The Construction Marketing Association’s Inbound Marketing Strategies for Construction Webcast was filled with information and examples of inbound marketing in the construction industry from CMA Chairman Neil M. Brown and Hubspot’s Steve Haase.
In addition, results of a national survey of construction professionals were presented. Notably, 82% of those surveyed employ inbound marketing. To view all results, read Inbound Marketing in Construction – Survey Results. Below we will summarize the webcast with information on what inbound marketing is, the 3 steps to inbound marketing from Hubspot’s Steve Haase, and case study examples.
What is Inbound Marketing?
The term inbound marketing was coined by HubSpot’s Brian Halligan in 2005. Inbound marketing is earning the attention of prospects, making yourself easy to be found, and drawing customers to your website by producing content customers value. David Meerman Scott recommends marketers “earn their way” in contrast to outbound marketing where they “buy, beg, or bug their way in” via paid ads, PR, or sales people (http://bit.ly/vMQP0).
Below is an example of The Inbound/Outbound Marketing Process.
3 Steps to Inbound Marketing
Hubspot’s Steve Haase identified 3 steps to inbound marketing: get found, convert, and analyze.
Get Found
Getting found includes blogging, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media.
You should blog to build a marketing asset, fuel the inbound marketing machine, and to build thought leadership and trust. Avoid making the biggest blogging mistake; using a “free” URL from a blog service.
Search engine optimization can increase your organic search results. Organic search is better than paid search because it is free, you get more traffic (80%) clicks, it’s more educated, and it is longer lasting. Pick your keywords based on search volume, relevance to your business, and based on your competition. Google makes decisions based on how well your site is optimized, 25% on-page and 75% off-page. On-page SEO includes page titles, URL structure, headings & text, and meta descriptions. Off-page includes links back to your website. How can you get more links? Have something worth linking to.
When using social media, make sure to: listen, share, and be human. Listen to what and who is talking about you, your competitors, or their problems. Share your content in order to spread your reach, ask questions to start conversations, and share your resources to show thought leadership. Most importantly, be human.
Convert
Convert customers using calls-to-action, landing pages, and email marketing.
Calls-to-action should be both action-oriented and obvious/clear. For example, “Click here to learn about our early bird fiberglass pool packages”. The wording encourages action, while the wording is clear. Also, consider calls-to-action in prominent, or obvious, locations on your website.
A landing page allows you to convert anonymous traffic into leads with names, contact information, and interests. Great landing pages are clear and simple, and show value.
There are 5 types of email: newsletter or digest, dedicated, lead nurturing, sponsorhip/partner, or transactional. Great emails leverage relationships, have call-to-actions, and are readable. Note, that most users report reading email on mobile devices. Therefore, mobile readability is a factor that must be considered.
Analyze
You can analyze your inbound marketing efforts using a variety of metrics including visits, leads, or customers. Then, perform a cross-analysis. Measure these results across each channel/offer to see what is the most effective.
Case Studies
CMA Chairman Neil M. Brown and Hubspot’s Steve Haase both shared case study examples of inbound marketing.
Construction Marketing Advisors implemented an integrated digital marketing and thought leadership program including website search engine optimization, paid search, blogging, and social media (Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+). Case studies and whitepapers support these efforts, while leveraging low cost publicity for Norix Furniture. As a result of these inbound marketing efforts, website and blog analytics, website registrations and requests for quotes (RFQs) have increased dramatically. New product launches use the refined digital infrastructure for rapid market entry. Norix sales have grown at double-digit rates since the project started.
Global Plastic Sheeting needed a way to dramatically boost their search engine ranking, increase web traffic, and convert a substantial of that traffic into happy customers. Therefore, they used HubSpot’s Content Management tool to take control over their website and easily build numerous pages. They used HubSpot’s Keyword Grader to understand what terms people were using to search for their product. This valuable insight helped them to gain Page One rankings on Google for 137 of their keywords. Finally, using HubSpot’s Lead Nuturing tool, Global Plastic Sheeting was able to customize their email marketing campaigns to better address the specific needs of prospective customers visiting their website – and convert more of those leads into happy customers.
Don’t miss our next webcast: Advertising Best Practices For Construction