Posted by Roman Kniahynyckyj on Thu, Sep 02, 2010 @ 06:40 AM
Wired Magazine's September issue eulogizes the Web while proclaiming the continuing value of the Internet. This assessment has far reaching implications for inbound marketers and for B2B and B2C marketing.
Wired makes a distinction between the Internet - essentially the infrastructure and protocols that allow information and content to flow - and the Web - which is the way users and consumers interact with the information and content the Internet makes available.
Certainly, we no longer just browse the Web. We download songs from iTunes or update our Facebook status from a Droid app, or use Hootsuite for Twitter updates. The way we plug into the Internet is much more specialized.
This shift offers marketers some important concepts to consider:
- The Internet as Electricity - Think of the myriad items you plug into electrical outlets today. Laptops, blenders, lamps, TVs, even Glade PlugIns. They all function differently but are all powered the same way - through electricity. Much like electricity, the Internet will continue to underlie and power a user's online interaction with a brand. But as more consumers shift from Web browsing to other ways of interacting with the Internet, how will you change the way you plug your brand into the Internet? Through an app, a widget, a feed of some sort? How will you continue to generate leads and sales as more and more people become aware of your brand via their smartphone rather than their computer?
- Where are Your Plugs? - Where is your market? Do you need a specialized plug for China? Or for Silver Surfers? In much the same way that traveling overseas requires you to pack a gaggle of plug adapters, how do you alter your brand plug for the different markets you serve and the way your market plugs into the Internet?
- Designing Your Plugs - Maintaining a consistent brand presence across the plugs you design is critical. Whether your brand's plug is a Facebook game, a YouTube video, or a downloadable podcast (or all three), core elements of your brand must be present.
Feeling a bit unplugged in the new world of the dead Web? Let us plug you back in.
photo: Robert Whyte
Posted by John McTigue on Fri, May 14, 2010 @ 07:45 AM
Unless you are consistently feeding your inbound marketing machine with good, creative content, chances are you've seen a slow-down in traffic, search engine results and leads. Why? Because getting found online is about competing for peoples' attention and consistently delivering the goods. There are very few one-hit wonders surviving on the Internet these days. Let's do a brief reality check, then work on our content creation strategy.
How many blog posts or videos can you remember within the past 30 days? A handful? Out of the hundreds you probably read or viewed, most of them have either disappeared into the ether or you've tucked them away in a bookmarking site, never to read them again. How many tweets grab your attention? Most of us probably ignore 99.9% and retweet the rest, never to be seen again. Why are we so fickle online? As Emily Yoffe writes in a Slate article,
"...we actually resemble nothing so much as those legendary lab rats that endlessly pressed a lever to give themselves a little electrical jolt to the brain. While we tap, tap away at our search engines, it appears we are stimulating the same system in our brains that scientists accidentally discovered more than 50 years ago when probing rat skulls."
So we're fighting this instinct we all have to just tap, tap, tap looking for visual or auditory stimulation. When we find something interesting, we usually scan it, then throw it away. How do we overcome these zombie-like impulses and grab someone's attention? Even if we get the hallowed click-through, how do we keep them in their seats? What about videos? Aren't they the key to viral marketing? According to TubeMogul, "ten seconds into a video clip a little over 10% of viewers have abandoned it, rising to over half at 60 seconds or more." So, content must not only attract your eye, it must also have the power to interrupt what you're doing and keep you transfixed. To most of us this is a huge challenge. Here's my content marketing strategy.
- Figure out who you are trying to attract. Chief Marketing Officers? Soccer Mom's? First-time homebuyers?
- Figure out what makes these folks tick. Go to their social media sites and blogs and see what they're talking about. Socialize with them by commenting and asking questions. Become a regular.
- Create blogs, videos and webinars that address your target market's concerns. Do this as often as you can, ideally three or more times per week.
- Ask for comments by asking questions, and respond to the comments you receive. Ask for your readers' involvement. What would you guys like to see in my blog? This engages and rewards your readers and gives them an incentive to follow you.
- Mix it up. Your content should not be monotonous. Alternate serious with fun, helpful with commentary, research with reviews. Use creative titles, images and short video clips.
- Be your own worst critic. If you're getting stale, change the subject. Find some new way to communicate your ideas. Expand your own thinking, and you will expand theirs. If content creation becomes a chore, it will read that way. Step away from the keyboard and brainstorm some new ideas.
Remember, you have a few seconds to get someone's attention, and getting there is only half the battle. You must reward their attention with good, creative content that keeps them engaged. It's a tough nut to crack, but if you're reading this post, you're no doubt up for the challenge.
What are your content marketing strategies and experiences?
Posted by John McTigue on Thu, Oct 22, 2009 @ 12:21 PM
The rules are different for small businesses. You brand isn't well known, but you can't afford to build a marketing department. Your choice is often between production and marketing, and production usually wins. How do you get started with a winning inbound marketing strategy?
Focus On Brand
You may have great products and services, but without an effective brand, who will remember you? How will you get found when people search for providers? Start by asking yourself who you are, what's your message and what makes you different. Here are some great tips to help you develop your brand.
Focus on Content
Now that you have a memorable brand, you need to start spreading the word. You need to start making impressions on people, and you do that with interesting, relevant content - blogs, videos, webinars, whitepapers, whatever you can think of. Publish and promote your content on your website, social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn), social bookmarking sites (Digg, Delicious, etc.) and blog directories.
Focus on Connecting
Spend some time in the social networking sites actually talking to people. Ask and answer questions. Start discussions and participate in as many as possible. Be genuine and helpful, not self-promotional or "spammy". The more of this you do the better. It helps to build a loyal following around you. Once you become better known, you can become a leader by starting groups and hosting events.
Be Patient
Remember, you started with an unknown brand. It takes a while, but with a consistent effort in branding, content creation and connecting, your brand reputation will grow and your sales will grow with it.
For more on inbound marketing strategy, check out our free Inbound Marketer's Handbook, or contact us for a free inbound marketing consultation today!
Posted by John McTigue on Mon, Sep 28, 2009 @ 12:29 PM
I'm sure you've heard us marketers barking about social media monitoring, but what's it all about? The standard line is something like "people are already talking about you online, so you might as well join the conversation". Well, maybe that's true and maybe not. Let's find out. Let's take our social media temperature.
First let's go to SocialMention (www.socialmention.com) and see what a popular brand looks like. Type "starbucks" into the search box and click the search button. Here's what I got today.
Here's how Social Mention describes its service: "It allows you to easily track what people are saying about you, your company, a new product, or any topic across the web's social media landscape in real-time. Social Mention monitors 80+ social media properties directly including: Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, Digg, Google etc." Editor's note: Best of all, it's free!
In a familiar, Google-like search results page you can see all of the instances of your brand being talked about across the social media spectrum. Charts on the left-hand side show you the top people and keywords as well as some interesting metrics about how people "feel" about your brand and how "powerful" your brand is:
- Strength: "phrase mentions within the last 24 hours divided by total possible mentions".
- Sentiment: "the ratio of mentions that are generally positive to those that are generally negative".
- Passion: "a measure of the likelihood that individuals talking about your brand will do so repeatedly".
- Reach: "the number of unique authors referencing your brand divided by the total number of mentions".
Of course, they won't tell us how exactly how they figure out the positive and negative, but it most likely has to do with certain keywords related to sentiment, like "I love Starbucks coffee" or its converse.
Pretty cool, huh?
OK, now you try it
Search on your company brand or your personal social media identity, anything that might by found in a blog, microblog, web page or social media bookmark.
Once your results come up, filter by the "results" pulldown on "Last Day". Now you know how much "buzz" has been created in the past 24 hours. What's your social media temperature?
HOT
Like Starbucks. Hundreds of mentions in a single day.
MEDIUM
10 - 100 mentions. More typical of companies that are active in social media but may not have such a well-known brand.
COLD
0 - 10 mentions. Needs work. Good news if you're trying to keep your activities secret. Bad news if you're trying to spread the word about your brand. If the latter is the case, try inbound marketing and work it every day.
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Posted by John McTigue on Sun, Sep 20, 2009 @ 08:30 AM
OK, it's simple. You want to rank on certain keywords, put them in your blog or page title. In our case, we want to improve our Google ranking on the phrase "advertising agency cleveland". As of this writing, we are ranked #87, which isn't great. We have lots of competition, but how can we do better?
How to improve our ranking on Advertising Agency Cleveland
Yes, it's cheesy to put the keywords in the title without some kind of context. Yes, Google will actually penalize you if you don't follow-up with an article related to those keywords. So write a clever article about the subject and include your keywords in headings (see above) and image "alt" tags (see image).- Be realistic - do your keywords actually describe what you do? Yes, we are an advertising agency based in the Cleveland, OH area. Check.
- Be realistic - do you have any hope of ranking on your keywords? OK, we're starting at 87, so there is hope. If we tried to rank on "advertising agency" alone, forget about it. The cool thing is, as we start to improve our ranking on the long-tail keywords "advertising agency cleveland", we also improve our chances with "advertising agency". Maybe someday...
- Lather, rinse, repeat. One blog isn't going to drive thousands of visitors to your keyword rich page. Do it repeatedly, but keep it subtle. Don't try the same (some might say stupid) tactic that we used for this blog every time. Move your keywords around in the title and blog, try different word order and monitor results. As you track your keywords and page views you can see what combinations work best.
Let's see how we do. I will monitor our progress in ranking on these keywords and add them to the comments periodically, so stay tuned.
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Posted by John McTigue on Wed, Sep 16, 2009 @ 01:45 PM
Avon, Ohio – September 16, 2009 – Kuno Creative, a strategic marketing company based in Avon, Ohio, is now a Certified HubSpot Partner. After undergoing a rigorous training course and passing the HubSpot certification exam, Kuno Creative is now one of only thirteen agencies that are certified. HubSpot software is a unique suite of web based tools enabling content marketing, social media marketing, lead capture and tracking and results monitoring that are the core disciplines of Inbound Marketing. Inbound Marketing is a new Internet marketing strategy designed to increase brand awareness and sales through relationships fostered in online communities by publishing content that is relevant to a target audience. Kuno’s Inbound Marketing Services include marketing strategy, setting up the HubSpot platform, integrating it with a client website or designing a new website, blog writing and other content creation, social media promotion and engagement, and measurement and analysis.
"We are pleased to become an official HubSpot partner," said Chris, Knipper, Kuno Creative's President and CEO. "We have been using the software for several months ourselves with great success. We are seeing a large increase in our own website traffic and capturing many more leads than ever before. We see Inbound Marketing as an important new asset that we can offer our clients to improve their sales and marketing results. What makes us unique is that we are a full-service marketing agency that also understands technology, and we’re not afraid to lead the way."
"John and Chris at Kuno Creative have aggressively ramped up on their HubSpot and inbound marketing knowledge", said Peter Caputa, HubSpot's Partnership Manager. "I'm extremely impressed with how they've leveraged their traditional design and copy creation skills to become successful inbound marketers. All of the new inbound marketing methods such as blogging, SEO and creative online lead generation require top notch design and content creation skills. Unlike most traditional marketers, they also possess the analytical and technical skills required to be successful online marketers. Their years of experience as marketers working with small and mid sized businesses gives them a large advantage over other internet marketers that started their marketing careers on the web. I don't hesitate recommending Kuno for design work, as well as ongoing strategic inbound marketing services."
About Kuno Creative
Kuno Creative provides inbound marketing, brand marketing and website development services that help our clients gain maximum ROI from their marketing investments. We are Certified HubSpot Partners, providing best-in-class inbound marketing strategy, design and integration with HubSpot software, training and support, content creation and promotion, web analytics and lead tracking. Based in Avon, OH, we serve small to medium sized business throughout the United States. We offer a free website analysis and comparison with your competitors. Please visit our website at www.kunocreative.com and read our blogs at www.kunocreative.com/blog.
About HubSpot
HubSpot, Inc. provides Internet marketing software that helps businesses get found online, generate more inbound leads and convert a higher percentage of those leads into paying customers. HubSpot's software platform includes tools that allow professional marketers and small business owners to manage search engine optimization, blogging and social media, as well as landing pages, lead intelligence and marketing analytics. Based in Cambridge, MA, HubSpot can be found at http://www.hubspot.com. HubSpot offers free marketing tools at http://www.grader.com and hosts a free marketing community at http://inboundmarketing.com.
Posted by John McTigue on Sat, Sep 12, 2009 @ 08:03 AM
If you're already blogging and promoting your blog via the main social networking and social bookmarking sites, you're well on your way towards building a strong readership. How do you take your blog to the next level? How do you become a well-known blog that people subscribe to and comment on frequently? Here are some next-level strategies.
Go Deep, Go Wide - don't just promote your blog on a few social networking and bookmarking sites. Go for lots of them. Here's a good list. - Comment Like Crazy -find lots of good blogs in your area of interest and subscribe to their RSS feeds. Monitor the new posts every day. Read the ones that interest you the most, tweet them and comment on them. You will receive inbound links that help your Google ranking and you will attract other readers and commenters to your blog.
- Timing is Everything - publish and promote during prime time. If you are in the eastern U.S., for example, publish between 11 AM and 12PM so you will reach the west coast when they are getting to work and you still have a shot at the folks in Europe before bed time.
- Mix it Up - don't blog about the same thing every day, keep it fresh with new topics and ideas. Some days be helpful, other days "preachy", and still others downright ornery. Keep them guessing.
- Stick to the Facts - it's ok to express your opinion, but people are more likely to subscribe if you do your homework. Reference your sources and explain why you feel the way you do. We all hear way to much pontificating.
- Leverage Relationships - build relationships with other bloggers through social media, comments and get-togethers. Reference their blogs in yours. Ask if you can guest blog on their blogs and offer an exchange. Some folks even build blog alliances to co-promote each other.
- Don't Forget the Keywords - your blog should be a catalyst for SEO success. Social media promotion will help get you lots of inbound links and drive up your ranking, but adding important keywords to your blog title, headings, image "alt" tags and meta keywords will take you even higher.
- Finally, there's no substitute for quality. Check your spelling and grammar before you publish. A well-written blog goes a long way. An interesting, well-written blog is gold.
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Posted by Vanessa Knipper on Fri, Sep 11, 2009 @ 06:05 AM
While I was writing about the merits of a Flip pocket camcorder for social media and Inbound Marketing audience engagement yesterday, Apple announced that the new iPod Nano’s, that were rumored to include cameras, actually have video!
Like most, it was love at first use with my Flip Mino. Now, I might as well sell it on eBay, since I won’t need it anymore with the new multi-tasking iPod Nano. Aside from the music player and various useful apps such as a built-in pedometer and FM tuner, let’s compare the video features according to the product websites:
| | iPod Nano (16G) | Flip Mino (2G) |
| Price | $199.99 | $149.99 |
| Size | 3.6” x 1.5” x 0.24” | 3.94" x 1.97" x 0.63" |
| Weight | 1.28 ounces | 3.3 ounces |
| Video Size | 640 x 480 pixels | 640 x 480 pixels |
| Video Playback | Up to 5 hours | Up to 4 hours |
| Display | 2.2 in. diagonal | 1.5 in. diagonal |
| Video Capacity | Up to 16 hours | 1 hour |
| Orientation | Portrait or landscape | Landscape only |
Q: Why would a business or organization need a pocket camcorder, anyway?
A: To give your customers/supporters quality content that they can not only read, but can view.
1. Record a quick quote or testimonial from a client for dictation later
2. Capture video for blogs, news articles, product demonstrations for web
3. Improve recording spontaneity with the small size and multi-functional portability
4. Record something that you would like to further explore at a later time
5. Use as a crisis management PR tool for quick communication to the media
Another myth was that the iPod Nano would be discontinued, with the popularity of the iPod Touch, and the iPod functionality that comes along with iPhones. But there are still a lot of us that appreciate the good old-fashioned click-wheel on the running trail. The newer iPod's have “shake” technology, but if you leave it enabled while working out, the song changes every time your feet hit the ground.
The only thing more exciting will be the inevitable future development of iPhones with phone, camera, video, and iPod all in one. However, raising the bar on the amount of grief you will experience if you lose or damage your “phone".
Posted by John McTigue on Thu, Sep 10, 2009 @ 07:21 AM
We recently completed rebuilding our website using the Hubspot Inbound Marketing software platform. That’s two complete website makeovers in the course of one year. Why did we decide to rebuild, and why did we choose Hubspot?
Giving credit where it’s due, we were introduced to Inbound Marketing at the beginning of 2009 via several webinars and marketing kits published by Hubspot. Few other sources were talking about it at the time, let alone providing valuable how-to’s and strategies.
I decided to find out much more about Inbound Marketing by embarking on a self-taught mission with the goal of learning by doing. I started blogging, tweeting, commenting and engaging in a wide range of social networking sites. I chronicled my adventures in a blog series called Inbound Marketing Journal. At the end of a few months I had a sizable following and had learned enough to write my own Inbound Marketer’s Handbook, an e-book for small business owners and marketing executives designed as a business insider’s overview of the strategy and tactics of Inbound Marketing. This step is one of the recommended building blocks of Inbound Marketing strategy and has been successful in exposing our ideas and services to a new online community.
At this point we knew that Inbound Marketing was a powerful way to improve brand awareness and sales, but how could we incorporate it into our everyday business and provide it as a service for our clients? After attending the Inbound Marketing Summit in Dallas, I knew what we had to do. Hubspot software was the key ingredient. Our first step must be to make our own website a powerful Inbound Marketing engine using Hubspot – to improve our online exposure, capture leads and convert them to customers. Then we could demonstrate our expertise using a real working website. We decided to retool our entire site to fit our new strategy. The design, keyword-rich content, calls-to-action and landing pages are all crucial components of getting found online and converting visitors to customers. We launched our new site a few weeks ago, and already we are seeing greatly increased web traffic and leads. We use the Hubspot KeywordGrader, PageGrader, BlogGrader, LinkGrader and LeadTracker every day to optimize our blogs and pages, monitor results and keep things rolling.
No, I’m not a paid Hubspot employee. It may sound that way because I am an advocate. With full disclosure in mind, we are a Certified Hubspot Partner, which means that we sell and support their software. There are many technologies available in social media marketing, seo and blogging, but none of them work together in one coherent framework like Hubspot software. That’s why we chose it. Rebuilding your web site and changing your marketing strategy may seem like a daunting and perhaps expensive task. Consider the cost of standing still, however. How expensive is it each time one of your competitors grabs a great client from your grasp? In our competitive market rebuilding our site using Hubspot was a no-brainer.
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Posted by John McTigue on Wed, Sep 09, 2009 @ 09:04 AM
Inbound marketing is rapidly gaining popularity as a relatively inexpensive means to improve lead conversion rates and increase sales. Faced with marketing budget decisions for next year, many business owners wonder whether or not to completely replace traditional brand marketing methods with blogs, social media and search engine optimization. In many cases it makes sense to blend inbound and outbound marketing, when the strengths of one support the weaknesses of the other. Here are some examples.
Example 1 – Entering a New Market
Let’s say you’ve recently committed to an inbound marketing campaign with the business goal of improving web traffic by 200% and sales by 20%. You’re focusing your campaign on several counties, some of which are suburban, while others are more rural. The question is how will local residents find your blog and social media presence in the first place? Currently, if people search for local businesses in your market, your site isn’t listed. That’s one of the objectives of the inbound marketing campaign. How do you get them to follow you on Twitter and Facebook if they can’t find your site? Try some good old-fashioned brand marketing. Place some attractive billboards around the counties at key intersections announcing a promotional offer and direct people to a well-designed landing page to capture leads and announce your blogs and social networking venues. Try a short radio spot with the same pitch. E-mail your announcement to your current contact list and let them know about your new site, blog and community spirit.
Example 2 – Rolling Out a New Product or Service
Advertising is still one of the best ways to get peoples’ attention. Over time consumers grow weary of the same old intrusive ads blanketing the media, but for a quick impact to draw attention to a new product or service, there’s nothing like it. Get the buzz started with some clever “coming soon” ads to whet viewers’ appetites. If possible, target a special date that doesn’t conflict with some other popular event. Give people sneak previews via your web site, blog and social media – but don’t forget to capture your leads via landing pages! When the roll-out date arrives, throw a party of some kind, online or at a public place. Offer special promotions and prizes. Get them enrolled in your community sites and signed up for your RSS feeds. Reel in as many leads as possible and make sure they become loyal followers through your follow-up inbound marketing campaign.
Example 3 – Giving Back to the Community
Start by getting involved with local or national community outreach programs or charities. Offer your marketing (or other) expertise as a way of helping them reach their goals. Become a thought leader. Give free talks and webinars where you cite your own company’s efforts to get found online and capture leads. The main benefit will be helping struggling businesses and charities in your area, but you will also meet business leaders and potential clients. Word of mouth is still (and will always be) the most successful form of marketing. As you meet people and get the word out, don’t forget to invite them to join your online conversations via blogs and social media. You will start to build a strong following that trusts your judgment and is far more likely to do business with you.
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