Inbound Marketing Mistakes You Don't Want to Make

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“If you’re not failing now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything innova7ve.” -­‐ Woody Allen


Inbound marke7ng success takes 7me. And Mr. Allen got it right (although he was talking about filmmaking) but, really, what’s the point in coming up with new, crea7ve ways of marke7ng a product or a service without thinking outside the box and failing a liGle in the process?


If failure is the key to success, then learning from those mistakes is essen7al. Here’s a list of 8 marke7ng mistakes that we’ve observed (and experienced) through our years in the Inbound Marke7ng field. We hope that you, too, can learn something from them. Check them out:


1. Expec7ng Instant Success

First and foremost, you should never, ever expect to get instant results as you implement inbound marke7ng tac7cs. See, most of the bits and pieces that make up for great marke7ng strategies take 7me to emerge in the hard numbers. It won’t take years, but give it a few months. If your strategy is as good as you claim, and you work hard at it, you’ll see the results fairly quickly.


2. Having Unrealis7c, Non-­‐Measurable Goals

You’ll want to be specific, relevant and realis7c about the goals you propose for your campaigns and clients. Say you want to increase blog readership. Instead of saying "I'll just write more blog posts a week," you should be saying this: "I'll write X number of blog posts a week to increase monthly visits by X amount." The more specific you are about your goals, the beGer. Plus, if you don't see an increase in traffic (because you know—you’ll have to rely on hard numbers) then, you can change that number right away. Keep up with these goals; your success depends on it.


3. Not Measuring Results

This one comes aGached to mistake #2. It’s hard to detect progress without having hard numbers in front of you. We advise that you keep track of monthly analy7cs reports to see if there were any posi7ve or nega7ve changes. Make adjustments as you see fit. Crea7ng Case Studies out of your experiences is a great tool to dissect informa7on further. Showing what worked and didn’t work in a blog post or an eBook can also help you recap informa7on for yourself, your audience, and future clients.


4. Not Learning From Industry Influencer Blogs Inbound marke7ng is an ever-­‐evolving industry, and you must keep up with those who know the game like the back of their hands. We recommend you check out the following industry leader blogs:


HubSpot

This is one of our personal favorites. The HubSpot blog is an authorita7ve resource packed full of inbound marke7ng strategy advice, free templates, eBooks, and infographics. (Click to Tweet!) They provide super useful how-­‐tos on landing pages, blogging, SEO, and social media too.


KISSmetrics KISSmetrics is the ul7mate go-­‐to web analy7cs solu7on. (Click to Tweet!) Their content provides detailed, prac7cal informa7on about analy7cs, marke7ng tac7cs, and tes7ng. They provide tons of super simple examples and data to back up any conclusions.


Copyblogger

Need copywri7ng advice? Check these guys out. The Copyblogger blog, founded by content wri7ng guru Brian Clark, is an incredible resource for the marke7ng community and business owners. (Click to Tweet!) CP publishes how-­‐to ar7cles and neat infographics on email marke7ng, content wri7ng and strategy, landing pages, and much more.


Moz

Moz, formerly known as SEOMoz, is the resource for all things SEO and marke7ng analy7cs. (Click to Tweet!) Founded by one of the industry greats, Rand Fishkin, Moz's blog offers 7ps, tricks, and strategies for improving your SEO content strategies and brand marke7ng, as well as social media hacks


5. Not Going Mobile

The Mobilegeddon effect is here to stay, and if you are not up to date, it can all come crumbling down very quickly. Not going mobile can now hurt your rankings. Having a responsive website will not only make Google happy, but also your visitors. I mean, who really wants to pinch-­‐to-­‐zoom nowadays?


6. Hoping for Success without a Blog

Never put off blogging. Every 7me that you publish a new blog post on your site, a new indexed page is born. This means that there is now a greater chance of ranking higher in search engines, driving more traffic to your site as a result. The more blog posts you publish, the more chances Google bots will get to crawl your site. New blog posts are also new opportuni7es to generate more leads. Treat each blog post as a chance to reel in more business. Tie in a campaign to each and every blog you write. Create addi7onal educa7onal material that you can offer at the end of the blog post with the help of CTAs and landing pages.


7. Crea7ng Content Without a Plan

Planophobia is fairly common. But don’t let it get to you here. In fact, did you know that 84% of marketers who say they are ineffec7ve at content marke7ng say they have no documented strategy or plans? An editorial calendar lets you stay on top of priori7es, but it also your team to look at blogging and campaigns with a more cri7cal eye. What works well and what doesn’t? Content planning lets your team analyze hard numbers, detect problems and create solu7ons to the problems at hand.


8. Content Planning Without Knowing Who You are Targe7ng

Crea7ng content that delights and aGracts is dependent on knowing your buyer personas. Buyer personas are, according to HubSpot, semi-­‐fic7onal representa7ons of ideal customers based on market research and real data about your exis7ng customers. Crea7ng content for these fic7onal customers will help you define and plan for content ahead of 7me, making your job less 7me consuming and much more organized.


Want some more advice?

Contact us today for a free business assessment. We'll be happy to go over your current strategies and find new opportuni7es to improve your inbound marke7ng efforts. Are you ready for answers? Contact us today!


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