The Innovative Marketer's Blog

This week, I am writing from New York City, where I am attending Internet Week New York 2012 (https://www.internetweekny.com/).  Internet Week New York gives attendees the chance to experience the best of digital culture and New York’s booming tech scene.  The festival hosts an ambitious line up of classes given by top internet entrepreneurs and artists, interactive art installations, and numerous panels and keynote speeches featuring leading internet business thinkers.  David-Michel Davies, Chairman of Internet Week New York, described the festival as being “as fun, smart, entertaining, and social as the city’s vibrant tech scene.” 

Ensuring that your school is being effectively marketed and reaching your enrollment goals begins by having a great website with varied content.  Your overall web presence not only needs to look good; it is vitally important that your website supply valuable and up-to-date information to potential students and their families.

Are you looking for another method to increase site traffic and amplify enrollment?  A powerful way to reach out to prospective applicants and their families is creating engaging blog content.  Adding a blog to your marketing mix keeps your school website fresh and inviting and brings the benefits of inbound marketing: lower cost per applicant.  Consistently adding great blog content on a weekly basis will draw more visitors to your site and help you reach your school enrollment goals. 

As I was thinking about an inbound marketing topic to follow my blog last week on the need for powerful positioning statements, it occurred to me that I’d never written on the mechanics of writing a great blog.  A blog is one of the best tools for regularly adding relevant, keyword-rich content to your website, helping it rank better for key terms on search engines. So optimizing your blog posts will make your best top of funnel offer easier for your prospects to find.  

Your school’s website is vitally important, as it is the public face of your institution.  Your school or college most likely already has a great website with varied content.  Your total web presence not only needs to be visually appealing; it is also imperative that it be dynamic and supply valuable information to potential students and their families on a variety of platforms.  Are you looking for an additional approach to increase enrollment?  A powerful and influential way to reach out to future applicants, their parents and your local community is social network marketing through Facebook. 

Back before Hubspot formalized the principles of inbound marketing on its marketing software platform, our inbound marketing agency got a lot of business inquiries from companies that didn’t want to be bothered creating a brand. They just wanted results and didn’t see the need to create a brand to send out postcard solicitations, email campaigns, engage in social media networking or build a website. Brands were for big companies with big marketing budgets and time to spend on non-revenue generating activities they reasoned. Afterall, branding is one of those marketing black arts!

As a real estate professional, you know far more about the state of the industry than the average person. The best real estate agents are an informational resource, ready to educate prospects about the advantages of home-buying in a down market—lower selling prices and unique buying opportunities.  Focus on problem-solving and providing insight to your clients.  Strategically sharing your expert knowledge through targeted online marketing is the path to attracting qualified buyers in a down market.  Read on to learn specialized realtor marketing tips.

One of the first things our inbound marketing agency did with a new B2B client was go through a name change exercise for their business. Changing a business name is as traumatic as changing your own name and there are many factors to consider. Perhaps you’re considering a name change? If so these are things on my shortlist for name changers to consider:

With the first quarter of 2012 behind you, are you still looking for new ways to take your inbound marketing strategy to a whole new level?  Finding new strategies to increase online business lead generation is a big undertaking, and there are many different courses of action to choose from.  Of course, some real estate firms employ quick fixes and priority spending in order to kick up more web leads.  However, before jumping in, here are 5 things you can do immediately to increase business lead generation and turn your online visitors into tangible sales.

Are you a realtor looking to increase  lead generation and create new business at a fraction of the cost of just-listed just-sold postcards, newsletters, push email campaigns and other traditional real estate marketing programs? The National Association of Realtors reports that 90% of home buyers begin their searches online. Will these prospects find you? An inbound marketing strategy is the answer.

Traditional outbound real estate marketing casts a wide net aimed at potential clients through direct mail, print ads, classifieds and QR codes, and none of these tactics help realtors get found online by potential clients There are many factors that limit the effectiveness and ROI of traditional tactics in the current real estate market.  These outdated methods aim, but often fail, to reach potential buyers at the precise time they are ready to purchase.  To succeed in today’s market landscape, the development and implementation of an inbound marketing strategy is crucial.  Harness the power of the internet and all its available marketing channels to your advantage.

In my inbound marketing agency, the bottom of my sales funnel and my bottom line have a distinctly one-to-one kind of relationship. I bet it’s the same at your company or school. The goal at my inbound marketeting agency is to fill the funnel with qualified leads that will convert to loyal customers. Our agency's goal for our clients is the same.