Smart Marketing Blog

3 Inbound Marketing Proof Points

You may be tired of hearing us preach the importance of inbound marketing when it comes to reaching B2B technical audiences. Or maybe you think developing content and maintaining a website is too much work. Whether you doubt the inbound marketing methodology or believe it's too time-consuming to implement, here are some data points that may serve as a catalyst to spark your interest in implementing an inbound marketing approach for your business. 

Want to Market Against Your Competitors? Proceed Carefully

Remember when you were young, and there was that kid who spent more time dissing you or others than making something of themselves? Maybe you wanted to let them have it, but you knew (or maybe your parents gave you some advice) that it was best to take the high road and focus on your strengths and success. There is some wisdom in this childhood scenario for grownups running businesses, product lines, and service areas, who are competing for awareness, customers, and marketshare. In every market, every town, every application space, you are going to face competition. And that's a good thing - for companies and consumers. But maybe you are considering making a move to directly market against your competitor. Is this a good idea? The answer is, maybe, but be careful. Let's look at a a recent example to help illustrate some upsides and downsides for consideration: Microsoft's recent ad campaign against Google in the mainstream business press. Here is one of their ads: Microsoft ad, Text to the right

Make Content King of Your Marketing Strategy

Smart, well-developed content is key when coming up with your company’s marketing strategy, but what qualifies as quality content? Quality content is targeted towards your key personas, has relevant themes, and engages your target audiences through a consistent cadence of content development.

Make Sure Your Ad Passes the 2-Second Test

The shift in marketing dollars to online advertising has changed advertising, but there is still a place for traditional print advertising. But it has to pass the 2-second test - the time a user will give to your ad before scrolling past it. 

Gating Your Content: The Great Debate

Gating content like white papers, ebooks, and webinars behind forms is now so common and widespread among inbound B2B content marketing programs, that it’s difficult to find a modern website that doesn’t do it. And here's why: it’s a proven tactic for generating new contacts and qualified leads, which are the top content marketing priorities for any growing business. 

A Blog About Blogging: Four Tips to Reach Blog Success

Back in 2004, I was fresh out of college and working at my first job as a PR writer. I’d kept in touch with one of my favorite professors, who was the editor of a news magazine, and one day he emailed to ask if I would write a blog for his magazine. Blogs were relatively new back then, and while I’d seen a few of them in my college days, they were nowhere near as ubiquitous as they are now. My former professor was interested in trying out this format as a way to get some different voices and opinions on his site without just having people write a bunch of formal op-eds.

The Engineer’s Guide to Writing and Promoting a Technical Case Study

Case studies are the holy grail of content. You can tell prospects all day how great your company is, but the real trust is built when you have a customer validate the value of your products and services. Not only is a case study the strongest piece of content in your arsenal, it is also the most versatile. Case studies come into play at every stage of the buyer’s journey – from awareness and interest all the way to a purchase decision.

Top 5 Findings from State of Inbound Report

Each year, Hubspot -- an inbound marketing platform -- conducts research on inbound marketing. This year, they surveyed 6200+ marketing professionals in 99 countries from a mix of industries, company sizes, and levels of seniority.  The results showed that implementing inbound marketing is paying off for marketers around the world. We boiled down this report into 5 key findings on inbound marketing and sales strategies for you. 

How to Define and Market to Your Customer's Pain Points...Accurately

Content that attracts and resonates with the right audience must focus on what your customer needs most. Whether you’re creating a headline for your homepage, a topic for your new white paper, or overhauling your corporate brand position and message, if you can’t connect with your customers’ pains and help them see how you or your products can solve them, they’ll move along quickly.  

5 Tips for a Tagline that Sticks

Brainstorm notes on hotel bar napkins. Conversations that take you so far down tangents you’ve forgotten what your company does. You need something that’s memorable but not too off-the-wall, specific but not excluding, and exciting but accurate …