Wednesday, May 25, 2016

How to Grade Your Marketing Automation Strategy In-House

How to Grade Your Marketing Automation Strategy In-House
Implementing marketing automation into your in-house operations and procedures is a challenge no matter what size your business is. That being said, it’s hard to get an accurate perspective of whether or not your marketing automation tools are helping your business or hindering your progress.  Luckily, marketers have long since suffered with this problem and created a solution fitted to the cause: Microsoft’s Modern Marketers Assessment.

Fill out the support ticket to get started.  After you’ve submitted your information, your assessment will begin. From your social media efforts to your blog posts and landing pages, this assessment will judge various marketing channels and show you how well your marketing automation tools are functioning within your business and on your website.  This is especially helpful for those who are just learning how sales and marketing automation are two parts of one whole when it comes to business Internet marketing.

Why Marketing Automation Counseling Is Important

It’s pretty hard to judge whether or not your return on investment is matching your marketing productivity goals if you don’t have any standards to measure your efforts against.  Marketing automation consulting is a good way to get a professional opinion or solution on your current marketing automation software and strategy.  Not only will this give you a clear image of what your strengths are, it will help you identify weak points in your strategy before they become large problems. Whether your issue be training, time, or simply putting the big picture into motion,  sometimes the most difficult part of it all is identifying the problem.  Common issues for many small to medium businesses include:
  • Lack of proper in-house training to teach employees how to use the marketing automation software.
  • The purchased marketing automation tools do not make sense for the needs of the business.
  • No dedicated marketing staff members
  • No communication between the sales and marketing teams
If you're considering marketing automation services, make sure the agency has a multitude of experience with businesses similar to yours.  This will make communication much easier as well as the way you and your team interact with marketing automation tools.

To put the icing on the cake, marketing automation services are a great asset to your business when implemented in accordance with a solid inbound marketing plan.  In addition to nurturing prospects to your brand, your team will actually spend less time structuring campaigns and more time improving them for the customers that interact with your business the most.

Monday, May 23, 2016

3 Signs You Need to Hire an SEO Agency

seo agency

As the world of eCommerce and online brand development expands, search engine optimization has become the job of a team as opposed to a single person.  With updates happening faster than most marketing managers have the time to learn, many businesses turn to the help of a seo agency to get their search engine optimization strategies back on track.

Do you need to hire an SEO Agency?

Here are 3 major signs it's time to start interviewing:


1. You're not getting any website traffic


An artistic website display means nothing if there aren't any visitors using the website.  If it seems that visitors are leaving as quickly as they arrive, it's time to focus on generating content that benefits the lives of those who interact with it.  Search engine optimization can help you define the needs of your ideal customers and fine-tune your marketing strategy to match.


2. No one actually knows what the SEO strategy is.


Believe it or not, this is the most common issue small businesses face when managing their own digital marketing strategy.  Though they may be selecting keywords, they have no plan on how to make that keyword rank for them.  Worse yet, many waste their time choosing keywords where the competition borders impossible to beat with no prior ranking history.


3. You don't know that your search engine optimization strategies are not working.


If you don't have any clue why your website has no traffic, you need to hire a search engine optimization agency.

Once your business had decided to invest in search engine optimization services, it's important to look for a search engine optimization agency that can deliver results in addition to excellent communication among your and your team.   Though it's easy to go with the first company that catches your eye, it's important to go out on a few dates with different agencies in order to weigh your options against one another.

Know exactly what you need.  It isn't a good idea to go into any sale blind.  Take the time to discuss with your sales and marketing team how far you want search engine optimization strategies implemented into your sales and marketing budget.   Create a checklist and ask the SEO agency if they can provide answers for every point you have listed.