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Some things are timeless, and while certain aspects of inbound marketing seem to change constantly (hello, Facebook algorithm, we’re talking to you), some classic tips stand up to change. Perhaps that’s why some of our most popular blog posts remain those we published at the inception of the Inbound Accelerator.
I’ll quickly recap the 15 most-read posts since we launched this blog four years ago.
1. Do These 8 things Before Hiring an Inbound Marketing Agency
If you are considering hiring an agency to help you maximize your inbound marketing program, the tips I provide in this 2014 post to prepare you for the interview process still stand true. And since then, we’ve taken the concept a little farther with posts detailing the criteria you should use to evaluate agencies: 4 Secrets of the Perfect HubSpot Partner Agency and 4 MORE Secrets of the Perfect HubSpot Partner Agency.
2. Marketing Acronyms Can be a Real PITA
Take a tongue in cheek look at the jargon we use in digital marketing—plus find a full listing of acronyms and what they mean, in case your colleagues are using some you don’t quite follow.
3. Consideration Stage Marketing Content Sets the Stage for Sales Win
As you create content for all stages of the sales funnel, don’t overlook providing content for the middle of the funnel—the consideration stage, when leads are seeking more specific solutions, but don’t necessarily want to hear only about your product. Find tips for keywords, content structure and formats that target the consideration stage.
4. 3 Ways to Measure Call-to-Action Success
You want to know which of your marketing elements is most effective, right? That includes measuring three key metrics for your calls-to-action: click-through rate, clicks to submissions, and views to submission.
5. 3 Ways to Define the Customer Sales Cycle and Segment Marketing
No matter how you define the sales cycle, it is essential to create content that specifically targets each step along the way. A prospect who has never heard of your company before is looking for different information than what you want to provide to a hot lead comparing products and ready to make a decision.
6. A Primer on Creating Brand Ambassadors
Brand ambassadors and word of mouth referrals are one of the most important sources of new customers for many businesses. Walk with me through 3 steps to create brand ambassadors, reward them and maximize their influence to attract more business.
7. Why Your Blog Should Be the Center of Your Marketing Universe
Consider the difference between a marketing blog (just one of multiple marketing tools pointing toward your business) and marketing your blog (putting your blog at the center and using other marketing elements such as social media and emails to point toward the blog). Why put your blog at the center? Because it fuels a spiral that increases awareness, lead generation and sales.
8. How to Turn a Tagline Into a Living Brand Identity
A case study of the brand identity and inbound marketing program JONES created for a long-time client, that took what had been a simple tagline and turned it into a vibrant content-based inbound marketing strategy.
9. 7 Lessons in (Non) Productivity
We can all use reminders from time to time about the habits that are stealing time. It’s worth your time to check out this infographic about being more productive.
10. 3 Business Blogging Benefits You May Not have Considered
A primer on how a business blog provides SEO clout, offers industry thought leadership potential and is a platform for placement of calls-to-action that link to lead-generating offers.
11. Three CTA Metrics You Need to Track
Do you know how well your calls-to-action are performing? It’s time to track click-through rates, clicks to submissions and views to submissions to improve performance and ROI.
12. 4 of the Biggest Benefits of Lead Nurturing
Timely, targeted, and automated with a higher rate of engagement compared to generic emails—those are the benefits of using lead nurturing emails to continue a connection after visitors convert to leads on your website.
13. Know Your Sales Funnel Stages
Whether you call it the sales funnel or buyer’s journey, the needs of a lead at the beginning of the process are different from those of a potential customer who is ready to make a purchase decision. Know what information your content should provide at each step along the way.
14. 8 Ways Your Marketing Department Can Repurpose Content from the PR Team
Not all marketing material needs to be created from scratch. Chances are your public relations team is already writing things that can be repurposed and repackaged as elements in inbound marketing campaigns.
15. A Dozen Items Every Media Audit Should Include
A media audit is a key part of discovery, uncovering what is being said about your brand and your competitors, and who controls the message. This checklist offers 12 items that should be included in a complete audit.
These are the blog articles, from more than 600 we have published on the Inbound Accelerator so far, that have generated the most traffic. I think it is because they have offered solid advice on a wide range of topics and tactics involving inbound marketing: blogging to lead nurturing, content creation to analyzing results.
Do you have favorite posts that you return to or have shared with others? Tell us which have been your “must-read” articles.
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