JUMP START Blog and Online Community

Inbound marketing is many things...but the one thing it's not? Simple. It's complex, multifaceted and, when done right, effective.

If you've wanted to implement inbound strategy but feel overwhelmed with where to start, here's a list of 26 (some of them are very simple) easy-to-do ways you can use inbound marketing to transform your reach and strengthen everything there is when it comes to your brand identity. Read on for our list of the best ways you can use inbound marketing to surge ahead of your competition. 

1. Develop Buyers Personas – This is, in a nutshell, the single most important aspect of inbound marketing. Buyer Personas are fictional representations of who your target demographic is. Once you have researched the age range, gender, specific problem they have, where they go for info (Facebook? LinkedIn? Pinterest? Google search?) you can then create and deliver content they would find useful. 
2. Define, then address, pain points – You'll start this process with your persona development, and you'll use it in everything you do. You don't want content that's just fluffy and shows "yay, you can create content!" You want content that's useful. So what's the main reason your audience needs you? Great! Now show them how you can help!
3. Personalize content – This is where your Buyers Personas become worth the time you invested in the process of getting them done. You know who your product or service is good for, and you know where those people are...now make sure your content is exactly what they need...and put it exactly where they go.
4. Use forms – Using smart forms on your site accomplishes two things. One, you gain valuable data and information about your customers. And two, you make it as easy as possible on them. Smart forms dynamically adapt to your user, displaying data and updating per their experience. Have they been there before? Filled out a form before? Capture more info and a better picture of who your customer is through the use of smart forms. 
   

After a hectic work week, it’s easy to feel a little loopy. But how about a little crazy, as coined by Jim Metcalf (see quote below)?

As marketers, we’re inherently split in multiple directions. We’re natural dichotomies. We work quickly but with precision. We work strategically and hands on. We work collaboratively and independently. But most importantly—we’re creative with an inherent drive for results.

This natural inclination to bend the rules just enough within structured environments, and think outside of unorthodox confines in order to get results is, in fact, what makes us marketers. So in this instance, “a little crazy”, , seems oddly appropriate.

In celebration of our sensible insanity, here are some viral marketing videos that truly accentuate our eccentricity.

It's obvious to any marketer nowadays that you should use email marketing as a way to stay connected with your target audience. Despite the wide array of different strategies available to marketers, having a well-developed email marketing plan is integral to your overall marketing campaign. It's an excellent way and the most productive channel for getting the best ROI. 
 
Yet, don't expect the stars and the moon from your email marketing strategy if it's not done right. If you haven't planned out a sustained email marketing effort, it simply won't be effective. You can’t just send out whatever and expect it to get results. A well-planned and thought-out strategy has to take into account your customer's likes and behaviors, and has to then target them efficiently. 
 
Here are some tips about how to do it:

Everyone is creating some kind of content, so much so that that the online marketplace is saturated and has become a very crowded place. It's also an environment where old-school methods of marketing cease to be effective, so it's time to put marketing activities like cold calling behind you and tap into the power of content marketing.

Obviously, you have to create valuable content before you can promote it. But how do you create remarkable content to get their attention? Check out this awesome video from Hubspot, which gives you step-by-step instructions to make content the key to your success online.

The word is out: Instagram is one of the most important marketing tools out there. With more than 500 million users, this social network is best geared towards small businesses who want to build their brand and engage new and existing customers.

It's important to have an arsenal of tools at your side so you can begin to unlock the unique marketing opportunities that social media platforms like Instagram can provide. You'll have to incorporate it into your existing workflow, but it's definitely worth the effort.

It's an exciting way to give your audience a visual idea about who you are. Using Instagram, you can share photos and videos with hashtags, allowing you to connect directly with your customers. The more you use it, the more you will learn how to create compelling content that will engage viewers and spark conversation online. Word of mouth is still the top way for people to learn about your brand, and this is one way to start a conversation by sharing your content across all platforms.

Joe Chernov, VP of Marketing at InsightSquared tells us (through the adjacent quote) to make the customers feel smart. And it makes perfect sense.

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality tells us that the human psyche is structured into three parts—id, ego, and superego. How we think, feel, and behave are all a by-product of these three forces working together.

Since our everyday lives are impacted by the inner-workings of this complicated ensemble, it only makes sense that really great marketing and advertising taps into this powerful trio. Appealing to customers' egos and ultimately making them feel good about themselves continues as a solid marketing strategy.

So let’s take a look at some examples of how companies succeeded by listening to Joe and Freud:

 No matter where you land on the marketing spectrum, these helpful infographics will give you some bold new ideas for your 2017 projects and plans:

The world is undoubtedly in some emotional turmoil right now.

Whether wanted or not, emotion stirs up a great deal of visibility. It ignites—and in
some cases—even drains energy. While political campaigns are the typical catalysts for stirring up feelings around a particular topic, corporate marketing campaigns can be equally fueled by emotion.

More and more companies are pulling the emotional trigger to create more relevance, context, and connection with their audiences. And as suggested by Beth Comstock, Vice Chair for General Electric, their efforts aren't going unnoticed.

In recognition of a very passionate political landscape right now, here are some of the most emotional marketing campaigns over the last few years. Get out your tissues. While effective and compelling, as you'd expect, they're not always easy to watch.

As digital marketing evolves, new and revisited modern marketing techniques continue to surface. Content marketing now sits at the peak of these rising marketing trends and is projected to play a lead character in more and more organizations’ strategies moving forward.

As you develop your 2017 plan, how are you staying competitive and poised for growth? What contemporary approaches have you built into your 2017 budget? Take a look at these top trends in content marketing and determine what techniques might be a good fit for your organization.

What better way to come out of the holidays than to focus even more on food?

Food and beverage manufacturers, distributors and service providers are always clamoring for new ways to better differentiate their products in a consumer-driven, health conscious, and safety- and sustainability-focused market.

Since 2016 brought some tasty and creative food and beverage marketing campaigns to the table, we thought we’d share some choice take-aways with you. Here are the top 5 campaigns of 2016.