Tag Archives: integrated social media tools

Guest Post, Sharisax Is Out There

Social Media Marketing is not an Automatic WIN

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Why isn’t your Marketing 2.0 working?

That was the title of a great blog article I just read by Mark Gibson, a certified inbound marketing professional with 29 years of international sales, marketing and business success.

Mark’s post addressed common concerns expressed by many Baby Boomer entrepreneurs and managers, some of whom believe Social Media is a fad. It’s not: Social Media Revolution 2.

The article listed eight typical complaints from company officials whose social media strategies have not “worked” for them:

  • No one’s reading our email newsletters.
  • Cold calling is a simply not effective and we’re not getting any voice mail call-backs.
  • We have a WordPress Blog, but no one is reading it.
  • Our referrals and word of mouth leads have dried up.
  • We have a Twitter and Facebook account; what a waste of time!
  • We have inquiry and registration forms on our Website, but we’re not getting any leads.
  • I fired all the sales guys and now it’s me calling, and I suck at it.
  • No one has ever heard of us, despite the fact that we advertise, spend a healthy sum on PPC and have been in business for 10 years.

“The above list may be familiar in many companies who have embraced the tools of Inbound Marketing without a cohesive strategy and a realistic view of the road ahead.” — Mark Gibson

Mark operates a consulting firm specializing in helping companies transform from the Old World to the Inbound Marketing model, and his organization advises clients that all of the tools in the marketing 2.0 mix need be integrated and made to work together. . . “or productivity will be an issue. “

Mark suggests that the answers to the following questions should serve to focus inbound marketing efforts:

1. What is a lead worth and how many leads do you need to produce a year, based on your conversion ratios to hit your revenue goals?

2. Who is your target audience, who are the buyer personas you wish to engage?

3. How will you reach your target audience; where do they hang out online?

4. In what areas can the agency claim thought leadership; how does the agency create unique value for clients; how does this connect to your brand?

5. What are the major messaging themes that will resonate with buyers and what keywords do you want to rank for on Page 1 of Google?

6. What is the goal of the email newsletter; how will you track conversions and improve performance?

7. What is the goal of the Website and in particular; what is the goal of the home page?

8. Have you created compelling content that can be easily shared, downloaded or viewed in exchange for contact details?

9. Have you created calls to action that lead to high quality landing pages with compelling offers? (“A Contact Us” page tends to collect more SPAM than leads)

10. Is there a blogging platform to amplify thought leadership, that integrates with the main Website, with hyperlinks to and from main Website pages, where content is easily shared….or is the blog stranded, lost Robinson Crusoe style in the vast ocean of the Internet?

11. How will you nurture prospective customers that do register as leads, but are not yet ready to buy?

Finally, here are Mark’s suggested “TAKE-AWAYS”

To make this marketing 2.0 stuff (i.e., Inbound Marketing) work, you need the following:

*   *   *

So here are my questions for you:

1 – Which of the “complaints” mentioned above have you experienced and voiced?

2 – What are your answers to any OR all of the 11 questions Mark poses?

3 – Finally, what steps have you taken to make your Marketing 2.0 lead to the results you have envisioned?