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Executing an effective inbound marketing requires three things: 1) patience, 2) commitment, and 3) good decision making. It could take months, or even years, to see a significant payoff from inbound marketing. This is where patience and commitment come into play. Good decision making is less straightforward. It requires a level of expertise to do the right things the right way. It also requires good data to make educated, informed decisions about what to do next. Our Guide To Measuring Inbound Marketing showed you how to measure your inbound marketing efforts across a variety of platforms. Now it's time to go deeper. Most marketing automation platforms provide only a modest level of web analytics. This is adequate for a high-level view of what’s taking place, but it’s not enough for extensive analysis. Google Analytics is considered the gold-standard in free web analytics platforms, and it should be used in conjunction with any inbound marketing campaign. While Google Analytics provides hundreds of different reports and metrics, only a few are essential to the modern day inbound marketer.

The ability to measure digital marketing activity is one of its greatest advantages. Inbound marketing, which leans heavily on digital marketing tactics, has similar advantages. But unlike more traditional digital marketing tactics, which try to convert visitors into customers during their first website visit, inbound marketing is a long term strategy. It involves nurturing visitors weeks, months, or even years before they are ready to make a purchase.

Like the early days of email marketing, the early days of cold calling were incredibly effective. Getting a phone call was a novelty. It was special, not annoying. This led to more telephone conversations and ultimately, more sales. That’s changed quite a bit over time. Marketers and salespeople have over-used the tactic, driving down its effectiveness and annoying prospects in the process.

Are you excited about the prospect of inbound marketing for your business, but afraid you won’t achieve a reasonable ROI?

As a salesperson, it is extremely important to get off to a good start with your prospect. The days where selling and relationship building went hand and hand are over. Today it is all about what you know and how you solve problems. In this article, you will learn more about how research has revealed the best type of B2B salesperson.

If you are looking to fill your pipeline with qualified sales prospects in a predictable, repeatable way, you need to read this post. While inbound marketing and lead nurturing using marketing automation platforms like Hubspot have proven very effective and many of our clients are seeing remarkable results, if you’re in sales and have quotas to hit, you need to consider investing some time and money into outbound marketing. The combination of a good, persona-based inbound and outbound marketing program can create a powerful "selling machine".

Utilizing the right marketing mix can mean the difference between a healthy growing business, and going out of business entirely. Today, outbound marketing and inbound marketing are the two primary forms of marketing to potential customers. Understanding the proper mix between the two can be vital to the success of your business.

Monitoring your competition can be either constructive or counter-productive, depending on how you approach it.

Over the last 11 years in the marketing space, we've identified two over-arching reasons why some marketing plans don't work. The first is a failure to adequately measure the lead and lag metrics of a campaign. The lead metrics are those actions that might ultimately lead to a qualified prospect or a sale. The lag metrics are the bottom line - leads generated, sales made, email signups, etc. You get the idea. The second reason is a failure to understand what is important to the customer. Think about it - how can you effectively communicate and motivate a buyer to consider you if you don't know what's important to him/her.