The 20 Pillars of Marketing

The 20 Pillars of Marketing

Pillars of Marketing #1 – “Resources You Need to Succeed: Training”

Thorough and updated training is imperative to the success of any business. Adequate training is the basis of a successful business model, and can be effectively used on all levels of operation. Having easily accessible training for all employees will allow for a stronger and better prepared team within your business. Our trainings are available at all times and are organized by training modules that act as a guide to what you will need to implement a successful campaign. Some trainings will be more pertinent to specific roles.

Pillars of Marketing #2 “Resources You Need to Succeed: Site Audit”

Many people choose to look at a company’s online presence before initiating any further contact. For this reason, a site audit is necessary in order to streamline and optimize all posted information. From blogs to information and contact information, updates and improvements can only help create a better online environment for your business. Optimizing websites will also improve search rankings by using SEO practices and including keywords throughout the web pages – leading to more hits and potential client conversions, as well as showing people that you keep up with changes concerning resources, information and progress. As with all things, updates are necessary as the times change, so fresh content and updates are always useful in revamping and improving company image.

Pillars of Marketing #3 “Resources You Need to Succeed: Resource Audit”

One of the most important resources for your company is your employees. Therefore, having a resource audit will allow you to see exactly what your employees spend their time and efforts doing. This will give you the opportunity to see if any changes need to be made. A resource audit can help employers and employees increase a company’s ROI simply by increasing efficiency. Consolidation of tasks, reassignment of duties and the reevaluation of marketing strategies and efforts are all possible outcomes of this type of information gathering, and will serve as a way to ensure continued success and efficiency within the workplace. Many people look at an audit negatively, however in this sense it is only being used to see where you and your employees can work to improve themselves therefore, creating a positive impact on the company.

Pillars of Marketing #4 “Resources You Need to Succeed: Reporting”

Changes do not happen overnight, so relying on reports collected over a long period of time can be helpful in terms of monitoring changes and making improvements. On a weekly basis, reports on task lists, sources, and SEM results should be sent, giving your team the chance to review and analyze any changes. On a bi-weekly basis, phone conferences with your marketing team can help to further analyze results as well as to go over current campaign goals and active processes. This type of meeting can also serve to answer questions that your team may have, or even provide advice on what the best possible moves will be for your marketing strategy. On a monthly basis, comprehensive executive summary reports should be sent out recapping the previous 30 days, and showcasing changes, profits or losses and other sensitive information. Proper and timely information like this will provide starting points for future work as well as reference points to be filed away as a referential history of changes.

Pillars of Marketing #5 “Resources You Need to Succeed: Communication”

Creating a successful marketing campaign depends on being efficient and having open communication. By using predetermined methods to implement marketing strategies, the amount of necessary communication and work can be reduced. Not only will this save time and resources in the future, it can help a team become more efficient and stronger. Communication between teams and markets should be consistent, but after taking the necessary time to implement the programs, the time needed to be spent on a topic should decrease. Saving time in this manner frees employees up to focus their efforts elsewhere, making them more efficient and productive in other aspects of their jobs.

Pillars of Marketing #6 “Focusing Your Infrastructure: Web Analytics”

The most important part of success is being able to monitor it. As web based content and commerce have grown in popularity, checking web results is more imperative now than ever. Analyzing web results as well as information returned by monthly statistics is more than enough to provide accurate results, giving companies the ability to see whether or not the strategies and campaigns they’ve implemented are indeed working. The best part about this type of analysis is that all of the necessary tools are provided in the Marketing Control Center – checking the results, entering in variables, and monitoring the changes in data are all necessary… And can be done to gauge the success of implemented measures. By carefully monitoring the information returned in this type of analysis, it is possible to see the need to make changes – or to see exactly what is working and continue.

Pillars of Marketing #7 “Focusing Your Infrastructure: Marketing Automation Integration”

Trying to make every component in a marketing strategy work together can be frustrating at times. Integrating everything together can take time, but all of your marketing technology can be seamlessly integrated into Marketing Control Center; this will save you time and effort, leaving you ready and able to implement your new campaign. This integration makes it possible to implement a marketing strategy without having to worry about it – other than to check and ensure that it is performing in the way that it was meant to. More than 75% of top performing companies have been using some type of marketing automation for longer than 24 months.

Pillars of Marketing #8 “Focusing Your Infrastructure: List”

Lists are the best friends of those looking to improve their business profits and implement successful marketing strategies. The process takes current lists and searches them for valuable information – company size, revenues, undeliverable or outdated contacts, job functions, employee levels and titles. This information is then segmented and used in a manner that will benefit everyone involved – customers and employees alike. These lists can be cross referenced and used in multiple scenarios, giving you the information that you desire, and the ability to use it as you see fit. Cutting down on loose ends and emails or letters that are not even reaching clients will save resources, as well as let you know a more true audience in terms of the reach of your implemented campaigns.

Pillars of Marketing #9 “Focusing Your Infrastructure: Client Centric Tools”

The interesting thing about clients is that no two are the same. It’s important to understand the differences and use them to your advantage.. In order to best do this, these client centric tools will decide what exactly it is that your products and services can offer clients, and angle toward highlighting those benefits above all others. It may even be beneficial to bring in a third party that can also provide services of value, which will help you increase revenue, retain clients and stay in business. By evaluating your key competencies you can focus on your strengths and outsource other functions to third parties.

Pillars of Marketing #10 “Inbound Activities that Generate Qualified Leads: SEO”

Search engine optimization, or SEO practices are often used in order to boost rankings and increase company’s online presence and prominence. This step is important because 93% of online experiences begin with using a search engine. With this in mind, there are a few different steps that will allow you to use SEO to the fullest. These include on-site optimization of content and code, the development of “buffer” sites and their content, which will provide links and content that pertain to your main site, as well as link building to increase results and clicks. This type of optimization is a great way to give your site and company more prominence online, as well as to increase “real” traffic – meaning unique hits, users and traffic. Actively keeping up with your site’s optimization will keep your rankings high, and keep your business relevant for an increased period of time.

Pillars of Marketing #11 “Inbound Activities that Generate Qualified Leads: SEM”

Search engine marketing is similar to SEO, but it involves keeping your results high enough in the rankings to benefit your business. Relying on different markets including Google, Bing, Facebook and AdRoll, each of these four channels can be used to generate a large number of unique hits. Though the promotion of your individual site and pages is a paid service, it’s not as if you’re paying for the hits, you’ll simply be paying for the publicity. Re-targeting and search prominence are the focus for these specific channels and this particular branch of marketing and strategy. By increasing your numbers and the likelihood your results will come up high when searched, you are in turn making it more likely that new clients will be enticed to peruse your pages and your business.

Pillars of Marketing #12 “Inbound Activities that Generate Qualified Leads: Conversion Rate Optimization”

This type of optimization focuses on the amount of business you’re actually generating based on your marketing strategies. The CSM (Client Success Manager) will speak directly with you about the results, evaluating you and your business on different categories and topics. SEM results will show how many people clicked on the search results, which lead to purchases, while the CTA shows a click-through and conversion rate. Both of these will assess how well your links are working at bringing people to the page in general. Landing page results will show you how many people visited the page throughout the span of time that is being analyzed, and how many of those visits led to conversions and new customers. Finally, the status of the emails that were sent as well as how many clicks they generated and how many were even opened can be very telling in how many people your campaigns are even reaching.

Pillars of Marketing #13 “Inbound Activities that Generate Qualified Leads: Social Selling”

Rather than simply using social media as a way to contact friends and keep in touch, it can be used as an additional platform on which to get the word out about your company. Social media offers a way to connect with thousands of people at a time, whether it is through a post, blog, comment, photo or video. Using these methods will generate leads and get visitors to look back at your site, which could in turn lead to customer conversion. Social media is a useful way to keep in contact with people, but it is also a fantastic way to reach larger numbers of potential clients in very little time. Sharing and reposting information on social media is also a useful way to ensure that the same content is shared across multiple platforms, presenting a united front about your business.

Pillars of Marketing #14 “Proven Outbound Activities that Generate Sales: Email Marketing”

Email is another useful tool in terms of finding and acquiring new contacts and customers. 59% of B2B marketers say that email is the most effective revenue generation channel. Developing and implementing a unique and successful email marketing strategy relies heavily on knowing exactly who has signed up to receive the emails – and who is opening them as opposed to simply deleting them. Email campaigns have to work toward inspiring confidence in new contacts, which is why it’s imperative to build a relationship with each contact, moving them from a simple contact to a customer with a history of trust and loyalty to your business. It’s important to ensure that the emails are doing what they are meant to do, optimizing efforts across the board to ensure that sending leads to opening, clicking, and purchasing on the end of the customer. This type of marketing is angled toward different businesses, giving you an edge over the competition.

Pillars of Marketing #15 “Proven Outbound Activities that Generate Sales: Newsletter”

Less frequent than emails and website updates, a newsletter can be used as a monthly tool which will serve to recap the past month’s activities. This newsletter will be sent out as an email, but contain in depth information which will provide detailed updates to those on your mailing list multiple times a year. Even those that have never made a purchase from you will be updated, which can serve as a reminder of what you provide – and perhaps inspire them to try your company out. Also included in this monthly newsletter are the top blog posts of the month as well as a specific idea or call to action. Designed to get people interested, a newsletter can help to catch people up if they missed out on something the previous month, or simply need to get back in touch with your company. With a specialized format and specific structure, this type of newsletter will speak to the customers and clients in a way that a post or social media update cannot – directly through their email inbox.

Pillars of Marketing #16 “Proven Outbound Activities that Generate Sales: Tele-Sales”

Tele-sales are imperative to the success of businesses, although many people are not as inclined to use them as in the past. Speaking directly to people is a way to make them feel included, rather than simply contacting them via the internet or by mail. Voice calls that follow a specific script, designed for your business, are more likely to generate sales and seal deals, even if they can be difficult and somewhat uncomfortable to begin. Even those that do not enjoy cold calling or making outbound calls to potential clients can be successful at it with the proper information and tactic. These types of scripts can also be used to answer the questions of inbound callers, pacifying them and eventually closing the sale. Though many of the outbound leads – and the inbound calls from potential clients were generated using online methods like emails, social media and website hits, these phone calls can often be the last piece of the puzzle that must be made to fit before a sale is closed and a customer is gained.

Pillars of Marketing #17 “Proven Outbound Activities that Generate Sales: Live Events“

One great way to get people involved is to host live events, like fairs, demonstrations, open houses and other similar large gatherings. Organizing events like this will give clients – and potential new clients – the chance to mingle with each other, as well as speak to your employees. Face to face interactions will help to inspire more confidence in your offerings; it’s often difficult to accurately gauge the way that people respond over the phone or online, so honest and personal reactions are a big motivating factor for events like this. Services can be provided to organize these gatherings, as well as to keep track of anticipated attendance through the generation and confirmation of leads, RSVPs and similar communication between you, your clients and the general public

Pillars of Marketing #18 “Superior Content Strategies: Blog Posts”

Since many aspects of business today are conducted online, content like blog posts and updates are absolutely crucial to the visibility of your business and establishing your niche in the market. Not only will fresh and focused blog posts improve your image and keep your business relevant in the eyes of consumers, it will improve your search rankings at the same time. Having a blog has helped 79% of companies report a positive ROI when it comes to inbound marketing. Original content will also show that you are not simply recycling the same ideas; that you have new things to offer each week. Getting people searching for your company’s blog increases visibility – which is vital in today’s digital age. With a few posts a week, your online blog can reach a large audience as well as allow people to travel backwards through your posts – giving them an idea as to how your strategy and processes have evolved over time.

Pillars of Marketing #19 “Superior Content Strategies: Premium Content”

Having content is essential, but having premium types of content can be an even bigger asset to your business growth. The creation of “special” kinds of content may include books or eBooks, training videos, case studies and ad campaigns – all designed with the success of your business in mind. Having these types of content available for your use can give your company an edge against the competition, making people more aware of exactly what you’re offering and what allows you to function. In addition to informing consumers, these can also be used to train and update employees, making their jobs easier to do and understand. Not only will this help be available for the creation process of this type of content, but also to help your people put it into use in a manner that will be beneficial from the get go.

Pillars of Marketing #20 “Superior Content Strategies: Social Syndication“

With all of the great content that is created throughout this process, it’s imperative to keep track of it – and to ensure that it can easily be shared across all mediums. Social media is one of the easiest ways to reach current and potential clients, but updating each account separately can take time and a great deal of effort. This type of syndication will ensure that your message is spread, and is consistent on all platforms. Spreading awareness of your products or services is important, but doing so in a positive manner is just as imperative to the overall success and survival of your business. What you have to say about your company and offerings is almost as key as developing great products; getting the right information out in a positive manner is essential.

Having a better understanding of the methods that can be used to improve the profits and public image of a business is extremely important for those that will be making the decision as to whether or not using them is the right choice. With the proven track records for these methods, and the increased amounts of profits businesses using them have seen, it makes sense to implement them as well as to consistently monitor the effect that they have. Facts and figures do not lie – these methods are successful, and are constantly evolving to meet the needs of a consistently changing consumer environment. Choosing the right combination for an individual business may take some time, but the end results will make the process worthwhile.