This document discusses lessons learned from Element Three's experience implementing an inbound marketing strategy. It describes how the company struggled during the recession but then saw success by changing to an inbound approach. The key lessons are: 1) Inbound marketing must be a company culture, not just a strategy. 2) Companies need to clearly understand their brand identity and what value they provide customers. 3) Websites should be treated as the primary sales representative. 4) Content must be consistently produced to attract and engage customers. 5) Implementing inbound marketing requires patience as it takes time to achieve results.

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INBOUND MARKETING LESSONS
FOR BUSINESS GROWTH
Tiffany Sauder, President of Element Three
L @TiffanySauder

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Inbound Marketing

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FOR
SALESOLD

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30

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A Business Story About Inbound Marketing
BUSINESS FIRST

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1. Implement a better inbound marketing strategy.
2. Make inbound marketing a culture.
3. Get results faster.
Learn how to...

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the ELEMENT THREE story
Let’s start with where we started.

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The Recession
(circa 2008...)

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And, started asking
the right questions.
(Can we calculate ROI?)

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What I learned about ROI...
1. Everyone talked about it, but few would invest in it.
2. Internal processes prevented anyone from knowing
which client had closed and where they originated.

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Changing the game.
x
x x x x x
x
o oo
o oo oo o
o
o

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the TURNING POINT

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How much should I invest?

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How much should I invest?
Is it evolutionary or revolutionary?

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How much should I invest?
Is it evolutionary or revolutionary?
Will there actually be a ROI?

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How much should I invest?
Is it evolutionary or revolutionary?
Will there actually be a ROI?
How long will it take to see
results?

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How much should I invest?
Is it evolutionary or revolutionary?
Will there actually be a ROI?
How long will it take to see
results?
Does this work?

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How much should I invest?
Is it evolutionary or revolutionary?
Will there actually be a ROI?
How long will it take to see
results?
Does this work?
Do I have anything
relevant to say?

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How much should I invest?
Is it evolutionary or revolutionary?
Will there actually be a ROI?
How long will it take to see
results?
Does this work?
Do I seriously have to
blog that much?
Do I have anything
relevant to say?

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How much should I invest?
Is it evolutionary or revolutionary?
Will there actually be a ROI?
How long will it take to see
results?
Does this work?
Do I seriously have to
blog that much?
Will the team
follow me?
Do I have anything
relevant to say?

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How much should I invest?
Is it evolutionary or revolutionary?
Will there actually be a ROI?
How long will it take to see
results?
Does this work?
Do I seriously have to
blog that much?
Will the team
follow me?
Do I have anything
relevant to say?
HOLY CRAP!

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How much should I invest?
Is it evolutionary or revolutionary?
Will there actually be a ROI?
How long will it take to see
results?
Does this work?
Do I seriously have to
blog that much?
Will the team
follow me?
Do I have anything
relevant to say?
(We’ve never done this before!)
HOLY CRAP!

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1. Inbound Marketing is a culture, not a strategy.
2. You better know who you are.
3. Treat your website like your best paid sales person.
4. Feed the content beast.
5. Get comfortable with change and patience.
5 Lessons

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LESSON 01:
Inbound marketing is
a culture not a strategy.

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INBOUND
MARKETING

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“People want to have their voices heard. When
you give them that and respect what they have
to say, they are more engaged, and that makes
them more productive.
— Traci Fenton, Founder of Worldblu

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“I’d rather be first than perfect.
— Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks

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“Be something specific, instead of nothing
in particular.

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Signs You Don’t (Yet) Have an
Effective Inbound Culture:5
TAKEAWAY:

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01: Approvals take 10 years because
so many people have to sign-off.

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02: You think what you do is proprietary.
(and you’re not Bush’s Baked Beans or
Coca-Cola)

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03: No one’s willing to help
with content.

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04: Your company still blocks
Facebook, Twitter, and other
social media sites.

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05: Everyone sees it as the
marketing department’s job.

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LESSON 02:
You better know who you are.

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VS

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1. Know your personality.
2. Know what you’re great at and how it
helps others.
Rules To Live By:

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WHAT THEY THOUGHT THEY OFFERED
Accounting financial support
Posh retirement living
Luxury RVs
Inspection services for manufacturers
CNC machines + engineering
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY OFFERED
A crystal ball to CEOs of growing businesses
Excitement for the future
Access to an elite lifestyle
Peace of mind that someone’s got your back
Certainty that your capital budget will get results

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TAKEAWAYS:
1. Brand is a reflection of your business strategy, not simply
your company’s marketing strategy.
2. It’s not about what you DO; it’s about what CUSTOMERS GET.
3. Don’t forget that you’re selling to people - not robots.

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LESSON 03:
Treat your website like your
best paid sales person.

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CHANGE
OF CLOTHES

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WHY?

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of the sale is over
before a sales person
gets involved.
70%“
— 2012 Study by SiriusDecisions

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of B2B buyers use search
to begin the buying
process.
“
— 2012 Study by SiriusDecisions
93%

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of B2B buyers say when
they’re ready to buy,
they’ll find you.
“
— 2012 Study by SiriusDecisions
90%

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EXCUSES

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June
2011,
Launch
New
Website
$40,000
August
2012,
Launch
New
Inbound-­‐y
Website
$60,000

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TAKEAWAYS:
SAME
Need to look cool
Never satisfied
Expect them to generate qualified leads
Have to work to be #1
Represent the brand
Neither will work for $25,000/ year
DIFFERENT
Jeremy has to sleep - and my website works for me 24/7
My website can’t close a deal

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LESSON 04:
Feed the content beast.

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TIPS TRICKS:
• Give people a day(s) of the month they need to post.
• Have a central blog administrator that reviews every blog and optimizes it.
• Have a 1 month back-log.
• Use an editorial calendar and write around a central topic.
• Only have those who want to participate blog.
• Don’t post more than 1 blog per day.
• Don’t forget about human interest blogs.
• Share the impact and results!

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ELEMENT THREE
Q1 2013 BLOG REVIEW:
• Wrote 46 blog posts.
• Web traffic is up 498% over prior year.
• Web traffic reached new all-time high.
• Generated 87 leads.
• Resulted in 2 new customers.

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June
2011,
Launch
New
Website
$40,000
August
2012,
Launch
New
Inbound-­‐y
Website
$60,000
January
2013,
Begin
publishing
16
blogs
per
month

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LESSON 05:
Get comfortable with change
and patience.

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EXCITEMENT
RESULTS
6 months?
12 months?
18 months?

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Impact of Monthly Blog Articles
on Inbound Leads
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
NONE 1 - 2 3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 15 OVER 15
MONTHLY BLOG POSTS
NEWINDEXLEADS
Source: Hubspot Benchmark Study

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Impact of Number of Landing Pages
on Lead Generation
600
500
400
300
200
100
1 - 5 6 - 10 11 - 15 16 - 20 21 - 40 OVER 40
LANDING PAGES
NEWINDEXLEADS
Source: Hubspot Benchmark Study

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Impact of Website Content
on Inbound Leads
1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
1 - 50 51 - 100 101 - 200 201 - 300 301 - 500 501 - 1000 OVER 1000
WEBSITE PAGES
NEWINDEXLEADS
Source: Hubspot Benchmark Study

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TAKEAWAY:
• Every 6 months, it seems to take a little bit more content to make the
same impact.
• Don’t get fixated on perfection.
• Takes longer than you think it’s going to for results to begin to appear.
• Develop approval processes for your content - consider legal, internal
stakeholders and brand managers.
• Embrace that this is a risk - just like 1,000 other things in your business.

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living INBOUND MARKETING

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Element Three is a business story.
We live inbound marketing every day,
and it’s paid off.

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201120102009200820072006 2012
Inbound Marketing
Adoption

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THANK YOU.
Join the conversation @ElementThree
www.ElementThree.com L @TiffanySauder