Inbound Marketing A through Z: Beginning a Marketing Consultancy – Part III

Once you have come to know your prospective client and have agreed to go forward, making sure you will be able to work together for some time to come, it is time to get down to business!

Up until now the discussion has been about strategies and branding, unique selling propositions (unique selling point – USP) and video marketing, the power of the new media to build relationships and how inbound marketing is the best thing since sliced bread. You have no doubt discussed how, with the proper mix of inbound and outbound marketing strategies to include blogging and the use of social media, you will be able to enhance your new client’s Internet image, getting them to page one of the various search engine results pages (SERPs) for the keywords that will reach their target audience.

If you are really sharp, you have also discussed how you will, at the same time, use traditional marketing, now referred to as old media, outbound marketing strategies, to gain additional traction.

Please note: It is crucial to use what works.

Marketing is not an either-or proposition, as in inbound marketing or outbound advertising, it is about converting leads, prospects, and prospective patients into life-long customers, clients, and patients. The proper marketing strategy will yield an ongoing relationship that profits both sides of the equation for years to come.

When viewed as a comprehensive strategy, there is one goal:

To increase traffic to the website and through the door, literally or figuratively, converting traffic into leads, appointments, and sales; thus building a relationship before, during, and after the initial sale and, as stated, gaining a client for life.

How?

Well, whether you are reading this as a marketing consultant beginning to build your own inbound marketing consultancy or as a prospective marketing client, attempting to get an idea of what is in store for you if you take the next step and initiate a formal, inbound marketing consultation and competitive analysis, the process is fairly straightforward.

If you have been through the inbound marketing consultation, whether as the consultant or as a prospective client, you will know many things about your niche and your target market.

The information you need can be derived from the following resources:

• First, “Google” you’re your client’s business name and personal information, if relevant.
• Alexa Rank
  • Traffic Stats: Daily Traffic Rank Trend (up or down over 30 and 90 days)
  • Reach (percent of global Internet users who visit your site if your client has one)
  • Pageviews (percent of global pageviews)
  • Pageviews/User (daily pageviews per user)
  • Bounce % (the percentage of visits that consist of a single pageview)
  • Time in Site (daily time of site)
  • Search % (the percentage of visits that come from a search engine)
  • Search Analytics
    • Search Traffic
    • Top Queries from Search Traffic
    • Search Traffic on the Rise and Decline (based on keywords)
    • High Impact Search Queries (popular queries relevant to the client’s site)
  • Audience
    • Audience Demographics
    • Visitors by Country
  • And much more
• Quantcast
  • Daily, Weekly, Monthly Traffic
    • Per Person
    • Visits
    • Pageviews
    • Pageviews per Person
    • Visits per Person
    • Global Traffic Frequency
  • Geographic Data
    • Countries
    • States
  • Demographics
  • Business
    • Small
    • Medium
    • Large
    • Business Activity
• Google
  • Keywords (Free Adwords – External Keyword Tool)
    • Wonder Wheel
    • Current Trends
    • Video for Keywords
    • And much more!
  • Analytics
  • Page Rank
  • Ultimate SEO Tool
  • Google Rankings
• Market Samurai – In my opinion the best overall keyword tool available
  • Keyword Research
  • SEO Competition Research
    • Extremely useful analysis of page one competition, analyzing a myriad of factors
  • Page Rank Research
• SpyFu – In my opinion the best competitive analysis tool on the Internet
  • In Depth Keyword Research
  • In Depth Competitive Keyword Research
  • In Depth Competitive Comparison and Analysis
    • Includes competitors’ advertising trends, budgets, keywords purchased, and ads run over the past 12 months
      • Incredibly valuable tool
• KeywordSpy – Competitive research is on par with SpyFu and should be used together with SpyFu when possible
  • Excellent resource for tracking variables over time
  • Easy to use Mozilla plug-in
  • Amazingly powerful window into just what the competition is doing!
• Google, Yahoo, and Bing
  • Check for number of pages each of the Big 3 acknowledges
  • Check for number of links

If you have used most or all of the above, you are ready to create an inbound marketing strategy what will work. If you haven’t…what are you waiting for?

If I had to pick 3 tools and was contrained by budgetary concerns, the 3 I would choose are:

• Google (Beginning with this link)
• Market Samurai
• SpyFu

In that order!

If budget is not a concern, and it shouldn’t be by the time you begin servicing clients, all of the above mentioned resources are vital. Significantly, most are free.

Research completed, the first step is to create a social media profile. The social media profile should be comprehensive and across an array of niches but focusing primarily on social media sites relevant to your client’s audience.

Use the following socioal media hubs as a guide. There is a great deal of overlap but if you cover the four mentioned below your client will have excellent inititial coverage and you will have an easier time getting their message out.

• Ping.fm
  • Crucial – I use Ping.fm for all of my clients, daily. Use Ping.fm’s list of “networks,” setting up all of the networks available.
• OnlyWire
  • As important as Ping.fm and as easy to use – Again, set up all the “services” available.
• HelloTxt
  • Once again, a very useful hub – set up all the sites that link through HelloTxt.
• XeeSM
  • Like XeeSM a lot! XeeSM has a super array of apps and is very easy to use. The creators are very responsive and it fills out the four hubs I set up for every client.

If you have set up all four of the social media hubs above your client will have approximately 225 social media profiles and you will be able to control the daily message through the four hubs.

Not bad, huh?

The video sharing and article directories are next.

Video marketing is absolutely crucial for a number of reasons.

You have undoubtedly heard the saying:

Video is king!

Consequently, video is essential to new media, inbound marketing success. We live in the video age. Video will reach incredible numbers quickly and the shelf-life of well produced videos is worth the time and expense to do it right.

The best tool available to get you message out quickly and efficiently is TrafficGeyser (or Traffic Geyser). TrafficGeyser is a powerful resource, one you simply cannot do without. TrafficGeyser combined with something as inexpensive as a $200 Flip MinoHD and a decent tripod will get you started creating quality videos in no time.

TrafficGeyser offers a number of advantages when setting up your client’s inbound marketing strategy:

• TrafficGeyser allows you to set up multiple profiles for clients, thus allowing you to control all your clients’ campaigns from a single platform. At TrafficGeyser’s Platinum level you will have access to approximately 125 additional sites, including:
  • Social media sites
  • Social bookmarking sites
  • Article directories
  • Video sharing and video marketing sites
  • Podcast sites
  • Blogging sites
  • TrafficGeyser will then allow you to upload blog posts to all of the blogs you set up to reach through TG.
  • TrafficGeyser allows you to upload all your videos to the various video sharing sites, thus saving you hundreds of man-hours over the course of a year. Control all of your accounts through a single interface.
  • TrafficGeyser allows you to post articles to the various article directories with a click.
    • That’s right! You can set up your article directory memberships through TrafficGeyser and then upload them to the various directories from a single platform.
    • This feature allows you to set up all of your article directory profiles from one platform and then control them from your TG account. This is a real timesaver!
    • TrafficGeyser allows you to post to the various podcast sites.
    • TrafficGeyser allows you to set up RSS feeds.

By the time you have completed setting up the first four hubs (Ping, OnlyWire, HelloTxt, XeeSM) and your TrafficGeyser profile for your new client they will have approximately 350 new media marketing profiles across the Internet. With this kind of coverage, provided you create quality content, your client will see a significant bump in traffic, leads, prospects, appointments, and sales within 90 days and a huge jump in the first 12 months.

The secret is really no secret at all, it simply takes quality content delivered consistently over time. If your client already has a USP or you help them create one (upcoming blog post) and combine that with the right inbound marketing strategy using all the resources available to you and mentioned above, you will be a hit and your clients will love you!

The formula is simple:

Links + Longevity + Quality Content = Increased Traffic

A well-focused message will reach the proper target audience. If you develop a unique seeling proposition (USP) that captures your target market’s imagination and deliver quality content over time, you will have people linking to your site and it will increase in authority. Couple the above with a well-constructed video marketing, delivering first-rate, well-written articles to the various directories and you will own you niche in less than a year.

Consistent, quality content delivered over time equals inbound marketing success and guaranteed profitability using the new media.

Above, you have everything you need to get the ball rolling!

In the next article we will talk about site construction, blog versus static website, premium WordPress theme versus the freebies, and the various shopping carts available. We will then get into email marketing and the various providers. We will also consider a number of other resources and various factors to consider when building your client’s Ultimate Internet Image.

I will then go into detail concerning the various resources available to streamline submissions even further, how to upgrade your video equipment, including why and why not, and what audio program is the best and when to use it.

For now?

You have enough to get started, beginning to serve your clients well!

If you would like a comprehensive inbound marketing consultation, to include an assessment of your current marketing strategy, as well as a comprehensive competitive analysis, contact me today at The Ultimate Internet Image (see the number below).

Good luck!

John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-712-7004
440-821-7018

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