demystifying inbound marketing: 5 essential elements to attract, retain and activate members

Demystifying Inbound Marketing: 5 Essential Elements to Attract, Retain and Activate Members

Demystifying Inbound Marketing: 5 Essential Elements to Attract, Retain and Activate Members © WebLink International

Session Agenda

• Understanding Your Audience

• Content

• Distribution

• Authenticity

• Relationships

Stranger

Friend

Prospect

Member

Promoter


About Me

• Curt Moss, Senior Product Marketing Manager @ WebLink

• 12 years at member-based orgs – Las Vegas Chamber of

Commerce – Chapter of National Safety

Council • 8 years @ WebLink

– Faculty for W.A.C.E. – Present at association and

chamber conferences

linkedin.com/in/curtmoss @curtmoss

linkedin.com/company/weblink-international @WebLink

http://www.linkedin.com/in/curtmoss


http://www.twitter.com/curtmoss

http://www.linkedin.com/company/weblink-international

http://www.twitter.com/weblink


About WebLink

• SaaS Company (Software as a Service), Leading Software Provider to Chambers of Commerce and Business Associations

• Established in 1996, 60 Employees, based in Indianapolis, IN

• 94% Customer Retention Rate

• Based in Indianapolis, Indiana

• 94% Customer Retention Rate


About WebLink

• Association Management Software

• Website Design & Development

• Non-Dues Revenue Programs

• Partner in Your Success

http://www.weblinkinternational.com/associations/association-management-software.aspx

http://www.weblinkinternational.com/associations/association-management-software.aspx

http://www.weblinkinternational.com/associations/websites.aspx

http://www.weblinkinternational.com/associations/websites.aspx

http://www.weblinkinternational.com/products/weblink-advertising-program.aspx

http://www.weblinkinternational.com/products/weblink-advertising-program.aspx

http://www.weblinkinternational.com/company

http://www.weblinkinternational.com/


WebLink Websites

• Responsive website design

• Automatically adjusts for any screen

• Fully integrated database & website


About WebLink

• iPad app for mobile commerce

• Integrated credit card reader

• New member sales

• Event registrations

• Pay open invoices


WebLink Blog


Next Webinar

Creating an Agile & Innovative Association

Friday, May 16, 2014 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

Register Now

Sterling Raphael Founder Next Step Labs

Jeff De Cagna Chief Strategist and Founder Principled Innovation, LLC

Maddie Grant Chief Social Media Strategist Social Fish

Doug Blizzard Vice President of Membership Capital Associated Industries

Our panel of 4 association and technology experts share insights on becoming agile and innovative to grow and retain your membership.

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/494506736


How Can Inbound Marketing Benefit Your Organization?


Extend Your Reach


Improve Your Value


Increase Member Engagement


Grow Your Membership

Demystifying Inbound Marketing: 5 Essential Elements to Attract, Retain and Activate Members


What is Inbound Marketing?


Digital curb appeal


What is Inbound Marketing?

• Attracting people to your brand, rather than pushing it on them

• Utilizes content to earn the attention of your audience

• Converting to them to leads and analyzing the results


Inside Out vs

Outside In


Effective Inbound Marketing

• SEO • Blogging • Content marketing • Social media • Persona-based campaigns • Interactions • Analytics review


Why Inbound Marketing?

People’s behaviors have changed, and they are tuning out traditional (interruption) marketing. • 44% of direct mail is never opened. • 200M people are on the do not call list. • 86% skip TV ads. • 91% unsubscribe from email.


Great Content

“Don’t interrupt what people are interested in. Be what people are interested in.”


This isn’t the content you’re looking for


Why Inbound Marketing?

It’s more effective and it costs less. • 54% more leads are generated by inbound

than outbound. • Inbound leads cost 61% less than outbound.

Source: State of Inbound Marketing, HubSpot 2012


Source: Voltier Digital

http://trumpmediainc.com/marketing/which-do-you-like-better-inbound-or-outbound/


Source: InboundMarketing Inc


Understanding Your Audience


Inbound marketing…

• Is only for big companies • Takes too much time • Is expensive • Is hard • Is it worth it?


“We can’t compete with…”


You have an advantage


The collection of data in your membership database IS a propriety asset.


Your membership software contains…

• Contact information • Employees • Billings, invoices • Contact history • Committees • Reporting • Much more…

• Plus, you meet face to face


Use Your Data

• Size of business • Type of business • Length of time in business • Annual dues • Reasons for joining • Reasons for dropping • Interests

• You are tracking this,

right?


Your advantage

• You already have an audience for your product

• You have data • You interact with

members • You have a relationship


Personas

• Classify the “types” of members you have (3-5)

• Boss (decision maker) • Doer (front line worker) • Manager (elements of

both) • Use your data! • Develop content for

each persona • What problems are

they trying to solve?


Content


2014 Nonprofit Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends

• 91% use Facebook to distribute content

• 69% use Twitter • 65% use YouTube • 65% are producing more

content than they were one year ago

• 25% have a documented content strategy

http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Nonprofit_Research_2014_CMI.pdf




75% of nonprofits rated their efforts middling to ineffective.

92% of nonprofits are content marketing.


What kinds of content?

• Articles/blog posts • Videos • Case studies • Photos • Podcasts • Whitepapers • Editorials • It doesn’t really matter


Content your members will VALUE


Value vs. Relevance


Value vs. Relevance

• The most frequently used word with “Relevant” is…

• NOT


Value vs. Relevance

• No one says, “Wow, that association is really relevant for me.”

• They want useful. • They want ROI. • They want value.


Answer member questions


Answer member questions

• You get emails, phone calls and questions at events.

• Stop answering them! (sort of)

• Why help 1 when you can help 100, or 1,000?

• Blog posts or FAQs section of your website

• Share on social media when updated


Find the questions they aren’t asking you



• LinkedIn Groups • Quora • Yahoo Answers • Twitter search • Google Alerts • Other association or

industry websites’ FAQs.

http://www.quora.com/

http://answers.yahoo.com/

https://twitter.com/search-home

http://www.google.com/alerts



• Use broad industry terms first

• Google searches: – How do I manage my …? – Tips for

selecting/choosing a… – HR for [my industry] – [my industry] taxes


What problem are they trying to solve?

• How to do [whatever] – Create a LinkedIn page – Manage a Facebook

page – Install a new phone

system – Choose a payroll

company – Find new office space to

lease


Create numbered lists


Create numbered lists

• More concise & engaging

• Creates a promise for what’s in store (no guessing)

• Sets expectations • “Quick” read


Examples

• 7 ways for [industry] to grow with technology • Do you recognize the 5 warning signs your

business is in trouble? • 8 types of [industry term] – which group are

you in? • 11 email subject lines you can use to get your

clients’ attention • 5 things successful [industry term] do


Ask them


Sample questions

• “What’s the biggest challenge facing your business?”

• Write about how your association is addressing that issue

• “What resources do you need to help you run your business?”

• Create additional resources, or link to existing ones – even if they are not yours


Profile members & industry experts



• “How I got the business”

• Tips for surviving the first 2 years of business

• What’s the future of [industry]?

• What’s the biggest mistake you made running your business?



• Why they joined • What specific programs

and benefits to they use • Include org type, size,

length of time in business so others can relate


Share others’ content


Share others’ content

• Find content via: – Twitter search or the

people you follow – LinkedIn connections,

groups – Google alerts – Email newsletters – Local or industry

websites

Retweet

Share on Facebook and

LinkedIn

Post links to other content


Tell a story


6 Ways to Produce Content Your Members Will Value

http://info.weblinkinternational.com/content-ebook-website







Distribution


Develop valuable content


Get your content online

• Blog posts • Website pages &

articles • Videos • Photos • Partner sites • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn


Create a plan

Date Type of post

Topic Text Link/Media? Goal

4/15/2014 Promotion Annual Dinner

Early bird registration ends tomorrow for the annual dinner.

Registration page for event

Event attendance

4/16/2014 Answer Benefits Looking for ways to save money for your biz? Check out our exclusive member discounts.

Benefits page Member sales

4/17/2014 Question Business Needs?

Take our 1 minute poll: What’s the biggest challenge facing your business?

Poll page on website

Retention

4/17/2014 Inside Look New office space

Get a sneak peak at our new office digs!

Photos of new office

Awareness, engagement


Create a plan

• Share your content on social media sites

• Links refer back to your site (SEO)

• Engage followers • Increase traffic • Increase leads


If you don’t have a blog, get one


Search Engine (Topic) Optimization

• Use keywords relevant to your members

• Search engines know your website is active

• Show up in more searches

• Drive traffic to your site • Convert more visitors to

prospects • Good content is key


Social Media Strategy

• Use 80/20 rule • 1 post of your content

to 4 posts, shares, RTs of others

• Use content to ask questions, drive engagement


Social Media Strategy

• “Blog comments are dead”

• Conversations are now on Facebook and Twitter

• Participate in conversations as a contributor and not as a “seller”


Who do they believe?

• Consumers trust recommendations from friends and colleagues over advertising

• The “social graph” is becoming more important to companies’ marketing efforts


Landing Pages and Forms

• Ask for contact information in exchange for a valuable piece of content like a case study or white paper

• Build your mailing list so you can nurture your leads


Leads for

• New members • Advertising • Sponsorships • Trade show exhibitors • Vendor members • Partners


Repurposing Content

Blog Post

Webinar

Slide share Video

eBook


Targeted Distribution

• Members with a certain number of employees may find a new benefit more useful that larger employees

• Members in a particular business category may be more affected by certain issues than other members

• Members that joined for networking or learning opportunities should know about new events coming up

• Members in particular state or city could benefit from you sharing a certain news article with them


Lead Nurturing

• Not everyone wants to become a member today

• Consistent and meaningful touches with viable prospects

• Automate your sales cycle

• Increase your member conversion rates


Lead Nurturing Plan

• Scheduled or triggered communications

• Topic and persona driven

• Can change plans based on behavior of prospect


Use your AMS

• Set up “retention” or “prospecting” plans

• Series of touches by staff

• Calls, letters, emails, personal visits

• Use the things that are important to them


Analytics

• Which types of content drive the most leads and sales

• What topics drive results

• Which networks • What days/times

Marketing without

metrics isn’t

marketing.

It’s guessing.


Insight & Analytics


Facebook Insights


Website Traffic


What were your goals?

• Retention • New member sales • Generate website traffic • Event attendance • Connect businesses • Highlight government

affairs items • Industry/community

awareness


Helpful Free Tools available • HubSpot’s Marketing Grader looks at your website based on six

criteria: overall, social media, blogging, SEO, lead generation, and mobile optimization. http://marketing.grader.com

• Open Site Explorer gives you a ranking on your SEO performance and even allows you to compare to a competitor. www.opensiteexplorer.org

• FollowerWonk gives you analytics on your Twitter followers, and helps you find people based on keywords. www.followerwonk.com

• HootSuite lets you sync and schedule your social media accounts. www.hootsuite.com

• Photo Pin allows you to search by any term and gives you access to a bank of free images to be used in blog articles, eBooks, etc. www.photopin.com

http://marketing.grader.com/

http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/

http://www.followerwonk.com/

http://www.hootsuite.com/

http://www.photopin.com/


Helpful Paid Tools Available (To Name Just a Few)

• Hubspot software gives you everything you need to run your organization's inbound marketing, all in one solution. Includes email, landing page creation, social media, blogging, and more. www.hubspot.com

• inBoundio dubs itself as the “worlds simplest inbound marketing software” and is more budget-friendly for smaller organizations. www.inboundio.com

• Optimizely lets you run website A/B testing to measure how visitors engage with your site. www.optimizely.com

There is an infinite number of companies that provide email, SEO, social media, blogging, website and lead nurturing solutions available depending on your organization’s size, budget and specific needs.

http://www.hubspot.com/

http://www.inboundio.com/

http://www.optimizely.com/


Authenticity and Transparency


Know your voice

• Assign one person to be in charge of your inbound marketing strategy

• This will eliminate duplications of content

• Keep your voice consistent

• Others can help, but need an “owner”


Be responsive

• Your website and social networks are a way for people to reach you

• Online questions and complaints must be addressed promptly

• Not responding can be bad

• Don’t be afraid to admit your mistakes


Respect your audience

• Keep data private and secure

• Don’t over-post • Typically, 1-2 posts per

day via each social network is enough to keep your audience engaged


Ask for what you want

• Be direct with your audience – Share a video? – Sign up for an event? – Give their opinion on an

industry issue? • Be relevant, educational,

inspirational • Don’t hide that you’re

looking to grow your membership and get people engaged


People are people

• Try to connect like you would IRL

• Picture your audience as real people

• Don’t change who you are just because you’re behind a computer screen

• Give thanks and recognition


Relationships


Building relationships is key to turning prospects into members


Instead, think about connecting with people intentionally.

Stop the random social media posts.


LinkedIn

• Don’t just “set it and forget it”

• Update your profile often • Send them a personal

note to connect • Post to your company

page, too


4 Simple Steps To Growing Your Membership With LinkedIn

http://info.weblinkinternational.com/linkedin-growmembership







Twitter

• Search out members and prospects on Twitter

• Categorize into lists • Look at your lists for a

few minutes each day • Re-tweet content that

you like and share valuable content


Facebook

• Ask members and prospects to like your page

• Don’t send friend requests to every prospect

• Create private lists • Respond to posts on

your company page


Schedule posts (some)

• Tool such as Buffer or Hootsuite

• Space out posts for the day

• Post items to different networks

• Use different “lead ins” on different networks

http://bufferapp.com/

http://www.hootsuite.com/


Your Website

• Prospective member’s introduction to your organization

• First impression you have in starting that relationship

• Demonstrate your value • Activities vs

accomplishments


Your AMS

• Store social media profiles, just as you would a phone number or address

• Record key conversations within your AMS

• Track lead source for future reporting


Bonus Tip – For your members

Add members’ social media links on their listing on your website. Connect them with potential customers.


Listening is key


Don’t Forget - Listening is key

• Don’t get so caught up in sharing content that you forget to listen.

• Building relationships online takes time, just like it does offline.

• Listening will help cue you into your members’ and prospects’ passions and help you tailor your future content to their interests.

• Don’t delete posts, even if they are negative about your organization. Simply respond in a timely manner to show you are addressing the issue.


Opening Remarks – DJ & Terry

Coming up: 3 Questions



WebLink Recap: An Integrated Solution

• ONE web-based centralized database

• Prospects, members, non-members and all reps in same system

• Financials, events, email, committees, website, reporting

Central DB

Financial System

Website

Email Marketing

Members

Events

Prospects



Association & Chamber Websites

• 500+ client websites • WebLink Local business

directory drives 67% increase in traffic from organic searches

• Adds value for members • Non-dues revenue • Responsive website design

– automatically looks great on all devices



WebLink Website Management System

• Very easy to add pages and edit content

• Drag and drop new content sections

• Quickly modify the navigation menu

• Easily add photos, videos, buttons, documents, blog posts and more

http://www.weblinkinternational.com/products/membership-website-solutions.aspx


Next Webinar

Creating an Agile & Innovative Association

Friday, May 16, 2014 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

Register Now

Sterling Raphael Founder Next Step Labs

Jeff De Cagna Chief Strategist and Founder Principled Innovation, LLC

Maddie Grant Chief Social Media Strategist Social Fish

Doug Blizzard Vice President of Membership Capital Associated Industries

Our panel of 4 association and technology experts share insights on becoming agile and innovative to grow and retain your membership.

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/494506736



3 Questions

Please answer these to receive a copy of the presentation.


Webinar Summary

• Right audience • Great content • Right time • Right channel • Ways to respond &

share • Engage your audience • Stand out from the

crowd

http://www.amazon.com/Purple-Cow-New-Transform-Remarkable--/dp/1591843170/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286838408&sr=8-1


“Turn strangers into friends. Turn friends into customers. Turn customers into salespeople.” - Seth Godin

http://www.amazon.com/Purple-Cow-New-Transform-Remarkable--/dp/1591843170/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286838408&sr=8-1

WebLink International 3905 Vincennes Road, Suite 210 Indianapolis, IN 46268 P 317-872-3909 | 1-877-231-4970 | F 317-872-3929 weblinkinternational.com | weblinkblog.com

Curt Moss

Senior Product Marketing Manager [email protected]

http://www.weblinkinternational.com/

http://www.weblinkblog.com/


http://www.twitter.com/curtmoss