5 Things Every Inbound Marketing Program Needs

Anyone can wake up and decide that today is the day they are going to start an inbound marketing program at their company. But not just anyone can develop a successful inbound marketing strategy that generates leads and brings in new customers. After years of seeing companies that do great at inbound and some not so great, I’ve boiled it down to five essential components that successful inbound marketing programs have in common:

1. Ownership
2. Solid Plan
3. Great Content
4. Someone that Understands the Technology
5. Analysis and Measurement

Ownership

Without someone guiding and leading the inbound marketing program to insure that content is being created and leads being developed, it’s easy for the program to get off course and to drift aimlessly if no one is accountable. This person doesn’t necessarily have to do everything related to inbound, but needs to be ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the program. While a vendor or consultant can handle most of the responsibilities related to inbound marketing, it’s best if ownership of the inbound program remains with an internal team member.  

Solid Plan

This is the area where most inbound marketing programs have the most deficiencies… in the planning phase. Most companies skip or quickly go through this step in hopes that they can start creating content and generating leads rather than coming up with a strategy that details who they are looking to reach, what content they are going to create, and how they are going to go about distributing their content.

Great Content

Recently there has been a lot of talk about how content overload is making it harder for companies to get noticed. Prospects are becoming overwhelmed with all of the content offers they come across on their buyer's journey. It seems like everyone has a content offer, a download, or a buyer’s guide, which actually makes it harder for a prospect to find the information that they are searching for.

The content overload that’s being experienced by prospective buyers is very similar to how website visitors have come to ignore display ads on website. It’s becoming increasingly harder for a company’s content to get noticed by prospects as there is so much content marketing being promoted. This is why in order to stand out in a crowded market it’s becoming increasingly important for companies to try new things with their content marketing and to create content that stands out.

Someone that Understands the Technology

Similar to ownership of the inbound marketing plan, it’s best if this isn’t left to an outside consultant or vendor. Having someone on your team that understands digital marketing and marketing automation not only makes the program run more smoothly, but also makes sure that if something needs to be done it’s not left solely to a consultant. Sometimes it’s much easier and efficient for a company to have one or two people that can make updates to landing pages, publish blogs, and post to social media, rather than depending on a consultant for things best done in house. 

Analysis and Measurement

Without proper analysis and measurement it’s easy for companies to get off track with their inbound marketing and to lack a good understanding of whether it’s been a success or failure.

During the planning phase, it’s important that a conversation takes place about how the inbound marketing program will be measured and what metrics will be used to determine the success or failure of the program.

While not mentioned specifically in the steps above, what some inbound marketing programs need is just an extra set of eyes to provide an objective third party analysis or sometimes an extra set of hands to help with implementing the program. This extra set of hands can be for a short period of time or for an extended duration.  

Success Is Not Guaranteed

While there are many paths a company can take to ensuring a successful inbound marketing program, one thing is for sure… success is not guaranteed. You can do almost everything right, but without one of the key components highlighted above, your efforts can fail. They can fail because you didn’t have someone accountable for the success of the program or they can fail because you didn’t know how to produce great content. Either way, sometimes the road best traveled is with a co-pilot and someone who's travelled that same road and been behind the driver seat. That’s the true advantage of working with an expert. An expert can get you there by taking the most direct path and help navigate around the potholes.