by Marcus Ledbetter | Oct 15, 2012 | Consumer Trends, General, Inbound Marketing, Web Marketing
Storyteller Photo by Garry Knight
The way you get new business can be boiled down to one simple statement. Your new customer heard and believed your story. It is business storytelling and it may be the most important piece to your puzzle.
It could be face-to-face word of mouth; it could be on your website through a Google search; it could be on social media; it could be a traditional, old-school advertisement. Somebody heard the story of why your product or service makes their life better and they believed it.
The evidence is mounting that the most effective (read PROFITABLE) way to tell your business’s story has changed in the last decade. Gone are the days when you could simply buy a big honkin’ ad in the paper and dominate the market.
It is now your job to create content (tell stories) that customers share online. That’s the essence of Inbound Marketing. This study by Hubspot states that “inbound marketing-dominated organizations experience a 61% lower cost per lead.”
Who Will Do Your Business Storytelling?
(more…)
by Marcus Ledbetter | Oct 4, 2012 | Consumer Trends, General, Inbound Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking
Being part of a company with roots in web design for small business, I’ve heard it quite often. “I don’t need to market. My business is referral-based.”
That’s fantastic. I love and have run referral-based businesses. ITD Interactive gets most of our clients from referrals. But that doesn’t mean we don’t work at it. We work hard to make sure our business is referrable.
I mentioned in yesterday’s Whiteboard Wednesday: How to Get Testimonials for a Website that John Jantsch’s book The Referral Engine is one of my very favorite business books. This book can change the trajectory of your business in a hurry. Read it.
John’s chapter “Content as Marketing Driver” speaks directly to the “I don’t need to market” small business owner. (It happens to be saturated with Inbound Marketing philosophy.) You may have been thinking that Inbound is all about bringing in new business via search or social. While that certainly does happen, Inbound is also about revving up your referrals.
[sam id=”10″ codes=”true”]
Education Breeds Referral
(more…)
