Remington Begg
Businesses, both locally and beyond, are jumping onto the idea of inbound marketing. And that’s great! Inbound marketing has been proven time and and time again to work. But those statistics really only apply if you’re following the methodology correctly, and if you’re not then it may not do what you hope it will. If you’re just starting out on your inbound journey or you’re curious why you may not be seeing the results you were expecting, check out these three mistakes too many people are guilty of:
Neglecting Content
Content is king! Your team can spend months developing you a fantastic website, but if your content doesn’t resonate with your audience, they’ll never come back, never convert, and never spend their money with you. This doesn’t mean throw anything up on your website; thin, duplicate, or spammy content won’t help y
ou either. Take the time to really develop quality content that aligns with your buyer personas and it will pay off in the long run.
Creating for Yourself, Not Your Buyer Personas
One of the biggest mistakes people make is when it comes to designing a new website, choosing keywords, or creating content, they make it for themselves rather than their buyer personas. You certainly want to make sure you like everything that will represent your brand, but you are not the target audience you are looking to convert. You may be tempted to skip this step and guess as to who your audience should be. Stop! Developing buyer personas is crucial to a proper inbound marketing strategy.
Not Setting SMART Goals
Before you can be successful at anything, and know that you have been successful, you have to set a goal. But in following the inbound methodology, you must set what are called a SMART goal- defined as one that is specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused, and time bound. Goals should be simplistically written and clearly define what you are going to do, that way you can accurately measure afterwards if your strategy is working or not. Thankfully, HubSpot created this free template as a guide to help you set your SMART goals. As you work towards them, be sure to check your analytics continually and adjust where necessary.
It can be easy for beginners to run into pitfalls and obstacles with their inbound marketing efforts. This is especially true for those who have been doing traditional marketing for a majority of your career. Don’t get down! Download our free eBook The Beginner’s Guide to Inbound Marketing for more helpful tips on getting your strategy up and running.
