Over the past few years, I have had the privilege of being around some successful and admired inbound marketers, and I would have wasted a wonderful opportunity had I not taken a few notes. I have always had the innate desire to learn as much as I could from the people around me—soak in information like a sponge—and it has really paid off. I have not only seen, but also learned and tried to apply, the traits or characteristics of those who have been successful in the inbound marketing world. So here, I share them with you so you, too, can succeed with inbound marketing.
From content and campaigns to conversations and contracts, a successful marketing professional is strategic from beginning to end. Succeeding does not just mean taking on as many clients as you can or making every sale possible, regardless of the outcome. Everything must be considered, pondered and qualified—and only when it has been weighed and considered the best option, is it carried out.
Take lead nurturing for example: Campaigns each have at least a handful of emails, landing pages, confirmation pages and follow-up emails, not to mention the actual content those elements are promoting. But these details are not overlooked or thrown together. From the very first to the very last point of contact with a potential customer, details are scrutinized and constantly improved. And this sort of dedication is applied across the board with successful inbound marketing, which is what makes lead nurturing work, too.
If your boss came to you and asked you to complete a task, even though you had never done it before, you would most likely accept the challenge with a smile on your face—then figure out how to do it as quickly as possible. Why should inbound marketing be any different? The first time we were asked to create and manage a lead nurturing campaign, we had no real strategic experience and no real process for carrying it out, but we accepted the challenge and figured it out. And now, since we have learned from our mistakes, we are managing several successful campaigns for several of our clients. Success is all about accepting the challenge and making it work. It is how you learn and grow.
So you blog four times a day? Great. Is it good content? Is it useful? Educational? Shareable? If it is, that is amazing, and we applaud you. But if it just content for the sake of content, you may want to rethink your strategy. Your audience will only return to your website, blog or content if they find it appealing and informative. You would be better off—and your audience more appreciative—blogging once a day with top-notch information than filling the blogosphere with mindless chatter five times a day. This also goes for your downloads, email blasts, campaigns, social media posts and any other channel you choose to use.
We learned this saying from one of our clients, and it may be the most important trait of all. The ability and the know-how of failing fast is what will save you from complete demise. When you fail slowly, there is no chance at steering the ship away from the iceberg. But when you fail fast, you can clear devastation by a mile. So get out there and try new things: Be brave. Be experimental. Be revolutionary. But do it fast. Have a Plan B. Look at your mistakes and figure out how to not only fix them, but turn them into successes and master the process.
As I continue to learn, I will continue to share my findings. Feel free to share your top traits of inbound marketers below!
photo credit: Rita Willaert
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