Creating a targeted
inbound marketing strategy

We were referred to our client David via a friend from a mid-tier professional services firm. David was looking to grow his business by expanding the client base and sales conversion through the platform. He was looking for help increasing awareness through SEO and social media marketing (SMM).

We met at a local French pâtisserie for coffees and some brightly-coloured macarons. We discussed common experiences of work and travel in New York and Paris. David had built a web-based platform that allowed businesses to create and publish training collateral. This was a unique offering as traditionally this was outsourced or required heavy investment in production. We were intrigued…

To enable David to get the most out of SEO and social media tactics in the future we worked together and took a broader approach to the project thinking about the short and longer term opportunities to sustainably improve his online presence. We held a series of short workshops to explore David’s aspirations and goals for the business as well as their audiences buying journey, from early research to purchase.

“Understanding the barriers to new business and your users buying journey will deliver better content marketing and social media tactics.”

During the workshops we discovered two key opportunities that later influenced the direction of the digital marketing framework. Firstly, the ideal audience changed when we identified there was more potential in targeting broader market segments. The second was inbound marketing. The success of which depended on both attracting the right crowd and keeping them engaged until purchase. Both opportunities would require rethinking and some product development at key conversion points such as first visit, trial sign-up, purchase and ongoing engagement.

Our journey continued over the next several weeks. From user and product strategy sessions, speaking to existing customers, competitor research and mapping the journey that customers might take. As a result we mapped the sales pipeline and identified opportunities to further engage with potential customers along the way.

For content strategy effectiveness for SEO and SMM we undertook a code review of the site and keyword targeting. This helped shape the product development roadmap across the three horizons of immediate recommendations and targets for six and 12 months.

“Good strategies focus your efforts beyond awareness to ensure you’re actively engaging with your users.”

Tidbits and takeaways

  1. SEO keyword research is a valuable tool to gauge what users search for to better focus your content strategy. For example better to target ‘enterprise training development’ than ‘training’ as it can include users who search for ‘training wheels’ etc

  2. Research competitors’ digital activity. How they market themselves and their products is crucial information to have as it will likely influence your digital marketing strategy.

  3. Consider both awareness and conversion when evaluating your marketing strategy. Is one more important than the other? Is it possible that you need to adjust your product accordingly?

  4. Brand advocates will help you to amplify your brand in the digital space. Your digital marketing strategy should always incorporate brand advocacy in campaign planning.