Inbound Marketing for Manufacturers Blog

You have leads coming to your website. Some won’t ever buy. Some are browsing. Some are considering. 

How do you know which leads to nurture and how to nurture them in customers?

Are there any professions that have been changed by COVID-19 more than selling and marketing?

We’ve picked up some new habits -- some are good and some are … well, not so good.

“We’re spending good money on B2B inbound marketing. What’s the return on our investment?”

Your boss wants to see figures. Simply saying, “Umm … website traffic is up?” won’t cut it.

“Our company has a website.”

If that’s all you can muster when someone asks you about your online marketing efforts, you may have a problem.

In-person trade shows have been a valuable source for generating leads since … well … forever. Think of the caveman rolling his stone wheel or dragging his sabretooth tiger hide to the market for trade. (We weren’t really there, but trust us, it happened.)

But it seems like many businesses are in a trade show rut where they bring the same, tired strategies that everyone else has been doing for ages.

“Did you hear that the longer your content is, the better it performs in SEO?”

“Rack up as many backlinks as possible, no matter where they come from.” 

“You don’t need a CRM. Your business is too small.”

“SEO is dead.”

Have you heard these words before? You probably have if you’ve been around online marketing long enough.

Doing sales and marketing without effective reporting techniques is like taking a ship to sea without any navigation tools. 

You may know where you want to go, but without analysis of where you are and where you’re going, the odds are slim that you’ll end up at your desired destination. Failure to chart your course means you can easily get off track, but not know until it’s too late. You won’t know where you drifted from your path and how to right the ship.

The clutter is piling up. 

It’s hindering your ability to find what you’re looking for. You know you need to clean it, but it’s such a big job. 

However, the longer you procrastinate, the bigger the clutter gets and the less efficient you become.

Inbound marketing and sales are not in conflict.

In fact, your marketing and sales teams are more powerful together than apart. They complement each other like the bait and a hook at the end of a fishing line. The bait attracts a prospect with enticing content, and the hook connects with the prospect to snag a sale.

We’re constantly surrounded by noise. 

Whether online or offline, there’s always a buzzing of people who want a bit of our time. 

How does a B2B company cut through the noise and reach a lead?