I am going to be upfront.:
This is a bit of a punt but it’s worth reading because I often need to give potential customers a run down or example of Inbound Marketing. Below is a brief introduction and some examples of Inbound Marketing in South Africa including the thinking and blog posts and how they can fit together.
We’re in the business of transforming websites into lead generating machines. One of the tools in the Inbound Marketing Methodology we apply is that of Blogging (We use HubSpot software to do Inbound Marketing). Here is a link to a post I wrote a while ago about the shift in marketing which I think you might find interesting.
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This next post is the one I mentioned in our discussion where I gently introduce “Lean” as a tool we’re using to be more efficient… the post is designed to attract a marketing manager, providing them with some useful information… it is also slowly educating them… this will be the basis of many articles which frame the discussion in a way that suits the solution they will soon ask me to explain to them…. It also moves them closer to buying because they can download a tool to measure if their current provider is performing well. Of course the provider is being measured against a set of criteria which suit us… but the marketer in this case will value a free checklist of how to measure performance of their digital marketing agency. (Carefully researched too)
This whole series of articles is part of a clever marketing campaign to find marketing managers who are possibly unhappy with their current provider. From research I have conducted, they will typically be Googling keywords like “HubSpot in South Africa” if they are looking for a new provider or are unhappy with their current non-Hubspot/non-Inbound marketing solution.
A number of things are happening here:
- the website stranger is incentivised to give me their contact details, and I can track their behaviour and interaction with my marketing
- they are seeing me as a thought leader and authority on my subject
- they are being subtly guided to think in the way which suits what I am selling
- the article currently ranks in the top two of Google for three keyword phrases… which means free website traffic for us
I can also automatically enrol them into a series of nurture emails, driven by their actions, which will further guide them to a point of wanting to buy from us.
What this means for my sales process is that I don’t need to have five face-to-face meetings to make a sale. The first few meetings (which cover gaining rapport, establishing thought leadership and uncovering needs…) have all been handled indirectly online and in their inbox by means of what I have enticed them to read. (24/7/365… while I do other work)
When we’re wearing our sales hats, we just pick up the sales process half way in when the prospect is reaching out for help and take it to a close.
We have found that our solution works very well with high value, medium to long sales cycles where there is a need for some technical advice and the purchase is a considered purchase.
Getting to decision makers is critical as you know… and they are Googling all day long just like the rest of us… trying to solve their problems, reading articles, browsing LinkedIn… downloading eBooks, checklists or industrial company marketing budget checklists.
Let me know when you are ready for an Inbound Marketing Assessment to see how we can improve your sales and marketing efficiency. Pop me an email off the contact us page.
