Achieve Inbound Marketing Success: Money Alone Isn't Enough

Financial investment in your company's inbound marketing effort is extremely important; however, money alone doesn’t guarantee success. Many large companies budget millions of dollars for inbound marketing (and do little else) only to disappointed by the results. The truth is, it takes the right partner (AKA - inbound marketing agency), strategy and tactics and company resources along with the right size budget to be truly effective at inbound marketing.

I examine the key players needed to make inbound marketing a success below:

Key Client Players

On the client side, there are a few necessary people who need to be involved in the digital marketing process for inbound marketing to be a success. Some will be involved throughout while others will drop off and be less involved as campaigns progress.

• Upper Management: Company decision makers need to be a part of initial conversations, fact finding and strategy. Their time is expensive, so spending it on anything but the crucial information isn't ideal.
• Marketing Manager: This should be the point-of-contact person for the consultant on the agency side. Day-to-day decisions will need to be made in a timely fashion. The marketing manager will need the power to approve content and timelines without holding the process up for weeks at a time.
• Sales Team Lead: An agency will need to understand who will be handling the leads that come in from inbound marketing efforts. How will the leads be followed up with? Is there a standard timeframe? Are there essential details that need to be included in the online form?

Key Agency Players

While most inbound marketing agencies can provide a lot in terms of overall knowledge, there are a number of resources some agencies possess that make them stand head and shoulders above the rest. Here's what clients should look for when evaluating potential agency partners:

• Consultant: This person is the point of contact for the client, the go-to for any and every question. The consultant is trained to relay any issues that need to be addressed with both the client and the internal teams. 
• Content Specialist: Part journalist, part marketer, the content specialist creates the content that will be shown to your customers in the form of eBooks, emails, blog posts and more. The effectiveness of the content specialist is a major factor in the overall campaign success. Be sure the people writing about your company and products are top notch.
• Creative, Technologist & Developer: These three amigos are vital when launching any inbound campaign. They are responsible for the overall creation of your website and marketing materials, as well as the look and feel. While you may not get too much exposure to these team members, they do exist (we promise)! 

It Takes Teamwork

There are times when a client will completely hand over the keys to its digital marketing campaigns and think the agency will handle the rest, but as I discussed above, that's not how it works. It takes two to tango.

At Kuno, we have a 7 Step Process: In the beginning, much of this process is uncovering more information about the client. Who are the key players in the space, what the current marketing process is, and, most importantly, what are the details of the products or services we are selling? Yes, that information is likely available in previously created company documents, but there will definitely be meetings to flesh out all necessary (and any unclear) details. Expectations will need to be set prior to beginning this process to ensure everyone realizes exactly who and what it will take to reach success. 

I will discuss this the key players needed for inbound marketing success in even more detail in the free Kuno Creative webinar "The True Cost of Inbound Marketing: It's Not Just Dollars and Cents," taking place tomorrow, October 22 at 1 p.m. EST. Click here to reserve your space!

Photo Credit: Bart

Bryan Cox is a Kuno Creative consultant with extensive experience developing holistic digital marketing programs for mid and large size companies. Learn more about Bryan on LinkedIn.