One of my daughter’s favorite books is Making Ice Cream by Ted Cortese. And because she wants me to read it to her over and over (and over) again, I have every word memorized. (Which really isn’t difficult, considering it’s only eight sentences long.)
I’d spare you the entire recitation, but, like I said, it’s really short. So here it is:
I love ice cream! You love ice cream!
You can buy ice cream. You can make ice cream, too.
You need cream, sugar, and ice.
You put them in the ice cream maker.
Then you turn the crank.
It takes a lot of work to make ice cream, but it’s worth it. Mmmm!
Isn’t that last line climactic? Because the book is permanently stuck in my head, I use that line in reference to various tasks I encounter throughout the day.
“It takes a lot of work to fill-in-the-blank, but it’s worth it. Mmmm!“
Really, it works on just about everything. And it’s a pretty fun line to say. (My husband is the only one who doesn’t think I’m crazy when I use it.)
Recently, I started thinking about how much this statement applies to inbound marketing.
It takes a lot of work to do inbound marketing, but it’s worth it. Mmmm!
It’s a simple statement (one that a two-year-old can comprehend), but it’s vitally important for you to understand if you’re going to do inbound marketing. And not just you… your entire team. Without truly understanding and believing every part of that statement, inbound marketing just won’t work for your company.
So, let’s break it down into bite-size chunks scoops, shall we?
“It takes a lot of work to do inbound marketing…”
Let me just repeat that for emphasis—inbound marketing is a lot of work. It’s going to take a team to be successful.
Time is a precious commodity. And when it comes to inbound marketing, we’re talking lots of it—identifying buyer personas, setting goals, consistently creating content, converting leads with downloadable offers, analyzing results… and that’s just the beginning. Tacking those responsibilities onto your already-full schedule will most definitely overload you. That’s why, if you’re really considering it, you need to get your entire team on board. You’re going to need their help.
And you won’t need your team for just carrying out tasks—you’ll also need their knowledge and creativity. Doing inbound marketing means you’re going to be creating a lot of content (blog posts, articles, ebooks, white papers, etc.). It’s vitally important to seek out fresh ideas and perspectives about what will be most valuable to your target audience. And who better to turn to than the people within your company? They know your product and your target audience better than anyone! Being able to brainstorm with and utilize your staff will benefit your company’s content big time.
So, how do you get everyone on the same page? Once you’ve got them on board and excited about moving forward, you’ll need to find the right tools to help you with your content creation. Google Drive is a fantastic collaboration tool. With all the people you’ll have creating and editing articles, using Google Docs can help keep you organized. You can use it to write, share content with multiple people, plus you can all work in the same document at once, and everyone will see edits in real time! Us Nectafiers couldn’t live without it.
Evernote’s also another great collaboration tool. Not only can you use it for your own personal thoughts and ideas about content creation, but you can also have central shared files and folders that everyone can access and use to contribute. It’d be a great place for a team to keep and reference ideas about article topics. Really, it’s the “messy marketer’s” dream come true.
To reiterate, the whole inbound marketing process is going to take work. So, the more organized you can be, the better! Experiment with different tools and processes to see what works for your team.
“…but it’s worth it.”
All that work pays off. But it won’t without dedication and commitment to creating content. You can’t start off strong, but then get lackadaisical. It’s all about consistency.
This is where an editorial calendar comes in especially handy. You can use it to organize all your contributors. One central document that everyone can reference makes it easy for everyone to remember what they’re writing about and when their posts are due. Take a look at how to create an editorial calendar in Basecamp, or use something like a spreadsheet in Google Drive and share it with everyone on your team.
What else do you need to make inbound marketing worth it? Patience. In the beginning, it’s difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel—results don’t happen overnight. The work may seem like it’s for nothing. But results willhappen.
We know inbound marketing works. (Just take a look at our inbound marketing journey over the past year. Where we were a year ago compared to where we are now is unbelievable!) But in order to attract visitors, convert leads, and gain customers, you have to create a plan and stick with it… and be OK with the fact that you’re going to have to wait to reap the benefits.
“Mmmm!”
Think the “Mmmm!” doesn’t apply here? Think again! It’s the part where you get to enjoy the results. Watching website visitors turn into leads and leads turn into customers is a truly satisfying experience. And it will just leave you craving more! After experiencing the benefits of a successful inbound marketing strategy, you’ll be hungry for sales… which will make it even easier to continue being consistent in your efforts.
Which Is Tastier—Ice Cream Or Inbound Marketing?