INBOUND ACCELERATOR

Who do you rely on for marketing content creation: an in-house team, outside agencies, or some combination? Chances are that each brings different strengths to the table, judging by the response of 300 B2B marketers to a survey by Walker-Sands.

What advantages does an in-house team have over outsourcing? What do outside firms tend to do better? And how can you get the best of both worlds when you work with an agency?

Sometimes the most important lessons are those that may seem obvious or simple, but which are overlooked and ignored in the search for the next big thing. We, as humans and as marketers, sometimes convince ourselves that success is complicated and that the best strategy is something we haven’t yet tried.

We forget to go back to the basics upon which a successful marketing strategy should be built. This can be especially true of agencies that strive to differentiate themselves by being creative and innovative and coming up with new ideas to wow and woo potential clients. But when the very foundations of a marketing strategy are ignored, the whole thing tends to collapse.

This Marketing Lesson post focuses on the three simple (not easy, but simple) steps that every marketing strategy should build from.

Did you know that the average client-agency relationship in the marketing and PR world is 3.2 years or less? That’s really not much time when targeting strategies and campaigns that can extend for months and generate results years down the road. And with turnover that rapid, it means that the average agency is spending a lot of time prospecting and trying to land new contracts to replace the ones that are closing.

(Sources: The Drum and Bedford Group Consulting)

What would happen if the energy dedicated to finding new accounts was instead focused on building relationships that maintain the clients you already have and increase the likelihood that the contacts you have in those businesses may bring you even more business in the future?

2019 marks 15 years since I took the leap and founded the first iteration of JONES.

Since 2004, we’ve seen the introduction and nearly universal adoption of Facebook, YouTube and smartphones — and all the changes in buyer behavior that go along with them — which has changed the marketing and PR field tremendously.

Some see marketing and communications as an art. And it definitely can be: crafting creative text and images that elicit emotion and drive action requires creativity, vision, and an understanding of how words and visual elements work together. That’s the art.

But, it is also a science. Marketing success relies on data, as well. That includes both the data that help tell your brand’s stories (see more on using data in marketing content here: 5 Ways To Use Survey Data) and analyzing your own performance data to find ways to improve future campaigns.

Media audits are a staple of the public relations world: It’s important to know who is saying what about your business, how often, where and when.

That knowledge is just as vital when crafting your marketing strategies, as all communications should be part of a cohesive strategy that works together.

When the Content Marketing Institute asked B2B buyers what they look for in content from vendors, nearly 50 percent said they want content that is more informational than promotional. (Infographic)

I’m a small business owner, so I understand the challenges. And I know that one of the key challenges small business owners run up against is finding the time to handle marketing, including digital marketing, amongst all of the other tasks that demand time—employee management and hiring, cash flow, strategy, customer service, and, depending on the type of business, manufacturing, sales, and more.