The Worst Advice We Ever Heard from an Inbound Marketing Consultant

Inbound Marketing is promoting a company through blogs, podcasts, video, eBooks, enewsletters, whitepapers, SEO, social media, and other forms of content marketing. This is in contrast to cold-calling, direct mail, radio, TV advertisements., sales flyers, telemarketing and other traditional advertising. These are considered outbound marketing.

Here is some of the worst advice you could ever hear from your inbound marketing consultant concerning your inbound marketing approach.

Inbound Marketing is a One-Man Show. – False 

It takes a team – the writer, the designer, the analyst, and the leader.

• The Writer – You need continuous good thought content.
• The Designer – A well-designed website is better for conversion.
• The Analyst – Web and marketing analytics need to be monitored continually.
• The Leader – Each member of the team needs to march to the same drum beat.
• It’s not important to build trust with your audience – False

Being consistent with blogging isn’t necessary – False

Sometimes our busy schedules cause us to get behind. One of the fastest way to lose credibility with your audience is not to have a schedule for sharing. Don’t disappear.

You can separate your blog from your website. It doesn’t matter. – False

When your blog is connected to your website, an indexed page for your site is created with every blog you write. Search engines love this and will boost your search engine rank.

Calls to Actions (CTAs) are a waste of time. – False

The point of inbound marketing is to inspire your audience to take some type of action, moving them further down the sales funnel. Optimize your site for action. Give your potential customers something valuable.

Blog posts are the ONLY way to get prospective customers – False

While blog posts may be an effective way to attract customers, you need to add other types of content, such as whitepaper, ebook, infographic, or webinar.

Don’t give all your expertise away. – False

It’s important to not only attract people to your site, but establish yourself as an expert. This will keep prospective clients to come back. Giving them good solid advice will keep them from opting out or unsubscribing. Share what you know – people may buy what you sell.

All visitors are created equal. – False

Matching information to clients’ requests will motivate them. Some people are motivated by the fear of loss. Words like “Act Now – Limited Offer” may have a benefit of motivation for your customer to move forward and do it in a timely fashion..

The fancier your website, the better. – False

Having a site that is indexible and readable by the search engines and that is easy to navigate is much better than a fancier site. Sites should be RWD for mobile users.  Be sure your site doesn’t have long load times. Give your customer no reason to leave your site with frustration.

Measuring analytics isn’t going to help me – False

The ability to measure and monitor the site will let you know how well your site is performing. At the very least, A/B test your web landing pages and make small changes to see how to improve.

IN CONCLUSION – It’s easy to see why it’s easier to bring visitors in, rather than marketers having to go out and get the prospect’s attention. Creating remarkable visual content is a great way to cut through content clutter and stand out from the pack. Try it!