The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

The primary focus of your inbound marketing strategy should be to get your business found by new visitors, and then convert them into qualified sales-ready leads. One of the primary places to do this is on a company blog. There are many other additional benefits such as developing thought leadership and providing value to current clients, but at the end of the day it’s lead generation that makes inbound marketing such an irresistible and powerful tool.  

When I used to sell print ads in a national sports publication I was always a proponent of advertorials when it related products or services needing additional explanation. Clients would be able to use a short "article" to detail solutions to problems or discuss certain issues relevant to the target audience. I thought this was great and usually my clients saw some great results.  

When you think of what characteristics make a successful company, marketing campaign or team there are certain traits and factors that help to sort out the best and worst, the winners from the losers. This is true with inbound marketing and lead generation programs as well. 

One of the greatest and most well known benefits of blogging (aka Content Marketing) is the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) effects that you gain by publishing blog posts and premium content on a regular basis.

However, if you are not utilizing certain best practices and guides for authoring effective content your efforts will not be optimized, and it will take longer and more effort to achieve your desired results.

Are you on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter? Do you post articles or links with your comments or insights to share with your friends, business network or colleagues? If so, did you know you are a “Content Curator?”

It’s true. The term “Content Curation” has recently gained popularity in blogging and content marketing communities, and there are several mainstream websites that are receiving millions of visits per month by visitors looking for a single place to get information that’s organized in an easy-to-use format on specific topics. 

Who are the prospects waiting for you? Before we get started on our journey to find that special someone, we need to define a “prospect” from a “suspect.” In my readings, the best definition I’ve found is:   

While you can easily measure site traffic, Twitter followers, and how you rank for keywords on Google, it’s a little more challenging to measure what I contend is one of the most important benefits of inbound marketing – thought leadership.

When I discuss inbound marketing with new clients and prospects they tend to focus on tangible items such as search engine optimization (SEO), keyword rankings and the effect that blogging has on generating leads and building their contact database. This is natural considering that inbound marketing projects sometimes get funded from monies reallocated from SEO consultants, email marketers and social media firms. These tangible results (or promise of results) make it easier for a CFO or Controller to sign off on, rather than the possibility of intangibles such as thought leadership.

Generating qualified leads with inbound marketing is not complicated or difficult.  It’s a repeatable process that can be broken down in only 561 words!

• Create a blog and graciously share information that matters to your business and your customers – this means regularly share insight, expertise, real world scenarios and stories that will suck your readers in and keep their attention until the end of the post.  Give them information they can use and commit to providing valuable content. Keep it real...no nonsense here.

Improving sales performance happens when salespeople do the little things that make a difference.  The best salespeople do these things without being told — they even do these things when their manager is not looking: