@Direction_grp #dgedge Check-in

25 September 2014

INBOUND MARKETING

The convergence of content,

search and social

The good old days

What ever happened to them?

This happened

Customers took control of information

WHAT IS

‘INBOUND

MARKETING ’

ANYWAY?

Inbound - a definition

Inbound Marketing The process of creating text, audio, video and

other online assets and optimising them to

appear when prospective customers are ready

to pull the trigger on a purchase – Halligan &

Shah, Hubspot

We live in an self-directed, opt-in world –

we have to earn customers’ attention

Customers will seek you out because of

the quality of the information you offer to

help them make better decisions

CONTENT IS THE WORM ON

THE INBOUND HOOK

htt

p:/

/ww

w.n

ew

fun

pa

ge

s.c

om

/i

“Inbound marketing is not just content

creation: it’s a philosophical approach to

marketing that starts with thinking about

what (information) customers actually want

and need and ends with a comprehensive

approach to optimize that experience from

the first website visit to email nurturing to

sales outreach to social media marketing.” Dharmesh Shah, Hubspot

The end of Interruptive Marketing as we know it

WW

W.e

harm

ny.c

o.u

k

“Marketing to your customers by repeatedly

interrupting them with advertising or selling

messages is simply not good enough any more

- technology has changed all the rules”Seth Godin

Rand Fishkin, moz.com

Inbound - content doesn’t sit in a vacuum

CONTENTVideos, Blogs, Articles,

eBooks, Whitepapers,

podcasts, infographics

SOCIAL

MEDIAFacebook, YouTube,

Twitter, LinkedIn,

Blogs, Forums

and more

SEARCHOn & off-page, Link

Building, Bookmarks,

Keywords, Tags

ATTRACT

CUSTOMERS

LIKE A

MAGNET

It needs to be integrated with other inbound activities

of B2B buying decisions are being investigated,

evaluated and compared BEFORE the selling

brand is even contacted (and this figure is rising)

Source: SiriusDecisions/Harvard Business Review, July 2012

Why is this important?

“About 50% of all B2B inquires come from inbound

channels, and that will jump to about 70% by

2015-2016.” SiriusDecisions 2013

Is Content Marketing

a form of

Inbound Marketing

OR

Inbound a form of

Content Marketing?

• There are no agreed definitions

• Inbound is ‘owned’ by Hubspot

• Content Marketing is an approach - also includes

outbound and offline

• The distinction probably doesn’t matter

You need a strategic structure on which to build

your content driven inbound activity

ww

w.d

eze

en

.co

m

Building your Content Marketing Engine™

to drive your inbound leads

Fuel your content

marketing with a thorough,

robust strategic plan

Ignite prospects’ and

customers’ interest with

engaging content which

is relevant, compelling

and timely to their needs

Enable your organisation

to produce more, better

content and accelerate to

greater content success

A structured, efficient marketing engine to plan, create and distribute content which engages

customers

1.Focus on the customer and their journey

2.Distil your brand story

3.Define the editorial process

4.Build a content creation

community

5.Create Effective Content

6.Atomize, repurpose, reimagine

7.Keep conversion in

mind

8.Amplify9.Build content

rhythm

10.Rev the engine

11.Measure and improve

12.Look in the rear view mirror

IGNITEFUEL ACCELERATE

WHAT IS

CONTENT?

What is Content ?

“Any information provided by

a brand in a format which is

relevant, compelling and

timely to the audience’s

needs at the point at which

they engage with it and that

does not overtly seek to sell

the brand or its products”Holliman,

Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing 2014

http://goo.gl/lN7Tt7

16

Why does content even matter?

Google turns content into currency!

• Content builds awareness

• Content facilitates the “inbound” effect

• Content fuels social media marketing

• Customers learn to seek it out

• Content helps customers make better decisions

BECAUSE

SAY SO

17

Images: h

ttp:/

/4.b

p.b

logspot.com

/,w

ww

.wik

ihow

.com

/Dra

w-a

-Panda

,

ww

w.a

rchiv

e.b

enchm

ark

revie

ws.c

om

/

The power of

visual content

90% info transmitted into

brain is visual (Source: 3M)

x69,000Faster visual processing

than text (Source: Zabisco)

x3 more inbound links

for posts with video (Source: SEOMoz)

93%

of B2B marketers

Source: CMI/MarketingProfs

B2B Content Marketing 2015 Benchmarks, Budget and Trends, North America

90%

of B2C marketers

say they are using content marketing

+

Just “doing content” is no longer

a competitive advantage.

Because 70% of

content created is never usedSource:SiriusDecisions 2013

There are 27,000,000

pieces of content

shared every daySource: Hubspot

ww

w.m

ym

ark

eting

journ

ey.c

om

Qualities of truly effective content

RELEVANT

COMPELLING

TIMELY

Think: unanswered questions

• Ask yourself: What questions do my

customers have which are going

unanswered?

• Does your content help customers

make a better decision?

Is your content so

valuable that

customers would be

prepared to pay

for it?

SEARCH

AND

OPTIMIZATION

93% of B2B

buyers use search

to begin the buying

processSource: Marketo 2014

European Search Landscape – August 2014

Google

Bing

Yahoo

Others

89%

6%4% 1%

So lets talk about

Data: The E Word – August 2014

So How Does

Google Work?

Crawling, Indexing, and Ranking

Google continuously craws the web to index pages, PDFs and other

digital documents

Current Estimates - 60 Trillion individual pages indexed and growing

Ranks each page with a multiple factors (on page, off page and social

factors)

As you enter search text google:

Spelling Identifies and corrects possible spelling errors and provides

alternatives.

Auto Complete Predicts what you might be searching for

Synonyms Recognizes words with similar meanings

Query Understanding Gets to the deeper meaning of the words you type

Searches Index via stacked algorithms and provides

Google Instant Displays immediate results as you type.

For Discoverability, First Page is Everything

Over 200 Ranking

Factors

Social

Backlinks

OnPage (Technical)

OnPage (Content)

Search Metrics 2014 Ranking Factors

“Each year, Google

changes its search

algorithm around

500–600 times.”

Brief History of Google Algorithm Factors

2000 – 2004 PageRank - Content Keywords

2004 – 2006 More Content for Keywords (Everyone's Keyword Stuffing)

2006 – 2009 Fresh Content Promoted

2009 – 2010 Caffeine Update Everyone Needs a Blog (Fresh Updates with lots of Content)

2010 – 2012 Panda (Major Update) Content Needs to be Unique (Duplication, Spinning Penalised)

2012 – 2013 Penguin (Major Update) Can’t Buy Links, Penalises Suspected Auto Link Building and Link Farms

2014 – Humming Bird (Major Update – Complete Overhaul) - Content needs to be Useful and Authentic, On Site Engagement Factors are more important than links – Dwell Time, Bounce Rate are now factors

Three Major Elements Working in Tandem

Panda Penguin Humming Bird

Keyword Stuffing Is Dead

Hummingbird was built to support semantic and conversational search,

both of which are heavily focused on “long-tail searches”

Hummingbird is designed to apply meaning technology to content,

elevating content that is authentic, unique and most of all useful to long

tail search queries (users)

SOCIAL

MEDIA

Why social media for business?

Source: www.langleynewmedia.com/

Why do you want to be on social media?

That’s where your prospects are!Internet users spend 4 x more time on

Facebook than on Google.

(Social Media Examiner)

1,300,000,000

645,000,000

360,000,000

300,000,000

Active Users

Social media is effective for acquisition

(HubSpot)

So how does this work.. the lead gen bit?

Social media is all about

publishing and reach

Traffic on your website is

anonymous

Social media gives you more

control of what you’re posting –

and most importantly to whom.

Social works across the inbound journey

Use great content

to attract new

visitors

Drive visitors to

your conversion

page

Nurture leads with

relevant and

timely content

Offer great

customer service

engagement

ww

w.h

usp

ot.

co

m

Three types of social media marketing

PA

ID

EA

RN

ED

OW

NE

D

OWNED

Where the brand owns the

channel and uses it organically

(e.g. your twitter profile)

EARNED

Connections become the channel

– social sharing spreads the word

PAID

Where we’re paying to leverage

the channel (e.g. Promoted

Tweets with Twitter

Source: (modified from) Forrester Research Inc.

OWNED

Social

Media

SOCIAL

MEDIA

EXPLAINED

Which platforms are my target personas on?

Knowing your personas is important, so you can get them the

right content, at the right time.

Once you’ve found them, listen to what they’re saying,

what they’re interacting with.

GENDER

MA

LE

FE

MA

LE

AGE

0-17

18-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

ED

UC

AT

ION

Build reach

The Rules of Engagement

1. ASK QUESTIONS, allow these influencers to talk about

themselves. Don’t just talk about yourself.

2. 80 / 20 RULE: The majority of content should be helpful

– 20% can be more promotional.

3. MIX THINGS UP. Don’t just share links. Try pictures, videos.

Ask questions. Hold competitions.

4. SELL YOUR CONTENT – don’t just chuck it out there

5. SHARE CONTENT from other people too. Curate other,

relevant content to help build a point of view...

How big is the potential reach?

How many followers do your followers have?

Engage with thought leaders, spokespeople industry commentators

– they have huge reach and your messages easily get megaplied*

* Struto coined the phrase to represent the networks of networks of networks...etc

Curated content

No-one likes

people that

just talk about

themselves.

Share other people’s

(brand’s) content.

BUT:

Add your own spin.

Don’t just share content

wholesale.

telegraph.co.uk

The power of curation – CMO.com

“Curation was a great way for us

to build audience and critical

mass – but it was the addition of

original content that enabled us

to develop the distinctive Adobe

point of view.

That helps us position our

employees as thought leaders in

the space – and ultimately helps

us influence it.”

Timothy Moran , Editor in Chief

Social media profile

Optimise them.

They are mini versions of your website.

Make the most of the real estate with personalised cover image, profile pictures, background images etc. Google+ has loads of useable image space!

TOP TIPS

1. Use keywords in your profiles to make them more searchable.

2. Link to your website on your social platforms

3. Always include a CTA link so you can track the resulting interactions

EARNED

Social

Media

The primary inbound social platforms

There are many social media networks – but

we’re going to look at those which can help

inbound marketers generate traffic and leads

TWITTER

Short, engaging and easily shareable.

TOP TIPS:1. Keep them under 140 characters, to allow people

to add a comment and re-tweet. 2. Use hashtags to connect with trends and aid

discovery3. Don’t start with a @ - that means its only seen by

mutual followers. 4. Make it visual – 50% better click through than

tweets without.5. Post at the right time – use Followerwonk to

analyse when your followers are online.

Pics, stats and quotes

Tweets with

visuals have

5x more engagement

when compared

to text-based

tweets.Hubspot

There is a

17%

increasein retweets when

you include a

stat.

Hubspot

There is a

19%

increasein retweets when

you include a

quote.

Hubspot

THE business social network

LINKED IN

TIPS:1. Make sure you’re using your company page

- its like a mini version of your website.

2. Be authentic and try to add value rather than being self-serving

3. Less posts, but make them more deep and thoughtful

4. Encourage employees to share content from your company page

One in every 3

professionals

worldwide

Over 50% of

visits from

mobile devices

LINKED IN

LinkedIn groups send notifications about new posts, meaning you’re not only

sharing with people who immediately see it;

you’re effectively using the group’s email list to share it with its full audience.

TIPS:1. Identify groups that might be relevant to your content marketing strategy

2. Then for each new piece of content, decide on the groups it could be

beneficial for

3. Always try to ask a question or share a valid opinion on the content you

post or comment on

4. Save the marketing pitches for offline or private discussions

5. Be on the lookout for influencers you can engage with for collaboration

More than 1.5 million LinkedIn Groups

– Great for active engagement.

Source: contentmarketinginstitute.com

SlideShare

TIPS: 1. It’s all about TITLES and COVER THUMBNAILS

2. Connect your LinkedIn and SlideShare Profiles

3. Don’t’ just post any slides...they need to present themselves

4. Use widescreen formats for best use of real-estate

Rate, comment on, and share content

Web and mobile apps mean this content is very accessible

Content on SlideShare feature in search results

– the more views, the higher the ranking:

FACEBOOK

Fun and personal – not the place

for serious content

Keep posts under 150 words –

short posts get better engagement.

Post less regularly, but with value.

Use images – more engagement

Videos auto play in the newsfeed,

this can mean people scroll past

rather than watch.

Organic Reach Per Fan on Facebook

GOOGLE+

TIPS

1. Diversify content that you post – photos and videos. Google+ layout

is perfect for showing visual content

2. Link your account to your website - stuff you publish will show up in

search engine results with your photograph and ‘circle’ information.

3. Get involved in communities – whether that means joining an

existing one, or creating your own niche community.

4. Posts from G+ will help organic search, even if you don’t get traction

on the platform

Is it really a “non-entity”?Google+ is an extension – or the social layer – of other Google products and

services we already know... like “places”

Great for Search Engine Optimisation

YouTube

YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine

Video testimonials from clients

Interviews with members of staff

Product demo videos

Corporate storytelling

Product user guides

Live video conferencing

Animated explainer videos

YouTube is the

third most visited

website after

Google and

Facebook

Embed links that can drive traffic to other video content or your

website or even calls to action that incentivise purchase

Vimeo has become a popular alternative

– quality, control, less advertising

Gathering intelligence

Socialcrawlytics –

identifies your competitors

best performing content

AND social platforms.

Buzzsumo – identifies

most popular content for

chosen keywords and

selected domains.

There is a lot of data we can use that will help us

publish content that is more likely to get shared.

Making your content shareable

Have industry experts provide quotes

and commentary for your content.

Include some unique data in your content.

Co-create content. There needs to be

value for all parties.

Make sure you’re facilitating your

content getting shared…

1

2

3

4

PAID

Social

Media

LinkedIn Sponsored activity

Any update on your company page can be turned into a

Sponsored Update, extending its reach beyond those already

following your company

Direct Sponsored Content is published direct to the LinkedIn

Feed, without the requirement to publish it on your company page:

TAILOR content to audience segments or prospect types

TEST different content variations and formats

DEFINE what your target audience should do next

Sponsored InMails

You only pay for the response

Members are alerted with a notification

You’re guaranteed 100% share of voice

Specialised Advertising

Use Join Group Adverts to drive

people to engage with your

Discussion Group

Use highly targeted Follow

Ads to quickly attract a precise

audience

Top Tip:Keep targeting really tight on LinkedIn, your cost per click

tends to be higher.

Twitter: promoted tweets and accounts

Promoted tweets – get your tweets in front of new audiences

and increase engagement

Promoted accounts – get your account in front of new

audiences and increase followers

Twitter cards – attach rich photos, videos and media experience

to Tweets that drive traffic to your website.

Top Tips1. Remember – Pics, Stats and Quotes

2. Experiment with your targeting – niche targeting can increase

engagement by 55% (hubSpot)

3. Find niche topic experts in your space, and then target their

audience.

Facebook

Facebook has a lot of targeting options.

That means a lot of time & effort!

Test different ad placements & formats

Test different audiences to target

Top Tips1. Right-hand column ads have a low price, but low performance

2. New feed ads have higher engagement – good for generating

additional organic results.

3. Use custom audiences to match your customers / prospects on

facebook

Other options...?

There are a growing list of options

for paid content amplification.

Tumblr

Instagram Sponsored Photos and Videos

StumbleUpon Paid Discovery

Reddit’s Self Serve Platform

Outbrain & Taboola Content Discovery Platform

Consider the best platforms – not only for your

target personas, but also for the content type.

A word on blogs...

Are they content, or OWNED social?

Technically speaking its content, but it can also act as

social in terms of distribution.

Great way for brands to get their views across

Great way to showcase Subject Matter Experts

(SMEs) as thought leaders

WHO IS DOING

INBOUND

MARKETING

WELL?

72

A case from Inbound 2014 - River Pools

• 2008 a tiny, regional pool installer

• $50,000 average sale

• “What questions do my customers

have unanswered?” blogposts

Solution

• “My goal is to give more valuable,

helpful and remarkable content to

consumers than anyone else in the

field, which will in turn lead to more

sales” Marcus Sheridan CEO

• Blogposts, videos and an ebook

‘How to buy a pool – without getting

ripped off’

Results

• Despite recession now has 5%

market share (USA) http://www.riverpoolsandspas.com/

A case from Inbound 2014

- Cervelo

• Business built on key word rich

content

• “Our goal is education - we’re

obsessed with helping customers

choose the right bike for them”

• Consistent behaviour and a

genuine personality that is

authentic

• “You sell more when you stop

selling”

A case from Inbound 2014 – CFO on Call

• Outbound cold calling had

dried up, poorly performing

content

• Created a persona of ideal

client

• Answered their unanswered

question in blogs

• Optimized for key search

terms

• Socialized content and

created conversations that

drove inbound leads x9.6 increase in

leads (in 6

months)

200% increase

in traffic (in 6

months)

153% increase in

qualified sales

leads (in 6

months)

MANAGING,

AUTOMATING,

NURTURING

Content Lumascape www.lumapartners.com

An increasingly confusing landscape

Three Common Scenarios Drive Tool

Selection

Source: Rebecca Lieb, Altimeter

What technologies do you need to help you?

Source: Rebecca Lieb, Altimeter

Will outbound marketing ever die?

“I told you I was ill”

Pro

po

rtio

n o

f

ma

rke

tin

g s

pe

nd

Time

• Outbound will never die

• Some times you need to jump start the

conversation

• Some still customers prefer to have

content pushed to them

Outbound

Inbound

Outbound

Marketing

Inbound - convergence of content, search and

social

CONTENTVideos, Blogs, Articles,

eBooks, Whitepapers,

podcasts, infographics

SOCIAL

MEDIAFacebook, YouTube,

Twitter, LinkedIn,

Blogs, Forums

and more

SEARCHOn & off-page, Link

Building, Bookmarks,

Keywords, Tags

ATTRACT

CUSTOMERS

LIKE A

MAGNET

Next Marketing Best Practice forums

• Better Briefs, Better Results 16th October

• Enabling Sales Enablement 13th November

• B2B Marketing in 2015 11th December

• Content Marketing 25th January 2015

• Marketing ROI & Accountability 26th February 2015

Sign-up today or at http://edge.directiongroup.co.uk/