An Intro To

Even the Wizard of Oz would be gobsmacked by the wonder and awe of today’s world. The fundamental change in contemporary society is the digital revolution. Thanks to the internet, friendships have rekindled, families reunited, billionaires were born, tyrannical governments toppled, cats, goats and Justin Bieber have all become viral sensations and traditional business techniques have become ever more redundant.

With the exception of Justin Bieber, this is all good news, because with change comes new and bigger opportunities.

The digital revolution has educated and empowered people the world

over. Consumer behaviour has evolved.The internet is a vast encyclopaedia of knowledge, a global community of connected opinions and an arbitrator of the unknown. Search engines like Google have become trusted confidantes, advisors and lieutenants on the battlegrounds where brands, products and services fight for survival and prosperity.

Rather than fear this seismic shift, you should embrace these new opportunities for there has never been a better time for business to flourish. The marketplace is growing. The world is within reach and it has never been more affordable to grow your business effectively and efficiently.

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Inbound is how businesses have evolved to meet the challenges of the digital revolution. Let’s take a simple example of this evolving consumer behaviour. Think of the last time you bought weapons-grade plutonium. On second thought, the principle holds true for any purchase of consideration or value, so let’s go with an everyday example, say a mobile phone.

Chances are you started on a search engine looking for ‘best mobile phone’ or ‘advantages of iPhone 6’ or ‘best mobile phone deals’ or something similar. You likely clicked on multiple

57% of the purchase decision is complete before a customer even calls a supplier.”(CEB) (SiriusDecisions)

67%57%“67% of the buyer’s journey is now done digitally.”

By the time you contacted a vender, the chances are you already knew what you wanted and why you wanted it.

Every point of contact along this consumer journey describes Inbound Marketing.

Now replace the search for mobile phones (or weapons-grade plutonium) with whatever product or service you provide and you can see how important Inbound is, not just for your future success, but for your survival today.

sources of information, webpages, blogs, reviews, articles, infographics, presentations, videos, forums, social media channels, podcasts, and any number of other sources.

You were no longer in the dark and your choice was already narrowing. You probably didn’t do your research in one sitting, and likely used different devices at different times. You may have subscribed for more information or bookmarked particular sources you found interesting or engaging. You felt empowered and educated, all the time leaning ever closer to your decision.

WHAT

IS NN UI O DB EA K G?IM R TN

Inbound is a contemporary holistic marketing approach focused on growing businesses effectively and efficiently. In reality there are many crossovers within all points of contact but for the purposes of this overview we have spilt the methodologies into chronological sequences.

At Squaredot we focus on real and tangible results. What follows is a summary of what we do, why we do it and how we do it.

Attract &Seduce

Empower &Convert

Nurture &Close

Retain &Champion

Measure& Adapt

StrangersVisitors

Customers

Advocates

Referrals

Leads

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We will draw visitors to your site by raising your profile across digital platforms, giving confidence to your digital voice and helping you become an authoritative, thought leader within your industry.

We’ll start with an overview of your Search Engine Optimisation. It’s not sexy but it’s damn important. We don’t need to preach this virtue, you already know it. We won’t bore you with detailshere, but we will bore the pants off each other (in the privacy and heated comfort of our own offices) in fine-tuning the perfect targeted long tail keywords, page rankings, back links –sorry got carried way there, spotted you yawning, let’s move on…

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SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate.

(Search Engine Journal)

14.6%

WHITE PAPERSE-BOOKSWEBINARSPODCASTSINFOGRAPHICSCASE STUDIESVIDEOSASSESSMENTSROI CALCULATORSINTERACTIVE PRESENTATIONSBLOG POSTS

The top 3 content formats that B2B buyers seek out to research a purchase decision include: Whitepapers (78%), Case Studies (73%), and Webinars (67%).

www.demandgenreport.com

Scream ‘Sales’ to the mass and they run a mile, but seduce them with whispers that roar - timely, engaging, informative content - and they’ll seek you out and listen to what you have to offer. This is how we help you earn the trust of better quality sales leads.

Content Marketing is the heart and soul of Inbound. We aim to educate, entertain and engage people with content relevant to your industry, championing your credentials and drawing curious visitors to your site. Much of the time, it’s the first entry point into our ecosystem and comes inmany guises; Blogs, eBooks, Case Studies, Slideshares, Infographics,

Videos, Webpages, or any number of other standard or rich media formats.Of course, we don’t want to talk to just any old randomer on the internet, otherwise we’ll likely pick a restraining order. Nothing happens without careful consideration and planning, so our starting point is always a thorough and exhaustive breakdown of your target market’s Bullseye Buyer Persona. Once we know everything about this bullseye target, right down to their favourite guilty pleasures and deepest secrets then we know what floats their boat. Ok there are limits, we’re not the NSA after all and we don’t want Edward Snowden after us.

All of this prep work informs our Content Strategy, so we can work out who to meet, where to meet them, what to say and how to say it.

There’s lots more to it, we’ve barely even touched on social media amplification, online publishers and influencers for example, but this eBook is just to give you a brief overview, so let’s move on.

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Today’s sophisticated digital native audiences will not allow the wool to be pulled over their eyes. They see the plaid sleeves of salespeople’s jackets a mile off. There is little to be won by standing on a self proclaimed pedestal and shouting ‘buy me’ from the rafters.

Our whispers that roar approach will draw in casual observers who are on a journey of self discovery. They want to research the market, educate themselves and draw their own

conclusions. They respect those who respect them. Educate your audience and you will empower them. Offerinformative and engaging material and you will earn respect.

At this point, more and more casual visitors will happily trade their own contact details for more and more quality in-depth background research. This is how we help you earn the respect of more qualified leads. Landing Pages with strong Call To Actions and

Data Capture Software leading to more Premium Content are some of the tools we employ to convert strangers to casual visitors to qualified leads.

Once in our ecosystem, these quality leads are further funnelled down specific and planned consumer journeys so that further communications are more targeted and more personalised.

87% of B2B buyers say content has an impact on vendor selection; more than a quarter (27%) say it has a “major impact.”

Social Media Today

Relevant emails drive 18 times more revenue than broadcast emails.

(Jupiter Research)

67%

87%

Three little words that stir the groins of salespeople the world over, “close the deal”. It’s mana from heaven, the sweet spot with the cherry on top, it’s what you were born to do and precisely what everything we do leads up to.

Everything up to now has funnelled motivated customers to further research you and place you top of mind in their consideration. In many cases in our experience, this next step is initiated by these motivated and empowered quality leads themselves but we don’t take anything for granted.

Communication channels move from automation to personal contact, using tactics like targeted Permission Based Email Campaigns, Specialised Content and perhaps targeted Ad Hoc Campaigns all the time dangling the carrot on a shorter and shorter stick.

Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales ready leads at 33% lower cost

Forrester Research

47% of B2B marketers say they either close fewer than 4% of all marketing-generated leads, or they don’t even know this metric.

Forrester Research

47%50%

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80% of your company’s future revenue will come from just 20% of your existing customers.

Gartner Group

According to Bain and Company, just a 5% increase in customer retention can increase a company’s profitability by 75%.

Bain and Company

75%

80%Converting quality leads into customers is not enough. We’re not interested in one night stands. Sorry we were just brought up differently and you can call us prudes if you want. We are interested in building relationships. A one-off wham, bam, thank you mam is close, but no cigar, as far as we’re concerned.

Because this is not the end of the road. It’s not the destination we seek. It’s just another starting point really. It’s the beginning of a new, constantly evolving journey, the beginning of a long term deepening relationship.

Conversion is lust, but retention is love.

And even retention is not enough, we want more. We want you to retain loyal, repeat customers and convert them into passionate brand advocates, champions, enthusiasts and promoters.

When Apple announce a new product, they barely lift the skirt on the new features. They don’t shout, they barely even speak, they let their millions of devoted brand advocates do their selling for them. By the time the new product hits the high streets, you can be guaranteed the queues in the rain will reach around the corner, and even the next corner, before the shop has even opened. Some people in the queue might never have owned an Apple product before, but they’ll be damned if they

won’t get their hands on the next big thing this time around.

This is the power of brand advocates. They stir the pot for you, proclaiming your virtues and telling their friends, and their friends’ friends and all their digital connections. We understand that Apple are an extreme example, but the principle holds true at every level of business for even the most niche of industries.All the strategies, methodologies and tools we employ up to this point help validate this activism. As long as you hold up your end of the bargain and provide quality products and services that satisfy needs in the market, then you too can enjoy referrals and new business from a growing and loyal base of brand activists.

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If truth be told, this is not an end of the line process. Instead consider it a constantly adapting activity underpinning every stage of our Inbound Marketing framework. Our software and measurement tools are fine-tuned and responsive. Our analytic engine interface looks like an aeroplane cockpit inside a nuclear reactor. It looks like you need to have a masters in Chinese Algebra to understand it. It looks complicated because it covers every single actionable cause and effect. You won’t need to understand it because we do. And we know every lever and pulley inside out.

We constantly tweak every tool at our disposal for optimum performance and results. We set KPIs and benchmarks for every action we take and we respond in realtime to out-perform expectations. We do so because we’re ridiculously competitive. We have never gotten over losing that under 12s mini rugby blitz final. Willow Park, we forgive you, you taught us a valuable lesson.

Good is just not good enough.Winning is everything.Results matter.

MEAS DU A APR & TE

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our brief summary of Inbound Marketing and how we, at Squaredot, approach the methodologies. If you haven’t enjoyed what you’ve read, then we aren’t doing our job correctly and you have every reason to walk away.

Bear in mind, this is just a skim of the surface, a toe dip into the ocean of contemporary marketing. If you’d like to

take the next step and dive in to discover in more detail how Inbound can grow your business efficiently and effectively, then we’d love to hear from you.

Our consultations are free and non committal. As a result, you will be in a better position to make an informed decision on whether Inbound is the right marketing strategy for you.

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Squaredot was founded in 2013 with a vision to deliver better marketing return on investment for its B2B clients through proven inbound marketing methodologies.

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SquareDot30 Molesworth StDublin 2Rep. of Ireland

ian@squaredot.eu

www.squaredot.eu

+353 83 359 9077+353 1 524 2731