INBOUND ACCELERATOR

There is very little in the world of business (or in the world, period) that has not been impacted in some way by the coronavirus pandemic that began less than a year ago. Businesses continue to react to the health crisis that has resulted in thousands of deaths, supply chain bottlenecks, a dramatic shift to a work-from-home strategy for many jobs, and the need to change existing business and marketing strategies.

As fourth quarter of 2019 began, none of us could have predicted what 2020 would mean to the budget proposals and marketing strategies we were getting ready to finalize by the end of the year. And now next year’s plans are anything but certain.

Developing and implementing a complete content marketing strategy that delivers results comes with its share of challenges, as Semrush discovered in a survey of nearly two thousand marketing pros. When asked what they found the most challenging and time consuming tasks, the answers ranged from developing content that resonates with the target audience to finding places to publish their content.

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 best way to learn how to do something right is by facing the consequences of doing it all wrong.

When it comes to hiring, I’ve made mistakes. And regretted them. But, I’ve also learned from them. Those mistakes, combined with what I know now about how I like to structure the workplace, have led me to develop a few guidelines I now keep in mind whenever I am hiring.

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?

Marketing and sales are undergoing a huge transition that began at the beginning of this decade and will continue in the years to come. That means that those of us working in the field will have to change with the industry and focus on the skills of the future.

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.