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• Don’t Waste Your Money on Marketing Automation Software

  

  Marketing automation is a powerful tool that when used properly can take your marketing to the next level by improving all of your online marketing efforts.  The primary reason why many organizations are unable to see a dramatic increase their profitability and higher conversion rates with a marketing automation system is they lack the necessary internal resources to operate the system in its full capacity.

  Essentially, marketing automation is technology that allows you to more effectively utilize multiple marketing channels and automate repetitive tasks in order to convert visitors into leads and nurture them through the buying process.  This allows the sales department to focus on leads that have already been qualified and are currently in the purchasing stage of the buying process. 

  The majority of B2B buying processes are complex.  Customers are not making a purchase decision upon their initial interaction with an organization.  Instead, they are self-educating themselves by researching and comparing options to come to a conclusion on what and with whom they should make their purchase.  Previously, buyers had to rely on salespeople to help them with this process, however, the internet has allowed buyers the opportunity to do this on their own without engaging a salesperson.  With useful content, marketing automation helps guide the customer through the different stages of the buying cycle.  If your company isn’t guiding and educating your potential customer, you are leaving the door wide open for your competition.

  Many marketing automation platforms sell their software as a solution that saves time and resources for marketing departments, but organizations who have implemented a platform under this false pretense have found they actually require an additional full-time employee in order to see the ROI they expected.

  While hiring a full-time employee to manage the marketing automation platform is beneficial, the ideal scenario involves having an entire team.  Individuals, by nature will have inefficiencies and competences, and solid marketing automation plan will rely on varying set of disciplines (content writing, strategizing, design, etc.).  A solid team will play off each other’s strengths and help to eliminate inefficiencies.

  Purchasing a marketing automation software without a plan and the right people to run it is similar to purchasing all of the ingredients required in your favorite recipe and expecting it to cook itself.  Without having someone actually combine the ingredients and do the cooking, the ingredients are essentially useless.

  Find Out How Foremost Media Can Help You With Marketing Automation

  

• How To Choose The Right Marketing Automation System

  

  The marketing automation industry is booming and with expectations of reaching $1.9 billion by 2020, there is no end in sight.  Fast adoption rates have led to an influx of providers touting their systems as the best option for organizations looking to take the leap.  With 78% of successful marketers citing marketing automation as being most responsible for improving revenue contribution, the focus is more on the industry as a whole, rather than specific platforms. 

  Many people assume that the majority of marketing automation systems are the same.  Vendors are capitalizing on the lack of knowledge by consumers and overwhelming them with high costs, justified only by an exhausting list of features and statistics that all but guarantee a positive return on their investment.    Marketers who believe the system itself will automatically generate more leads, without any additional effort on their end, will end up disappointed.  Even the most feature-rich marketing automation system is useless without the right team in place to implement it.

  While the bulk of the marketing automation systems share the same features, even small differences can be significant.  The ability to drill down your organization’s specific needs can be a daunting task.  This has led to countless organizations choosing the first marketing automation system they find, without focusing their efforts on finding the solution that best fits their own specific needs. 

  Marketing automation systems are a major investment for most organizations, with some vendors charging exorbitant setup costs and monthly fees ranging from $400 to over $2,000. Clearly, choosing the wrong provider is a costly mistake.

  According to a Gleanster study, the most important criteria among Chief Marketing Officers for choosing a marketing automation system is ease-of-use, at 92%.  However, ease-of-use can only take your organization so far.  Having clear objectives and focusing more on how well the system will integrate with your current systems will help you come to a better conclusion.

  
  

  Evaluating Marketing Automation Vendors?

  

• The Top 4 Myths in Marketing Automation

  

  Marketing automation is a powerful, but often misunderstood tool.  The confusion is generally the fault of software companies with large budgets and influential bloggers who are writing about something they lack experience with, just to gain attention.  Here are four of the more common marketing automation myths we have encountered.

  
  

  1. The software does all of the work

  Just because it is called marketing automation, does not mean it happens all by itself.  The system still requires a skilled marketer behind the wheel effectively developing the strategy.  The system is merely a tool the marketer can use for efficiently accomplishing their goals of lead generation and nurturing.  The data and insight provided by the system allows companies to optimize their processes on an ongoing basis.  This requires someone who is analytical enough to sift through the data and creative enough to develop a plan of action based on the information.

  2. It is only for email marketing

  Email may be the most thought of and dominate channel for automation, but it certainly is not the only channel.  Smart marketers will leverage the platform to go beyond email marketing and use it to connect with leads across multiple channels.  Social media, personalized landing pages and onsite chat features are all contact points that marketing automation can strengthen for converting qualified leads into sales.

  3. It is too impersonal

  This is only true when a bad marketer is in control of the marketing automation system.  Good marketers can deliver automated messages that are timely, relevant and personalized.  A sophisticated lead scoring system can even alert them when it is time for an actual salesperson to take the reins.  This allows sales to focus on leads that are ready to buy, instead of those still only gathering information.

  4. It is only relevant for new leads and prospects

  Just because marketing automation is mainly popular for effectively and efficiently generating leads and nurturing them throughout the buying the process, it does not mean that is all it can do.  Automating the onboarding process is a great way to cross-sell and upsell existing customers.  This can help you turn a one-time customer into a repeat customer and an advocate of your brand.

  
  

  
  

  Do you have any other questions about marketing automation?  Ask us in the comments below and we are happy to answer them!

  
  

  
  

  
  

• Poor Marketing Could Be Costing You:
  How To Drive the RIGHT Traffic To Your Site

  

  It’s pretty exciting once you have made the decision to invest in a new website, or even redesign your current one. Now the question remains, how do you get potential customers to it? The truth is, there are different ways to go about creating brand awareness, some more effective than others. 

  Social Marketing 

  Social Marketing is more than simply creating a Facebook page or a Twitter profile. It involves seeking out your targeted demographic and interacting with them in a way they are receptive to, on their preferred social platform. Social Marketing should be used to create brand awareness and loyalty, while providing clients and potential clients with the content relevant to them.

  Email Marketing 

  Email marketing is a great avenue for you to connect with your current client base. Many businesses send emails to promote new products, sales or even changes within the company to their clients. A good email campaign will provide insight as to how many people opened your email, how many people visited your site from the email and if there were any purchases resulting from this email, among other things. 

  Paid Ads/PPC

   Any time you are searching for something online you see an assortment of ads displayed on the top and along the sides of the page, all targeted around your search term. These paid ads are targeted to appeal to you, as the user that is. Businesses use these ads as a means of directing traffic to their website and hopefully producing a sale, or to gain exposure. 

  Organic Search/SEO 

  Organic search results on engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo are displayed based on how relevant the websites are to searchers. It is crucial for your site to appeal to your targeted market and provide them with the information that they are searching or should be searching in order to rank higher and display on the first page. This includes a variety of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics that are performed on your site to make it both search engine and user friendly.

   Now for the age old question, which method is best? 

  Studies show that regardless of your end goal, whether it is to get visitors, customers or return on investment, the answer is always the same. Organic search. Out of the four options listed above, organic search brings in 54% of visitors to a new website. These visitors are also twice as likely to engage as well as visit a minimum of 5 pages. This just goes to show the impact that marketing towards your target market has. Give the people what they want! 

  Does it matter if you are marketing to business or consumers?

   Interestingly enough, organic beats the competition for both B2B and B2C businesses. However, in the case of B2B businesses, the second most beneficial marketing channel is social marketing, while paid ads wins out for B2C businesses. In short, regardless if you are just establishing your marketing plan, or are using 2015 as the year to re-target your current marketing plan, organic search is where you want to be.

        

• [Infographic] What Is Inbound Marketing?

  

  Have you noticed the term “inbound marketing” being thrown around lately?  The concept has taken the marketing world by storm.  It involves combining a variety of online marketing disciplines into a holistic approach that focuses on attracting, engaging and converting leads.

  Interested in learning more?  Take a look at our new infographic.

  

  
  

  Embed the infographic on your own site!
  
  

  <div style="width:600px; background-color:#fff;padding:10px 20px 20px;font: 14px/21px HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"> <h3 style="color:#565656; clear:both;">What is Inbound Marketing Infographic</h3> <a href="https://www.foremostmedia.com/Portals/9/images/Infographic-Inbound-Marketing.png"><img src="https://www.foremostmedia.com/Portals/9/images/Infographic-Inbound-Marketing.png" width="600" alt="What is Inbound Marketing Infographic" /></a> <div style="width:100%; text-align:center; margin-top:5px;">From: <a href="http://www.foremostmedia.com/" style="text-decoration:none; color:#565656;">Foremost Media</a></div> </div>

  
  

  
  

• Are You Marketing Effectively Throughout The Buying Process?

  

  The goal of inbound marketing is to attract your ideal visitors and ultimately convert them into delighted customers.

  It is imperative that you create buyer personas to make sure you are not only attracting qualified leads, but that you are also creating content that engages them.  In order to move them from leads to customers, you need a thorough understanding of the buying process.

  There are five stages to the buying process, and as inbound marketers, we need to have a deep understanding of each stage.  The relevancy of the content to the buyer persona is largely dependent on what stage they are currently at in the buying process.  Understanding what stage they are in, will allow us to move them along in the buying process and eventually convert them into customers.

  The buying process is not anything new.  John Dewey first introduced the concept in 1910.  The stages are as follows:

  1.     Problem/Need Recognition

  2.     Information Search

  3.     Evaluation of Alternatives

  4.     Purchase Decision

  5.     Post-Purchase Behavior

  The problem/need recognition stage is the awareness stage.  This is where consumers first realize they have a problem and they want to solve it.  Before this stage, consumers are filtering out and ignoring information that is not relevant to them.  For example, if you are not currently experiencing the wonderful early years of raising a child, subconsciously ignoring ads for diapers is easy.  However, once you have changed wet crib sheets because of a bargain brand diaper, you are less likely to filter out the ad for super absorbent nighttime diapers that keep your baby dry, and you have now begun to move through the buying process.

  When a consumer recognizes the problem/need, they move to the information search stage.   They are not ready to buy, but rather are performing their research.  This is going to be the majority of your website visitors; therefore, it is important to have content that is relevant to them.  “Request a demo” and “free trial” offers will not work here.  Instead, whitepapers, tip sheets, eBooks and blog posts will be the content these consumers devour.  These visitors should be your primary focus when creating content.

  As people gather information, they will naturally progress to a stage where they are analyzing the information and evaluating their options.  This is the stage where they are most inclined to speak with someone from your company as they are establishing their buying criteria.  Webinars, case studies, product spec sheets and free samples work best during this stage.

  Once consumers establish their buying criteria, they will begin to evaluate vendors.  This stage is where those “free trial” and “request a demo” calls to actions are going to work.  These visitors are almost ready to buy and giving them a subtle push in the right direction can help move them along.

  When you make the effort to be with these consumers throughout every step of the buying process, and provide them educational and entertaining content, you are surely front of mind when it comes to your product/service.  This is the beauty of inbound marketing! When done correctly, your properly nurtured leads are selling themselves.  You do not have to waste your sales team’s time with nonqualified and uninterested leads, and you do not have to worry about turning off a customer by coming on too strong too early.

   

  Need help with your inbound marketing efforts?