In the early days of 2016, it’s a great idea to take some time to reflect on the past year’s marketing efforts. At SevenAtoms, we recently discussed our ups and downs from 2015, noting what worked and what didn’t, and what we’d like to do moving forward.
In assessing what efforts lead to the biggest results for us this year, we compiled a list of eight driving factors that we’ve turned into tips you can incorporate into your own marketing strategy. Below, check out our top inbound marketing tips from 2015:
Content Marketing
- Consider quality over quantity. To generate more purchase-ready leads through your marketing, your content offers need to actually entice them. More informed buyers want more in-depth information, so spend time creating higher quality pieces of content. Premium content offers such as eBooks and whitepapers generate 3 times as many leads as traditional outbound marketing, and cost 62 percent
- Repurpose old content . The easiest way to maximize your content marketing efforts? Repurpose and reuse content you’ve already created! Take an old blog post, add a new spin to the topic , and turn it into an original eBook that will delight your leads and customers.
Social Media
- Automate your social processes. Marketing automation sparked a debate in the marketing industry this past year: Does automating your efforts make marketers lazy? We don’t think so—in fact, marketing automation is a great to maximize your social media results while minimizing the amount of time you spend on the sites themselves. Check out our previous blog post for a break down of the marketing automation process .
- Branch out beyond the “Big 3”. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are effective social networks for businesses of all sizes and industries, but there are a plethora of other options that you should consider. Pinterest is a great marketing channel for ecommerce companies and YouTube for brands with engaging video content to share.
PPC
- Ensure your campaigns are mobile-friendly . Smartphones are everywhere, and it’s more than likely that your target audience is seeing your ads from the palms of their hands. Optimize your PPC campaigns for mobile users to ensure that you’re not missing out on a major opportunity.
- Use remarketing to target interested consumers . Remarketing, or retargeting, is a way to get your ads in front of online shoppers who have previously expressed interest in your website or products. Check out our previous blog post, where we explain exactly what retargeting is and how to use it .
Email Marketing
- Keep conversion forms short and sweet. To improve your chances of generating new leads for your email list and converting them into customers through your emails, make sure your conversion forms require only necessary information. A study shows that email subscription and conversion forms with three fields average a conversion rate of 25 percent while those with six fields produce only 15 percent.
- Use social proof indicators to create credibility. To help instill consumers’ trust in your brand, add elements of social proof —such as customer testimonials and industry badges— to your emails and other digital assets.
These were our hottest inbound marketing tips from 2015—what are yours? Share them with us in the comment section below!
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