We’ve finally reached that time of year where the Discovery Channel plays nothing but footage and documentaries of one of nature’s fiercest predators. That’s right, we’re in the midst of Shark Week 2015! In honor of the 28th annual Shark Week, the Fat Guy Media team would like to help you get ahead of your competition and become the shark of your industry. No, we’re not encouraging you to literally eat your competitors. Instead, we’re going to provide you with some inbound marketing information to help you gobble up business as you reach the top of your industry’s food chain.
Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing
Much like sharks don’t typically go out of their way to hunt humans, neither should you simplymarket at potential customers. The statistics don’t lie. There has been a shift from interruptive outbound marketing to inbound marketing due to the dwindling audience that outbound marketing converts. Not only does inbound marketing generate 54 percent more leads than outbound marketing, each of those leads costs 62 percent less than they would if they were generated from outbound techniques. Creating useful content is no doubt the best way to reel in leads.
Lessons from Shark Week: Hunting Techniques
The Great White Inbound Shark
Great White sharks are opportunistic hunters. This means they’ll usually hunt the prey that’s easiest for them to catch. Similarly, people that are familiar with your quality content are the easiest for you to convert. You’ll have built a relationship with them and shown them that your business provides a viable solution to their problems and needs. Once potential customers engage with your blogs, emails, social media posts or any other aspect of your inbound marketing strategy, it’s time to go in for the kill. Place calls-to-action in your blogs and emails and respond to people who engage you with on social media. This way, you’ll have gained leads through non-intrusive inbound strategies.
The Outbound Mako Shark
That’s not to say sharks never go out of their way to pursue prey. We Shark Week fans have seen plenty of footage of Mako sharks jetting through the water in pursuit of a single fish. Channel your inner Mako and incorporate some old school marketing tactics into your strategy to become the ultimate marketing predator.
Inbound Marketing Tools: The Teeth of Your Marketing Strategy
HubSpot
It’s no secret that the Fat Guy Media team is extremely fond of its inbound marketing software, HubSpot. HubSpot helps us take care of virtually every aspect of our own and our clients’ inbound strategies: SEO, social media, analytics, lead management—and the list goes on.
WordPress
WordPress is our content management system (CMS) of choice when it comes to blogging. With plenty of themes, widgets and plugins to choose from, WordPress is very customizable. It’s also content driven, meaning your website will rank higher on search engine results pages.
Feedly
Feedly will allow you to subscribe to any blogs you want. It’s a great resource to discover what other marketers are writing about. The streamlined subscription will help you learn some new things from other bloggers and even inspire you to write some more yourself. Now that sharks have helped us learn what it means to be a great marketer, it’s time to test the waters yourself. If you have any questions about finding your perfect balance of Great White and Mako, we’d love to help. Email us at sales@fatguymedia.com or give us a call at 516.535.5353 for more information. Happy Shark Week!
