Internet Marketing Blog of KeChange

4 automated sales and marketing tools you can’t live without

The transition is on.  Either you're ahead of the game or you will be switching your methods later (and that can be costly).  Traditional marketing principals based on spend and interruption are waning quickly, and inbound marketing or "getting found" is providing your company a better dollar-for-dollar return.

Internet Marketing technology  is very cost effective.  The best part - it all works while you're home sleeping.  Here are 4 automation tools you can't live without.

1.     Content Management Systems (CMS)

Hosted CMS Solutions (commonly known as Software as a Service) enable companies to build and manage a website.  Prior to the advancement of CMS systems, websites were all built in code, which made administration expensive because it was only accessible by programmers.  CMS solutions, like HubSpot, have enabled sales and marketing professionals to administrate their own websites by making it easy to build web pages, add sales lead forms and provide links without needing a webmaster.

CMS solutions are very advantageous to companies because they often have built-in general features like website performance analytics and social media tools. Some CMS packages are even focused on certain industries. For instance a CMS package for real estate agents may have a real estate listing feature available or a packages for travel agents may have an interface to airline flight arrival and departures. 

2.     Email Automation Solutions

The new practice of lead nurturing harnesses email marketing systems to engage prospects intermittently.   Email marketing automation solutions like Eloqua and Constant Contact enable companies to proactively engage prospective customers or clients who have provided the company with permission to market to them. As these people move closer to a buying decision, company news can spring up or changes in the industry can occur. Always keep the prospective customer in in your sight, and in the loop.

3.     Social Media Sharing Tools

Sharing tools are a very effective way of pushing out content quickly to a variety of viewers. If used properly, it can save yourself the time from having to input your blog into each social network individually. Some of the social bookmarking sites are very mindful of what is said on their sites, so avoid sounding promotional because you will be denied access. Through trial and error, KeChange has found these sharing tools to have great value:

• Ping-o-matic!- Input for this sharing tool is made very easy, just remember to delete your cookies each time you input a new blog.
• Onlywire- Fairly new to my sharing tools, but a very effective tool. Pushes out content to some of the biggest networks for quality viewership.
• Ping.fm- The most reliable tool for distributing blogs. Offers a variety of small to large networks for sharing.

4.     CRM Solutions

CRM Solutions (Customer Relationship Management) have automated the once cumbersome processes of sales management and reporting.  Delivered as a SaaS (or Cloud Computing), Salesforce.com's CRM offering lets companies centralize and automate all sales activities under one roof.

Salesforce.com can:

• Automatically capture a new lead from a CMS system when it arrives
• Populate in into the CMS management tool based on rules
• Provide a "prospect management console and contact database" for salespeople and other executives
• Customize the look and feel of a company's sales funnel by aligning different sales stages in the software with that of the company.
• Provide robust sales reporting solutions in real time, so one doesn't spend hours massaging sales data.

Salesforce also can effectivly integrate and work with with most of the systems mentioned in this article, including Hubspot. When paired together, the two can provide businesses with a "shrink-wrapped" sales and marketing solution that entirely closes the loop between lead and sales management. 

KeChange is an authorized partner of Hubspot, SalesForce.com and Constant Contact.

By Stephen Polinsky, CEO

Why Your Company Needs to Blog

By Nick Fasulo

Because it's so cost-effective, inbound marketing is growing in popularity and budget size with companies of every size across the country. A few weeks ago HubSpot released a report entitled "The State of Inbound Marketing," providing a peek into how business professionals involved in the strategy and/or budget of their company's marketing efforts are using inbound marketing for 2010. In short, "social media and blogs are becoming marketing powerhouses," with 85 percent of respondents labeling the use of blogs as "useful," and more than half that figure calling them "critical," according to the report.

As an internet marketing company, KeChange places a strong emphasis on page buildout and crafting a client's website and overall marketing strategy to evoke a sense of authority in the line of work that they're in. Having an engaged client who consistently files relevant blog articles helps accomplish both those ideas efficiently and inexpensively compared to traditional marketing tactics; all with the intent of reaching your target audience.

Say, for example, you're a personal injury law firm that is looking to draw traffic and, in turn, new clients who may be looking for legal consultation after hearing about a recently recalled product. This is a fantastic opportunity to morph your blog into a news source. Provide frequent updates on the recall, what it means for those affected, how to proceed with legal action and, finally, how you can help! You can apply this method to a number of industries. The key is to inform, then convert visitors of your site by showing them you're the service they're browsing for.

Just two blog posts a week means 104 new pages for your site... 104 new pages that are engaging and speak to a relevant topic, meaning you're preventing your website from going stale. New content peppered with keywords also helps dramatically with SEO optimization, just be sure to integrate your well-oiled blog directly on to your website to ensure it's helping you rise in the all-important search result category.

Blogging is not just for the aspiring sports writer, or a new mom seeking an outlet to broadcast her triumphs and tragedies as a parent. This social media tool is also a professional tool, which can greatly enhance your website as a go-to source for commentary and information on pertinent industry topics.

Learn more about how this valuable social media medium can help heighten your online visibility, and also download a great social media demographics chart to see how your target audiences utilizes blogs.

Five Ways A Public Relations Firm Can Utilize Internet Marketing

If you're a public relations firm, advances of Web 2.0 capabilities have changed the way some agencies communicate with their clients' audience. Internet Marketing is an emerging industry and, when paired with traditional PR techniques, can become an invaluable marketing strategy to heighten exposure and increase sales leads for clients.

Here are five ways to effectively leverage proven inbound marketing tactics in this digital age. Also, be sure to check-out our latest book "Put the ‘Public' Back into Public Relations," which elaborates and illustrates these points...

 

1.          Keep the content fresh
Often times a client will launch a website and think that the work is complete. But in reality, the maintenance on any corporate site has just begun once it's shot into the Web; the site should be ever-changing, and frequently updated with fresh content. One way to do this is to create a virtual newsroom that's replete with press releases, links and clips of favorable news coverage. Provide employee profiles that show the character working behind the corporate logo. Add an RSS feed widget of other news outlets sharing industry-specific information. The best part about a website is that you have complete control, so don't ever let it so stale. A public relations firm can work with a client and dictate the flow of positive information being published.

 

2.          Blog, frequently
The easiest way to prevent that aforementioned stale feeling is to get your clients to blog.  Work with your client to compile a small group of writers who can set aside a few hours each week to contribute valuable and engaging content. What are their reactions to the latest industry trends? How are they helping/giving back to the community? Let's learn more about the new C-level executive who has recently been hired. HubSpot allows users to integrate blogs and other social media tools into building a website. A blog is one of the best (and easiest) ways to provide fresh content that could ultimately draw reporters and trade journals to a website, asking for more information on (i.e) industry trends, and your client's outlook on the next quarter.  Bring the media to you, don't spend hours trying to track them down.

 

3.       Get noticed, be conscious of the search engine
Many sites will provide unique and engaging content, but they're not adequately equipped with a proper optimization service to actually get found. Work with your client's IT department and a good analytics program to ensure traffic is improving, and identify content that is ranking high in search engine results pages (SERPs), and which ones aren't. Determine keywords that can be peppered throughout the copy of each and every page. Make sure the information is directly related to your headlines and titles. Add metatags and metadescriptions. These proven methods will help your client's site rise to the top of search results.

 

4.       Quantify your performance
Often times, it can be difficult to truly quantify the performance of a public relations campaign. Aside from the amount of media coverage, there are few metrics that can measure the success of a communications plan. One way is the rate of converting online traffic into sales leads.  Build landing pages and place effective calls to action and value propositions that ask the visitor for contact information in exchange for valuable and original content only your client can provide.  Our eBook that expounds upon this blog post is a perfect example!  This will help create further interaction as part of our final tip: an e-mail campaign.

 

5.       Connect via e-mail
Once you have hooked a visitor to your website, continue to connect with this potential customer through an e-mail campaign. Despite all the advances that have been made in Internet Marketing, e-mail is still the #1 means of online communication. A targeted e-mail campaign bolsters the value of any website by enabling prospects to directly share content with each other. Web content management systems (web-based software used to build, launch, and maintain a website) often provide e-mail marketing tools to maintain this relationship with site visitors.  Blast out any relevant information just posted to your website. Alert your database about a webinar you'll be hosting next week, forward them a new eBook they may be interested in reading after already downloading some of your previous work. Most importantly, think of emailing not as a sales tool, but as a communication tool.  How exactly you incorporate it will vary depending on the client, but always be cognizant of creating a level of interaction between the website and its visitors over a sustained period of time.

CMS solutions targeting the SMB market are currently bargains

A new wave affordable and feature-rich CMS (Content Management Systems) Solutions are rapidly minimizing the competitive advantages that larger, more well-funded companies had over the small to mid-sized business market (SMB), when it comes to website features and price.

 

Some Open Source CMS solutions, like WordPress are free and offer great features for building out a website that looks every bit as professional as what a $100,000 CMS solution can offer, but may be limited their Internet Marketing features. 

 

The CMS solutions to watch are those catering to the SMB market.  Affordable CMS solutions are gaining ground on larger, more expensive CMS providers by offering many robust features at reasonable prices.  For instance, take Hubspot’s SMB solution. For $250 per month a customer gets a CMS package that includes a number of website templates to choose from, a host of integrated analytical reporting tools, a blog module and management tools for social-media and e-mail automation.  Companies like Hubspot are providing mini-Internet Marketing machines that enable the SMB market to shift their focus from website development and database automation to getting found online and converting sales leads.

 

Here are some basic Internet Marketing features your business should evaluate when looking at a CMS solution.

 

·         SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Analytics – How good is the SEO of each web page on your site and what are the recommendations to improve them to get found by more visitors

·         Blog Module – You can always add a 3^rd party blog module to your site, but many CMS solutions have one built-in.

·         Social Media Monitoring and Automation – This is important to save you time and energy, as a good social media monitoring tool will be able to tell you where on the Internet relevant conversations are occurring.  Buttons to send out blog newly-published blog articles to social media outlets can save lots of time.

·         E-Mail Automation – Enables the user to build and execute a lead nurturing campaign to engage prospects and customers after their first website visit.

·         Follow me IP – After a site visitor’s first visit, this CMS feature will lay down a cookie and track the visitor on-site based on their IP address.  This enables the business to do some targeting online marketing by showing specific content based on visitor habits and history.  

 

There are some great, affordable CMS solutions available in the market-place right now and the better ones should start to increase in price over the next 18 months as CMS providers stop chasing market-share and focus on profits.  So, if you are a small to mid-sized business, take advantage of it, while you can.