Waypost Blog: Inbound Marketing Strategies

Content Marketing and Storytelling: True Love Forever

In my last post, I asked a pretty short question with a long answer - does a small business need a digital marketing strategy?

My answer was a pretty emphatic yes, every business needs a marketing strategy! Storytelling is one marketing strategy that really works for small businesses.

Ask yourself — what's your story? We don't necessarily mean that you should be telling every potential client or customer about your early years building tree houses in your backyard — instead, we're talking about the narrative for your small business (for example, here's ours!). We're talking not about your what or how, but about your why.

In an increasingly-connected global marketplace, your potential customers want to connect with you. One of the best ways to build that authentic personal connection that is the foundation of a successful Inbound Marketing strategy is telling your prospects and current customers your story.

Posted by Katherine Faulk on May 8, 2018 in Inbound Marketing | 0 Comments

Who Are You Trusting With Your Brand?

Your success as a small business owner is the result of years of hard work and trust-building within your community. You've worked day and night to make a name for yourself and to build a brand that's associated with quality products, trustworthy service, and overall reliability.

The people you hire should also have a deep-seated understanding of your business' core values, goals, and standards, as your team is a further reflection of your brand.

So, before you contract your sister's neighbor's son who makes websites in his basement after his shift at Pizza Hut, or hire your cousin who runs a foodie Instagram account that has a few thousand followers, take a moment to reflect on all the work you've put into crafting your business and your brand.

Ask yourself, "Are they the right fit for this position and this company? Do I trust them with my brand?"

Posted by Michelle Phillips on May 8, 2018 in Digital Marketing, Web Design | 0 Comments

Does a Small Business Need a Digital Marketing Strategy?

Are you a small business owner feeling swamped by all the well-meaning marketing advice online? We totally get it. It can feel like every digital marketing agency out there is ready to elbow each other aside to answer your most common marketing questions, but they're less interested in whether or not those answers actually help you.

Small businesses sometimes succeed on a wing and a prayer, but it helps to know where those wings are taking you, too. Which is why we've put together a blog that's not a sales pitch. It's just an answer to one simple question:

Does a small business need a marketing strategy?

Posted by Katherine Faulk on May 7, 2018 in Inbound Marketing | 0 Comments

Create Free, Fast & Easy Video With Soapbox (#cultureofvideo)

One of the biggest objections we hear as to why a company isn't creating regular video content is that it takes too much time and skill - it's just too disruptive. I actually love hearing this objection because, believe it or not, I can crush it with a single word. That word, ladies and gentlemen, is SOAPBOX.

Posted by Sam Gerdt on May 3, 2018 in video marketing | 0 Comments

Digital Marketing for B2B: Stay Professional Without Losing Your Personality

Digital marketing for B2B can sometimes fall into the trap of being boring. The marketing team may have a million ideas for fascinating content, but they never get approved. What does get out there is stale at best, and your prospects are half-asleep before they finish reading a single page on your site.

It doesn't have to be that way!

Even businesses in heavily-regulated industries like medical device companies or IT support and software sales can embrace effective digital marketing without having to leave personality at home. It just takes some preparation, a touch of planning, and a team that understands how to have a great time selling your product without stepping over any lines.

Posted by Katherine Faulk on May 3, 2018 in b2b marketing | 0 Comments

3 Strategies to Guarantee Social Media Isn't Your Worst Investment

There was a time when social media and marketing platforms were willing to give you amazing value just for using their services and contributing to their grand experiment. Social media was one giant beta test, and it lulled people into believing that the goal of these new platforms was to create free exposure: to "connect people".

Unfortunately, the only real goal any successful business is going to have is generating revenue. Once that "free exposure" platform goes public, shareholders will be expecting to see profits.

Facebook is a great example. I want to break down what it takes to be effective on social media today, focusing mainly on a single metric.

Reach.

Posted by Sam Gerdt on May 1, 2018 in Social Media, Facebook | 0 Comments

B2B Lead Generation Strategies That Work

When your growth and success depends on building relationships and closing deals with other businesses rather than individual consumers, it's easy to struggle with our increasingly-connected and personal digital marketplace.

It's easy enough to generate leads at random, but managing to ensure that all or even most of those leads are qualified and worth pursuing? That's a much tougher goal.

Luckily, there are a few tried-and-true B2B lead generation strategies that you can rely on.

Posted by Katherine Faulk on April 26, 2018 in b2b marketing | 0 Comments

5 Digital Marketing Best Practices for Law Firms

Few industries are as heavily-regulated when it comes to their words and actions online as law offices and law firms. Many lawyers hesitate to do anything online beyond a basic website and the occasional Facebook post, worried that being too active, casual, or even just too interesting could lead them to be subject to review or even potential punishment.

There are tons of opportunities out there attorneys to find new clients by utilizing Inbound Marketing! It just takes a bit of finesse and a lot of strategy.

We have 5 digital marketing best practices for law firms to help you get started.

Posted by Katherine Faulk on April 19, 2018 in Digital Marketing | 0 Comments

What is a Website Visitor Worth?

Recently, a meeting with a prospective client led to an interesting conversion about the value of a web design and a website.

What is a website visitor worth? What is the value of a website visitor and lead? We took a look at the numbers and came up with some pretty interesting answers to the question.

Posted by Doug Fowler on April 18, 2018 | 0 Comments

With Web Design and Marketing Services, You Get What You Pay For

Let's say your company is looking for a new web design and digital marketing agency. You put out a request for proposals, and a few agencies respond back with their strategies and pricing. The strategies all look comparable, but pricing is all over the map—"Company 1" quoted the website at $3,000, their marketing services were only $800 dollars a month, and you can cancel at any time; meanwhile, "Company 2" priced the new site at $8,000 and went on to ask for a 12 month commitment for marketing activities that ran an additional $4,000 thousand dollars per month.

If both companies are offering roughly the same services (for the sake of this scenario, let's say both companies quoted you for blogging, social media, landing page creation, and email newsletters), why not go for the cheaper one? After all, if Company 2 can do it for that price, why can't Company 1?

Clearly they're just trying to price gouge you, right?

Not so much. As with virtually everything in life, you get what you pay for.

Let me show you what I mean:

Posted by Michelle Phillips on April 18, 2018 in Digital Marketing, Web Design | 0 Comments