Inbound marketing is an exciting new marketing frontier that works to influence potential customers from the research stage of their buying journey and nurtures them to purchase. Every year, HubSpot, the driving force behind inbound marketing, hosts a massive international conference called Inbound16 that aims to enlighten and connect marketers looking to do things differently. Penquin MD, Veronica Wainstein, headed to the Boston-held conference late last year.
Inbound16 presented a lot of changes in technology for the marketing and advertising industry - and it screams futurism. As Veronica says, “In future, marketing and sales will need to do the same job to get people to buy into your products and services”.
Spitfire Inbound, Penquin’s sister company and inbound specialists, and Penquin, put together a list of three important things to look out for in the marketing world in 2017.
1. Technology impacts the sales process
Alison Leishman, inbound strategist at Spitfire Inbound says: “In this world of technology - keep it human. No matter how technology grows and machines learn to learn, remember that what differentiates you from the technology is your humanity.” Veronica adds that there is an overwhelming change in technology and although the digital age is limitless, faster, cheaper and easier to use, customers still seek human contact when they need it.
Amazon recently unveiled a grocery store without any lines or checkout counters called Amazon Go. It uses computer vision and sensors to detect what items you take out of store. You start by scanning an app when entering the Amazon Go store, do your normal shopping, and the sensors throughout the store identify the items in your cart and charge them to your account when you leave the store. The company has the ability to analyse items you are interested in and can combine this with your browsing activities to suggest even more products whenever you’re online.
We all know that content is king in inbound marketing, but managing complex content is key. Veronica notes: “People need bite-sized content and like to consume information little bits at a time.”
Whatever action you take, your marketing and sales efforts should be driven towards getting more conversions and turning visitors into leads and leads into customers. Impact Branding and Design suggests the following: “Define your conversion funnel assumptions. When someone lands on your homepage, where would they logically go next? Make that next step easier for them. That’s conversion optimisation in a nutshell, and you can try that for each page. Use any data you have, or start with assumptions and test, test, and test some more.”
4. What Penquin aims to do in 2017
In 2017, Penquin aims to make it easier for their clients by offering package deals across multiple channels whereas a 360 degree marketing campaign can be executed from one media package bought at a discounted price. Cross-pollination will occur where it becomes important to be on the lookout for complementary brands in order to package deals for consumers and make their purchase even more valuable. This will decrease content creation costs and expand reach through multiple points of distribution.
In the words of Gary Vaynerchuk, an entrepreneur and internet personality says: "If you don't put yourself out of business then someone else will do it for you."
How does your company plan to remove silos in 2017?
Contact us to discuss your marketing and sales needs for 2017.