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Marketing Plan Tips from INBOUND 2014 & Kieran Flanagan - Promote it!

Written by Vicky Zancanella | September 19, 2014

Inbound 2014 at HubSpot has been a success! One of the great things about connecting with others in the same field as you is all the learning that goes on! Sharing ideas and teaching everything from the basics to the newest strategies, looking at marketing from a different perspective… If you are listening, you will learn something new or at least get a new view of something you didn’t quite see before.

That’s why we want to share a bit from Kieran Flanagan’s “The Art & Science of Content Promotion” presentation at Inbound 2014.

A big part of any business, large or small is CREATION- Creation of a product or service, creation of assets and positions in your company or the best new thing since sliced bread. Part of the creation process in business is the creation of marketing content- blogging, informational brochures, writing a book-- And you have 60,000 copies and no one is banging down the door.

Now what?

"The notion that you can simply create interesting content people will magically find is a lie. If you build it, they won't necessarily come. You have to treat your content executions like a product and launch them the same way you would launch a product."  - Jay Bear

You have the CREATION piece down pretty well- but you forgot about the PROMOTION piece. You can have the most amazing {fill in the blank}, but unless you have a marketing plan to promote it, how will anyone know? How will anyone find it?

 “To be truly effective at content marketing, we need to excel at promotion.”  

-Kieran Flanagan 

 Kieran described it well by breaking it down into a few simple steps with a few tips thrown in.

Set your Goals:

Start with the End Goal in mind for your marketing campaign. If you want to gain 5 new customers, then start with that. Use your conversion rates you know you already get (yes you will be improving them, but let’s start with what is really happening).

So if you have an average customer conversion rate of 10% then you will need 50 leads (50 leads x 10% = 5 new customers).

If you know you have a conversion rate of 2% for your website visitors to leads, you will need 2,500 website visitors (since 2,500 visitors x 2%= 200 leads).

So if you want 2,500 views of your content, you should do a bit of research to see which platform will be the best to reach 2,500 people.

To put it all together so your small business can make the most of your marketing plan:

2,500 visitors = 200 leads = 5 new customers = Goals met = successful marketing campaign

 

Plan your Promotion:

The promotion plan should be broken down into 3 parts: Pre-promotion, Promotion and On-going Promotion.

Pre-promotion
Do your research on what is getting shared and where- jump on the wagon! Your marketing plan should include your target audiences as well as the platforms you will use. Plan outreach lists and promotional packs and get those emails ready!

Tip #1

As you write your content, first of all, do your research to see what people want to know and second of all, do your research as to where to share it to get the biggest catch. List your marketing channels and available audiences- Facebook fans vs. what engagement you are getting. Look on social media networks or forums to get a fresh perspective. Use Quora to address questions people are asking as well as to share your helpful answers.
 
Week of promotion
Do a soft launch and then Splash!- Send your emails, promote on the channels you previously planned, and reach out for guest blogging. Promote as much as you can the first week to gain organic momentum.
On-going Promotion
Don’t forget about the content after it's been published because “there’s a whole lot of leverage in re-promoting your content.” Go back quarterly and evaluate how to re-promote it. Keep it on the same URL but update your old content; revamp and re-promote it and gain even more leads to meet your goals.

Tip #2

Revise your current content- Find experts who have spoken on your topic and pull quotes you can add to your blogs or content offers. This adds credibility to what you have to say, and who doesn’t like to be quoted for something positive for a change! Adding quotes to your blogs and content could be as simple as inserting a quote from an employee at a business- They are likely to share with their family members and friends or it could be as big as pulling in quotes from “experts” in your field who have thousands of followers. In other words, make sure your marketing plan includes strategies to add “bait” in the content after you have it written.
I
Now go get working on not only creating great content, but take the time to include the promotion piece in your marketing plan- Don't forget to promote what you have worked so hard on!

Here at Half a Bubble Out we partner with our clients to promote the amazing things they do, the services they provide or the products they create. We understand the importance of promotion and partnering. If you are interested in learning more about wha Half A Bubble Out can do for you and your small business marketing, give us a call! We would love to talk with you about how we can help.

 

Related Articles:

How to Market Your Business With Inbound & Razzle Dazzle an Audience

Get the Most Out Of Your Content--Recycle Blog Posts

Creating a Marketing Plan for Small Business is as Easy as 123…456

 
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