online content plays a critical role in marketing your business. It showcases the products and services that you offer, as well as positions you as an expert in your industry or niche. But, did you know that it is also critical for building customer loyalty? Online content can help you convert prospects and bring customer back. Additionally with attraction marketing, what you put out there affects how you look. Here is a step-by-step guide to creating content that will increase customer loyalty:

Attract:

Attracting new prospects is critical if you are hope to increase your online traffic in the future. Well-written, targeted pieces of content rank well in search engine results. which brings in traffic naturally. Sharing content on social media helps drive even more traffic. Remember, every new prospect is a potential customer, so your content needs to make a good first impression and build trust.

Convert:

Once you have your website traffic flowing, the next step is to convert this traffic into leads. You can use content to do this in a few different ways. Here are two to get you started:

  • Case studies:
    • These showcase how your business helped a customer with a specific problem. The study outlines what problem the customer was facing, how the company helped solve the problem, and the final results along with the customer’s feedback. It offers a glimpse into how your company can help the prospect and how current customers view your brand.
  • Thought leadership:
    • This positions you as an expert in your industry or niche. You share expert information that is useful to the prospect as well as answer any questions that arise. Prospects can see the value you bring forward, which helps build trust and loyalty.

Leads do not instantly become sales. You have to nurture each lead through the sales funnel from evaluating products, to making a decision, to making a purchase. Additionally, a lead at the evaluation stage requires different marketing than a lead closer to making a purchase.

A marketing qualified lead (MQL) is a lead who has gone beyond browsing and is starting to evaluate options. That person is not yet ready to talk to a salesperson, but they are looking for more details on certain products or services.

After evaluating the options, leads will move towards making a decision. This is when they become an SQL, or a sales-qualified lead. Now a salesperson can step up to answer any remaining questions the SQL might have and help them make a final decision.

[Read About How To Delight Your Customers]

Close and Delight:

Closing a sale often takes a dozen or more touches. That is why every piece of content you post or send must work to build customer loyalty.

Once you convert a prospect to a customer, your job is not done yet. The final step to building customer loyalty is to delight the customer.

  • Send focused email campaigns to keep your brand in the customer’s mind.
  • Use customer-only promotions to improve retention.
  • Ask customers to provide feedback or fill out a survey to demonstrate that you value their opinions.
  • Offer product updates at a special discount for returning customers.
  • Use video to provide product demonstrations, tutorials, and customer stories.

Don’t Let Your Blog Become an Afterthought:

Your company’s blog should be a centerpiece in your content strategy. It is a place where you can share just about anything you want. Here is a short list of what you can include in your blog:

  • How-to posts
  • Industry and company news
  • Accessories for popular products
  • Services offered along with products
  • Helpful FYIs
  • Customer stories
  • Tutorials
  • Professional resources

Consistency is critical when it comes to updating your blog and with sending emails . Regular updates with new content will keep customers interest, in turn building loyalty and promoting your brand.

There is one tried and true adage you need to remember: it costs a lot less to retain a customer than to attract a new one. With this in mind, building your content strategy will keep customers coming back for more. Customer loyalty will help you build a successful business long-term.

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How To Assess Your Inbound Marketing Plan

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Inbound marketing has become one of the most efficient ways for marketers to sell online. It is based on developing high-quality content to relevant to the prospective buyers who you can turn into buyers. This kind of marketing allows the user to determine whether the inbound marketing plan is productive or not. Marketing metrics is a part of attraction marketing and your inbound marketing plan is a part of marketing metrics.

For most business firms actual and quantifiable results are more beneficial for better business decision. By using real-time metrics it is easy to identify the best content and customize the conversion tactics for more sales. The following are factors to be considered when measuring the effectiveness of your inbound marketing plan.

The Desired Goals And Objectives

One way to measure the performance of your campaign is listing the organizational goals. Assessing available opportunities as compared to the current number of customers, allows you to ensure both marketing and sales efforts are productive. Some of the real-time metrics that can be used for this step include; the number of conversion produced, where your prospects are in your sales funnel and lastly the number of buyers in your marketing niche. By stacking the results from such a test against the organizational goals will help you know the results of your marketing campaign.

Read More: 5 Examples Of Goals For Business Development.

Competitive Benchmarking

At times comparing your inbound marketing techniques to your competitors will allow you to identify the best strategies. By selecting the tactics that your competitors are succeeding at and eliminating those that fail your competitors will help you stay ahead. The first people to use inbound marketing in their industry have the chance to create a benchmark for their competitors. For better access to the progress of your competition, online tools like Google analytics or website grader will give you more information. Some platforms like Hubspot allow the user to see traffic density and the domains linked to your site. Such data will allow you to select the best inbound campaigns.

Social Media

Social media offer a way to get maximum attention to your website. Researching carefully about the target market allows you to know what social media platform get to the best of your customers and prospects. After deciding the best social media platform, you should approach it strategically. You can start by developing a plan on how to release some posts or discussing some topics depending on the content calendar. The idea is to compare the number of conversions each post brings. If one type of content brings more conversions then you should focus on it and eliminate the ones with fewer reads. The concept behind this is to drive conversions to the website from social media community.

Financial Spending

For any inbound marketing campaign, there must be a budget that comes with it. The budget should be based on the organizational goals to be achieved and the time frame. This provides a chance to compare between the marketing campaigns that are currently running. If you have a part of the campaign that has more expenses with fewer leads yet there are other options that are more productive, it will be better to switch and focus on the productive ones. For those campaigns that use more money like free advertising and free samples, you can re-strategize and utilize inbound marketing that has more measurable ROI features.

Develop Your Nurturing Process

Though for most buyers if your products are amazing they will buy immediately but for some a relationship is important. Lead nurturing allows you to focus on the target market and depending on the buyer’s journey it is easy to make your sales funnel a metric. By carefully designing the sales funnel to provide the prospect with motivation to buy and include clear calls to action, this will provide a position of measurement and comparison. If there are certain goals to be achieved linking conversion rates with the number of new customers will give you a clear picture of the growth curve.

Conclusion

Every company has a unique business structure, meaning they have different inbound marketing approaches. The success of a marketing campaign will depend on the contributions of the company sales team, this means you should clearly state your inbound marketing plan and goals to be achieved for better measurements.

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