You’re on a roll. You’ve got your boss onboard to begin inbound marketing, so long as you can come up with the money for it (Or maybe you’ve successfully got your boss 100% committed!).
Now, the task at hand is to allocate money to inbound from your already maxed out marketing budget. And, you need to make sure you don’t lose whatever momentum you already have rolling down the tracks.
We know what it’s like to look at a full budget and wonder how you can “magically” make funds appear. We also know that you have a million and twelve other things you need to get done. So, we’ve done some of the legwork for you and came up with three ways you can shift your budget around without derailing what’s working.
1. Get away from Pay-Per-Click (PPC).
With PPC, you have to pay for someone to visit your website. And, the majority of the visitors you get don’t end up becoming leads. So, you’re paying money to have the wrong kind of people visiting your website. Most executives actually want to get away from PPC, but need something reliable to implement instead.
So, from now until the end of the year, spend more time on PPC (this seems counterintuitive to getting rid of it, doesn’t it?). Focus on optimizing every campaign you have that is returning positive results. Then, cut out what isn’t performing well. Are there campaigns or keywords that aren’t bringing in satisfactory results? Lose them—they’re just costing you money. Change your PPC strategy from direct sales to lead generation and content.
Then, shift the funds that you’ve freed up from PPC to search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing. SEO and content marketing won’t bring in customers overnight—it will take time. So, don’t cut PPC all together just yet. Instead, make a goal to stop it by the end of 2015, and reflect that change in your budget.
2. Say “no” to a tradeshow.
Tradeshows cost big bucks. And, it really can be hard to track how effective shows are. Look back and analyze the ROI of each tradeshow you’ve been a part of this past year. If you can’t determine the ROI, cut that tradeshow. You don’t want to put money toward something that isn’t performing well for you.
Please note that this doesn’t mean you cut out all tradeshows—remember, the key is to create some flex in your marketing budget without losing the momentum you already have going. Just do away with what is underperforming.
3. Consolidate your marketing systems.
Do you have one software program for email, one for contact management, one for analytics, and so on? While these may be great tools, instead of spending a lot of money on several marketing systems, consolidate them.
We use Hubspot at Nectafy, but there are a bunch of great all-in-one options. You’ll save money but also accomplish one new task as well—you’ll be able to see how one person interacts across all of your marketing. That’s something you can’t do with fragmented systems.
Don’t stop the train altogether.
There’s no need to throw your whole marketing strategy out the window. Simply get rid of what isn’t working well for your company. Whatever funds you free up, attribute that to inbound marketing. The strategy inbound marketing will introduce you to will eventually generate more organic search traffic for your business, making its cost entirely worth it.
Nowadays, many strategies and tips for the success of our business can be found in the internet. And one of the best strategies is the inbound marketing. Your blog is considered as one of it, you have discussed the topics very informative. I like the ideas you write here. Marketers can find themselves immersed in the field of businesses competing for the attention to promote whatever products or services they offer. This can be great and many consumers simply remove all the excess noise that marketers throw at them. With so much competition and an audience growing tired of relentless targeting, it’s time to think of a new strategy to reach potential customers and inbound marketing are the most appropriate strategy, it is the art and science of turning strangers into customers by pulling people toward your company or product. By creating quality content purposely designed to demand to our target customers, inbound marketing attracts capable prospects to our business and keeps them coming back for more. And in the future we get the success that we aim. Thanks for your blog.
ReplyDeleteClwyd Probert @ Whitehat SEO