Direct Marketing & Inbound Marketing

TMR's Marketing Blog

• Expanding Your Marketing Reach by Outsourcing Inbound Marketing 05/17/12

  If your business has begun including social media in your marketing mix you know that it can be a challenge. You’ve probably seen the statistics about the impact that social media can have on your business. And there’s a good chance that you don’t need more convincing about how important that side of your marketing efforts is. The big question is, “How do you get it done?”

  If you can identify with that scenario you’re not alone! In April, HubSpot reported some interesting information about companies outsourcing of social media activities.  In 2010, 14 percent of marketers outsourced their social media marketing activities. By 2011, that figure had doubled to 28 percent. And this year the percentage is at 32 percent.

  Not everyone, however, is outsourcing everything. Businesses are picking certain aspects of social media to outsource, with the top three areas being design and development, followed by analytics, and then content creation. Some businesses, of course, are outsourcing everything. What it really comes down to is that businesses are focusing on their core strengths (running their business) and are letting other professionals take over certain aspects where they lack the skill or capacity to execute at the level they want.

  Businesses know that social media outreach enables them to expand their reach effectively and efficiently on the Web—if it’s done right. But is outsourcing your social media and other inbound marketing services right for your company?

  We’d like to invite you to download our free guide, How to Outsource Inbound Marketing Services to Other Agencies to help you decide if this makes sense for your company. You can explore topics such as why and when outsourcing makes sense, what goals to set, how to select the right partner, and how to set up a relationship that works for both of you.

  If the idea of expanding your marketing reach—without adding head count and a lot of additional expense appeals to you, you’ll want to take a closer look.

  
• The Marketing Case for Case Studies 05/15/12

  Missouri is known as “The Show-Me State.” The idea is that their citizens are not easily fooled by slick talk. They want evidence. They want to see the proof before they will believe the claims.

  There’s a good probability that you have some prospective clients that are “from Missouri”—at least when it comes to considering your products or services. Maybe they’ve been to your website and read all of your descriptions and information. Maybe they’ve followed your blog or your Facebook postings—and even left comments or asked questions. They may have even downloaded white papers and special reports that have provided them with helpful tips and information about your industry or their specific area of interest.

  Some individuals, however, need a little bit more before they are willing to give you a shot. That’s particularly true if the product or service you offer is a high-ticket item or is one that may have a long-term impact on how your prospective client lives or does business. These individuals with the “Missouri mindset” want to see an example of how your product or service works in the real world. They want facts and figures—and they’re not going to budge until they get them.

  Prospective clients such as these are great candidates for simple, but well-thought-out case studies. You can make case studies as elaborate as you want, but there are three essential elements to any good case study—and they are pretty straightforward.

  1. Establish a clear, specific business problem. Provide enough background information to explain what the need is and what the desired goal is. Include enough actual data to establish the problem—but don’t go overboard.

  2. Clearly define the course of action that was taken. Again, you’ll want to give enough details so that it’s clear exactly what steps someone took—but you probably don’t need to go into a “blow-by-blow” description. Again, include real data about what was done.

  3. Provide specific results. This is where data is critical. Avoid fuzzy results that can’t be verified. Talk about percentages and dollars...real numbers.

  At the end of your case study, make sure that you provide an opportunity for those who read it to contact your for more information. And bear in mind that if someone is serious enough about the issue to download and read a case study, they very likely will be open to a phone call to discuss it. Keep track of who downloads your case study. Give them time to review it then send them an email asking if they have additional questions.

  And just in case any of you are “from Missouri”, here are a couple of examples of case studies we’ve done from clients.

  
• Social Media for Business: Why Pinterest Isn’t Just the Next Big Thing 05/13/12

  Over the last few months, Pinterest has really taken the world of social networking by storm. It's a website that allows you to create a profile that contains pin boards, each providing categorized images which can be shared with others, or kept privately.  While many users simply love the site and use it as a way to find things, Pinterest has taken the business world by storm and has quickly become a new way of marketing your website and increasing sales.

  Although there is no denying the strong following Pinterest has received, it is worth noting that this platform isn’t for everyone. However, if you have a product, it should be easy for you to make the most of this social platform. Adding images of your products provides visitors to the site a way to click on the image and be directly taken to the page where they are able to purchase the product.  If you provide services rather than products it can be more difficult to reap any benefits from using the site, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible.

  Ignoring the Following of Pinterest is a Mistake

  In January 2012, Pinterest was responsible for driving more traffic to websites than Google +, Reddit, YouTube and LinkedIn combined. With more than a million daily visitors spending an average of 15 minutes per day on the site, you need to be thinking of ways to use this brand new marketing tool, even if you don’t have products to showcase.

  Making the Most of Pinterest

  • When you sign up, fill out your online profile, add images, and your links to Facebook, Twitter and your website.
  • Create pin boards and give them original names that will make them appeal to other users on the site.
  • Add images which are related to your industry and place them on appropriate boards. Pin throughout the day and night, rather than all in one go, especially if you plan on sharing each of the pins on your other social networking sites.
  • Start following other users of the site and try to tag them in the description area of any images you pin that are relevant.
  • Comment on other peoples’ pins and try to engage with as many people as possible. Like images and re-pin any that you like. Just make sure you leave the link in the Pin and that the link does lead to the right website.
  • Pin your blog post images, especially if you are selling a service and not products. Keep a board just for your blogs, but don’t forget to post other images, rather than spamming your own site constantly.

  • Optimize your website and all blog posts for Pinterest.  Add images to all posts and encourage other users to re-pin the image, by making sure it is attractive, creative, thought-provoking or funny. Add a watermark to your image, or add your logo somewhere, in order to help increase knowledge of your brand.

  Are you using Pinterest yet?
• Optimize Your Website to Increase Your Website Traffic 05/10/12

  Whether you are a fan of search engine optimization (SEO) or not, it’s still worth learning about it if you have a website. There are millions of websites on the internet, so the competition for ranking high in the search engines is fierce.  Organic listings placed high on the first page are prized because of the amount of traffic they draw.  However, it requires some serious effort to achieve these valued positions.   Here are a few tips for optimizing your website and working your way to the top!

  Tips on Optimizing Your Website

  1. Add a blog.  It’s a fantastic tool that has a huge impact on how well you rank.  Use your blog to increase the amount of links heading back to your website from the search engines. Create original content written for readers, and carefully use keywords in your posts to add deeper links into your site.  Never spam your keywords. We recommend targeting one keyword per page or blog post.
  2. Build organic links.  Links are useful in SEO and it’s possible to work on adding your own links, provided you have the time. Find online directories that offer the chance to optimize your listing by adding Meta Tags and Descriptions, as well as categorizing your site.  Start by using Google Places and go through as many directories as you think are necessary. Review times do vary, and you should read the rules before you submit your data to make sure the directory is relevant for your particular niche.
  3. Socialize your website. Social signals are a big part of boosting your website ranking. Be prepared to get online and create social profiles on all the major networking websites, such as Twitter, Facebook and Google +. These can then be used to help increase your fan base and add links back to your website. Be sure you engage with users.  Don't spam your content.  Think about networking and building a community, rather than just trying to draw in traffic for the best results.
  4. Improve your website. A website can be full of great content, but if it is slow to load or hard to navigate, visitors will not stay long.  They also won’t feel compelled to return. Reduce your bounce rate by ensuring your pages load quickly. In addition, have a simple menu that is easy to use.
  5. Calls to action. On each of your pages include multiple calls to action, without ruining the flow of your content.  Add a sign up for your mailing list and link to your contact information. Also, consider how the site flows as a whole, to help people find the information they need based on the content they have read.

  Using simple optimization techniques like these will benefit your organic growth and can greatly improve your page rank in the search engines.

  

  
  
• Using Calls to Action: Getting Website Visitors To Do More Than Just Read 05/10/12

  Sometimes businesses get all excited about the volume of traffic to their website. They are thrilled when the number of visitors to their site goes up. They’re proud of the number of “eyeballs on the page” and get ecstatic about an increase in the number of “clicks” they record.

  Is that what you’re really after? That’s like having a brick and mortar store that has a lot of foot traffic coming in the front door—only to have them leave by the back door without making a purchase or even talking to a sales person.

  Let’s be honest. Not every visitor to your site is going to make a purchase. In fact, depending upon your business and the cost of your product or service (custom homebuilding for instance) you may never make a sale online.  But you still want visitors to take action. And you want your website to generate qualified leads. You want visitors to “ring your doorbell” and identify themselves.

  That’s why your website pages and your blogs need to have calls to action. You want to get visitors to do something. You want them to interact with you and—if possible—to get them to give you information about themselves. But in order to do that, you have to offer them something they value in return. And when you make your offer (say a white paper or a special report), you’ll want to take them to a unique landing page that allows you to collect their information—and makes it clear that they’re getting exactly what they want.

  Here’s an example. Let’s say we were offering you a FREE WHITE PAPER that showed you how combining inbound and outbound marketing strategies can increase your marketing effectiveness. If you click on the FREE WHITE PAPER link, you’ll be taken—not to our homepage—but to a page devoted exclusively to that offer. On this page we’ll summarize what you’re getting and we’ll ask you for some basic information.

  It helps you because you don’t get lost on our home page trying to find the white paper we offered. It gets you to the information you want right now. It helps us because it tells us that you’re probably serious about improving the effectiveness of your marketing, and that you might want to hear more about this topic in the future. In effect, you rang our doorbell and told us why you were there.

  Do you know who is at your virtual door and what they want?

  

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