INBOUND MARKETING ‘Telling your story to sell your brand online’

Margot Mulcahy www.mdmpr.com

Inbound versus OutboundMarketing

Outbound = Offline Finding Customers through ‘Interruption Marketing’Direct Mail, cold-calling, TV, advertising, brochures, trade shows, etc.

‘Buying people’s interest in what you are selling’

Inbound = Online Customers Finding You through good online contentWeb, SEO, Blogs, Social Media, etc.

‘Earning people’s interest instead of buying it’

Inbound Marketing Mediums

Attracting customers with a marketing magnet

SEO

Social Media

Blogs

Key words

Good Content

Inbound Marketing

How to Get Found: Create a keyword strategy Optimize your website Create a blog Develop marketing offers Promote offers through social media Convert website traffic into leads Follow up on leads with targeted messages Optimize your marketing for mobile viewing

NB60% of internet users now use their smart phones to check the web - by 2014 this will overtake desktop usage.

So - Where Should I Start?

Explain more about social media?

Is my web site ok?

Is Blogging that important?

What should I ‘talk’ about?

I don’t understand SEO

We will cover some of these points

Understand your target audience, your goals and anticipated time commitmentChoose the networks that fit into the above and forget about the rest.

Understand social media etiquette:

* Frequency and consistency are the keys to social media success* Do not over-commit* Do not over-share* Be social, not selfish* Follow the rules (they all have them!)* Do not be a spammer* Make smart connections* Give credit where credit is due* Keep it PG and PC* Be patient

Embrace Social Media

If you have a web site, ask yourself these questions:

Is my website attractive and engaging? Does my website have a strong call to action or message? Is the content structured in an easy to understand format? Is the website navigation easy? Is my website linked to my Social Media networks Do I have a blog? Can visitors easily contact me or find my location?

Check your site’s marketing capabilities by running analytic tools:

www.woorank.com or www.marketing.grader.com

Perhaps you DO need a new web site and if you don’t have a web site - you should !

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Analyse your existing Website

Plan each page as if it was a web site in its own right, with clearly defined headings, graphics and calls to action

Consider the following:

PurposeWhat is the purpose of the site? What do you hope to accomplish by building this web site?

Target AudienceWho are the specific group of people you need to target?

TechnologyWhat technical features do you need? CMS and Shopping Carts, etc. ContentWhat kind of information will the target audience be looking for on your site?

Remember that Content is King!

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Plan before you build or re-build

Start with Content and Structure – not design

Build a development strategy

Write your first draft Cut it in half Cut it in half again Add bullets or numbered lists where possible

Content is Not Just Text ! Images Documents Audio (i.e. Audioboo) Video (i.e. embedded from YouTube) Blog and RSS feeds (Twitter/Facebook stream)

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Plan your Content

Family members or friends building your site

Dodgy developers – Pick a project developer by reputation and check their referees !

Ignore your own preferences

Focus on the users and goals

If you pay peanuts you may get monkeys!

Be wary of Flash

Above all be flexible, be brave and think outside the box!

Website Woes

Your blog is the home of magnetic content

Inbound marketing starts with blogging A blog is the best way to attract new visitors to

your website Companies that blog get 55% more leads than

those who don't A blog is a perfect medium for delivering

regularly changing web content to your web site

Blogging

What to talk about? Products and services News & Promotions Successes and innovations Satisfied customers Happy employees Future plans

The Result: Creates Awareness Develops Relationships Establishes Credibility Wins New Business

Blogging

Search Engine Optimisation – the basics

Web Search Engines:

They create listing by crawling the web – called spiders, algorithm, bot, etc. They Read text – not images They index, calculate, merit relevancy and retrieve

Search engines find you through your key words

Key words are used in your source code as well as your site content

SEO

Key words, Meta Data, Tags?Your “key words” are the words that you are optimizing your site for

Your "meta-tags" are the words that you put inside your site's pages Help in sourcing your Keywords can be found:http://marketsamurai.com http://www.google.ie/adwords/

SEO

What is the Source code? Right-click your mouse on any web page and you will see

SEO

Your meta data includes Your Page TitleYour Page descriptionYour Keywords

SEO

Your meta data Page Titles Write your title for your visitorsKeep it under 66 charactersUse your primary keywords & keyword phrases Your Page descriptionWrite your description for you visitorsUse 20 – 25 words or 255 charactersUtilise your top 2 keywordsCreate a different description for every page Above all – keep it real!

SEO

The end brings us to the beginning!

….and brings us to the end ofour whistle stop tour on Inbound marketing!