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10 Non-Digital Inbound Marketing Tactics To Turn Consumers Into Prospects
When you think about inbound marketing, your mind probably goes straight to the internet. The standard methods of drawing leads into a company’s sales and marketing funnel (or onto its flywheel) work by attracting consumers and pushing them toward conversion. Typically, such inbound marketing strategies rely almost exclusively on digital tactics. However, smart marketers know there is more than one way to do inbound. Here, 10 members of Forbes Agency Council share some of the best non-digital tactics a brand can use for inbound marketing to complement and accelerate their digital marketing efforts to turn consumers into prospects and prospects into loyal customers. 1. Publish A Book Companies that have been using an inbound marketing strategy often have a treasure trove of content, which can be compiled into a manuscript. Book authors (and the companies they represent) are seen as thought leaders and credible authorities and are more likely to land important speaking engagements at industry events. – Wendy Covey, TREW Marketing 2. Offer Special Access And Free Advice It all comes down to relationships and whether your consumers connect with you and with what you are trying to convert them to do. PR works wonders for this, and non-digital ideas such as hosting events and inviting people to attend for free can also go a long way in building relationships. Or, just offer free advice and other free services or items to get them coming to you and needing you, then convert them. – Zack Teperman, ZTPR 3. Conduct An Offline Event Or Sponsor A Cause Inbound is all about showing your customers that you have the best solution to their problems and that solution being valuable enough that they come to you on their own. You can try anything that serves this purpose and increases brand awareness—any form of traditional marketing that does not presume you will be the one reaching out to them. Some examples would be conducting an offline event or sponsoring a cause. – Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS 4. Keep Your Existing Customer Base Happy The most effective, important and least expensive way to attract new customers is to do a great job with the customers you already have. Word-of-mouth is the oldest and most important form of marketing. – Nathan Miller, Miller Ink, Inc. 5. Run A National TV Campaign With any type of inbound marketing, one of the most powerful ways to reach a big audience in the largest fashion is still with a national TV campaign. These campaigns allow you to reach hundreds of millions of consumers and convert them into customers. – Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Hawthorne LLC 6. Adopt A Hybrid Mix Of Tactics I predict inbound marketing will become a hybrid mix of digital and non-digital tactics. For example, a company sends a postcard inviting people to download an e-book. Two weeks later, that company will follow up with a phone call to remind prospects to download the e-book. I expect to see a rise in campaign-connected digital and non-digital tactics. Why choose between them when they both work? – Randy Shattuck, The Shattuck Group 7. Engage With Convention Attendees A great non-digital inbound marketing tactic is engaging with attendees at conventions. It’s an analog method that focuses on face-to-face peer interactions. This is valuable because it’s centered around purposeful listening in a face-to-face environment to better process pain points, and it leverages inbound marketing content that suits and addresses those concerns. – Albert Moufarrij, MACH9 8. Never Stop Building Strong Relationships Relationships and referrals are hard to beat. The relationships we build with our clients and the trust it fosters can pay dividends over time when it comes to closing new business. We turn to friends and family for personal recommendations; the same is true for business leaders who network with other leaders to find a business solution. Never stop building strong relationships. – Bernard May, National Positions 9. Be A Part Of The Experience At In-Person Events As in-person events slowly rebound, many people are looking forward to attending them, and smart brands are finding ways to be a part of those experiences, not just sponsor them. Consider offering your customers and leads a special perk or upgraded access as a way to connect your brand with value and exclusivity. – Hannah Trivette, NUVEW Web Solutions 10. Deliver Valuable Freebies In High-Traffic Physical Locations The inbound philosophy emphasizes the need to provide value to prospects that attracts them to your brand. Such value is easy to surface online, but it can be achieved—and stands out more—when delivered in a physical setting. In its simplest form, offering samples, advice or free services in high-traffic locations is both a precursor to and a modern example of inbound marketing. – Chris Martin, FlexMR
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How To Course-Correct A Poorly Received Advertising Campaign
Sometimes, an ad campaign just doesn’t land quite right with the target audience. Although you may have done your research and informed your strategy with data, for whatever reason, your efforts may be building the wrong kind of brand awareness. When an advertising campaign isn’t well-received, it is key to figure out what the reason is before attempting to solve the problem. Here, 13 members of Forbes Agency Council each share the first step they would recommend brands take to figure out the root cause of the issue so that they can course-correct. 1. Revisit Your Target Audience And Align Future Campaigns Around Them Be accountable to both internal and external audiences for the misstep, but also be ready with a course-correction strategy. That strategy should start with reviewing and revisiting your target audience, including who they are, what their pain points are and how their challenges can best be addressed. Next, make sure future campaigns are aligned across all of those areas. – Paula Chiocchi, Outward Media, Inc. 2. Run A Focus Group To Understand What Alienated Your Audience And Why Generating the “wrong kind of brand awareness” is usually a sign that your campaign messages alienated your audience. Before you do anything else, run a focus group to understand what alienated them and why. This will inform all follow-up activity, so you actually solve problems rather than making them worse. Don’t take further action until you understand what problems you’re trying to solve. – Randy Shattuck, The Shattuck Group 3. Pause And Research The Disconnect Before Slipping Into Communications When a campaign goes wrong, it’s easy to slip straight into communications. That might be an apology, a clarification or a doubling-down. But, ultimately, when a campaign doesn’t land, there is a gap in knowledge—a disconnect between you and your audience. Before deciding on the next steps and how to recover, talk to your audience and find out what’s at the root of the issue. – Chris Martin, FlexMR 4. Identify Broken Connection Points Between Audience, Content And Platform Always begin with your audience. Look at the connection points between audience, content and platform, and identify where the breakdown occurs. If you still do not see a problem, start testing immediately. Do not focus on one singular aspect of the creative. Rather than jumping to the conclusion that there’s a problem with your user experience or visuals, discover the core: Is it technical, creative, audience- or offer-related? – Albert Moufarrij, MACH9 5. If Your Audience Is Correct, Examine The Ad’s Content And Your Message If your target audience is correct for the product or ad that you are promoting, then immediately turn to the content of the ad. You may not have the right message, or you may need to change your message and relaunch. Make sure that you are testing prior to the full release of a campaign. You can often detect the errors in content or target demographics during initial testing. – Sherri Nourse, Ambition Media 6. Align The Call To Action With The Audience’s Abilities And Motivations When a campaign isn’t working or is not received well, the answer often lies in the audience’s inability to perform the campaign’s call to action. At these times, a campaign can be taken the wrong way or ignored completely. The answer is to adjust the campaign so that the behavior is easier for the audience to perform and in line with their abilities and motivations. – Roger Hurni, Off Madison Ave 7. Understand The Audience’s Perspective And Address It With Empathy First, you’ll need to diligently go through the comments made by your audience on your ad creatives to understand their perspective. Once you know the exact reason why they disliked the campaign, come up with a message that addresses it with sincere empathy. Publish an apology accompanied by an explanation on all of your social media channels. Remember, winning your lost audience back is more important than trying to prove your point. – Ajay Prasad, GMR Web Team 8. Analyze The Data That Informed The Campaign And The Feedback Analysis of the data and feedback is the first step to determining your next course of action. Ad campaigns aren’t created in a vacuum; data is utilized to make informed decisions about what resonates with a target audience. If the campaign didn’t have the desired effect, it’s important to first know why. Understanding what led to the undesired outcome is the first step toward correcting it. – Jonathan Schwartz, Bullseye Strategy 9. Explore Your Campaign To Find The Issue And Make Incremental Changes The advertising landscape is constantly evolving, and audiences are changing their behaviors. What used to work a year ago might not now, but don’t scrap everything you’ve done. Take a look at your campaign to understand where the issue lies. Is the targeting too broad, or does it need to be more refined? Or, is the ad creative and messaging the problem? Make incremental changes to test your campaign. – Nathan Miller, Miller Ink, Inc. 10. Admit You Missed The Mark And Pinpoint What Was Lacking Admit that you missed the mark and work on pinpointing what was lacking—either your intended audience or your message. If your audience was on point, look into engagement metrics and Web traffic reports and use social listening tools to understand what missed the mark. If you gained awareness but tarnished affinity, you had better own up to your mistake and perhaps even reference it in your next campaign. – Bernard May, National Positions 11. Immediately Pull The Campaign From All Distribution And Media If a campaign isn’t received well, you can immediately pull it from all distribution and media. As you go back to the drawing board, relaunch any tried-and-true creative campaigns that have been effective in the past and refocus your efforts moving forward. – Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Hawthorne LLC 12. Use Social Media Polls To Ask Your Target Consumers What They Want Many times, companies launch a campaign without doing any prior consumer research. The campaign is created based on what the company’s owners think will resonate with their customers. Posting polls on your social media—asking, “Who do you want to see as our next ambassador?” for example—is a great way to gain insights for your next campaign. – Adrian Falk, Believe Advertising & PR 13. Gain A Better Understanding Of The Journey A Customer Takes With Your Brand When a campaign doesn’t achieve the targets you set, go back to your understanding of your audience. Did you use buyer personas? Are those personas based on recent, relevant customer journey insights? Campaign success hinges on a thorough understanding of the journey a customer takes with your brand, as well as their desires, concerns and behaviors. Layer strategy and tactics on top to succeed. – Mary Ann O’Brien, OBI Creative
