How Authentic Is Your Inbound Marketing?
An associate forwarded a link to me for a YouTube clip about authenticity in business. The presenter, who makes great use of humor and reflections on our culture, makes the case that authenticity is:
a) What people are looking for in the companies they choose to do business with and;
b) That authenticity can be identified by a one-to-one relationship between what you
claim to be doing and the results you achieve.
Apart from my appreciation that this particular presentation was exceptionally well done, the message got me thinking about the authenticity of efforts to really change the way we
market.
At Innovative Marketing Resources we speak with a lot of companies about their marketing programs and growing their businesses. We find very few that haven’t heard about the revolutionary concepts of inbound marketing and turning websites into magnets for qualified leads. But there are even fewer that are really doing it. After a presentation on the inbound marketing paradigm, common responses include:
- We already hired a firm to do keyword analysis for us
- We’re using Google analytics
- We get free SEO from our hosting company
- Telesales is doing lead nurturing
- We already have a blog on Wordpress. I think some of the engineers post to it... occasionally
- Social media? Sure, our president tweets… we’re even looking at facebook
And how’s that working for you? Usually the answer is, “we’re not sure”, which is a sure tip-off that your inbound marketing effort isn’t as authentic as you believe. One definite sign that your business isn’t fully engaged in its inbound marketing effort is that you don’t know what’s working and what’s not.
The corollary to this authenticity test is whether you got more quality leads from your website this week than last week. If you didn’t and you don’t know why, you’re not really doing inbound marketing… your marketing may have an authenticity gap. If you suspect an authenticity gap, and you’d like to explore how to close it and start growing your business with inbound marketing, Innovative Marketing Resources offers a free audit of your program. What are your thoughts about the role of authenticity in business marketing?
