Inbound Marketing Insights

Inbound marketing can't be learned overnight. Just because someone is a marketer does not mean they have the skills to be an inbound marketer. An inbound marketer has a unique set of comprehensive skills that are acquired over time. The biggest problem I encounter is that companies try to implement inbound marketing with a team comprised of graphic designers and web developers.

Those individuals are important to your team, but their combined skillsets aren't comprehensive enough to implement and manage your inbound marketing strategy. Remember, just because someone is active on social media in their personal lives does not mean they are an inbound marketer. Hoping people will quickly acquire inbound marketing skillsets is unrealistic. Imagine the time lost and the results that could have been generated if your inbound marketing team had been built correctly from the beginning. The following are the necessary skills to make a well-rounded inbound marketing professional.

1. Marketing Strategy: Any inbound marketer must be able to develop and visualize the complete marketing strategy – not just the many individual pieces. An inbound marketer needs to see the complete and complex picture of how the many aspects of a campaign will work together and then integrate those aspects into a comprehensive strategy that drives measurable results. Remember, it's not just about one blog or social post, but it's about how all those assets come together to form an integrated inbound campaign that can drive real results.
2. Conversion Optimization: Any inbound marketer should clearly understand how to optimize your website and landing pages for conversion. Strategically, this should be the first thing they look at, and then they should determine how to improve these numbers. Your ideal inbound marketer must understand how conversion works through landing pages, forms, pop-ups, emails, and more. In addition, your inbound marketer needs to thoroughly understand how your conversion tactics will impact your strategy and growth goals.
3. Content Generation: Content creation and writing are critical for an inbound marketer. They must write clearly and persuasively to move your target audience through the buyer's journey with helpful and engaging content. Many organizations can improve their content capabilities. Your ideal inbound marketer should be able to create and edit content such as eBooks, emails, landing pages, web content, social media, and much more. Writing is the backbone of your inbound program, and an inbound marketer with excellent writing skills cannot be overlooked in the hiring process.
4. Email Marketing and Automation: Email is critical to your inbound marketing program. To deliver optimal results, an inbound marketer must be well-versed in email content creation, best practices for engagement, list segmentation, and automation. Remember, email marketing is not a thing of the past. Your email marketing simply needs to be evaluated through a new lens to promote prospect engagement and improve your marketing results. In addition, every inbound marketer needs to understand how to use marketing automation as part of their email strategy to automate some of the processes and ensure they continue to engage the target audience through various campaigns.
5. Social Media: Your inbound marketer must manage your social media channels through content generation, engagement with followers, and opportunities for paid promotion. The inbound marketer should evaluate new tools and tactics within your existing channels, in addition to new platforms, to determine if those new platforms would benefit your target audience and align with your strategy.
6. Analytics: Your inbound marketer should always evaluate your analytics. You should not need a dedicated person to manage analytics. Everyone on your internal or outsourced marketing team should understand where to find analytics, how to review analytics, and what improvements can be made based on your analytics.
7. Technology: Inbound marketers must be well-versed in all the marketing technology tools available to them. They should also continually research new platforms and software that may automate and improve your processes. Technology no longer resides with your IT department. Marketers are now responsible for marketing technology tools in collaboration with IT and should understand how all the tools fit together.

As you can see, your marketing team requires many skills. Remember, it is important to identify whether you need to hire internal team members or an outsourced partner. Each option has advantages, and the decision should be based on your organization's size and goals. You then need to ensure that your internal or outsourced team has the current skillsets and continually upskills so your organization can achieve its maximum inbound marketing potential.

Are you looking for ways to optimize your inbound strategy? The "book "Mastering Inbound Marketing: Your Complete Guide to Building a Results-Driven Inbound Strategy," written by Elyse Flynn Meyer, Owner & Founder of Prism Global Marketing Solutions, covers every aspect of the inbound marketing methodology, including the revenue generation trifecta of marketing, sales, and the customer experience. Check out the book to see how to most efficiently and effectively develop, implement, and maintain your inbound strategy.