Don’t Panic! What To Do When Inbound Marketing Goes Wrong

It’s not always easy to pinpoint the exact moment or situations that caused your inbound marketing plan to fail. But don’t sulk and and sink into a netflix binge watching, ben and jerry’s ice cream eating rut. There are some common mistakes that many businesses make when launching an inbound marketing plan, and by knowing those, you can avoid them.

Marketing Company Mayhem

Who created your program?

Sometimes hiring the wrong type of marketing agent or company for your business can scuttle an inbound marketing strategy before it ever gets off the ground. There are many companies that have had great programs in the past for retail, b2b, or wholesale businesses, but for one reason or another they aren’t up-to-date with the current advances in marketing technology. It’s like when you meet someone with interests that don’t necessarily match up with yours. You have fun learning their hobbies for awhile but eventually you may find that the lack of any common interests leaves you with little to talk about.

Did that person or company systematically remove existing techniques that weren’t working?

With any business overhaul, assessments must be made and any ineffective techniques removed and replaced to initiate. Sometimes we can have a few small misunderstandings add up to one big blow-up. Handling these issues immediately can help resolve the situation before it even gets to that point.

How much expertise and training were given?

Did the company take the time to demonstrate the programs and expected results to your sales staff members? Did they inspire enthusiasm and confidence that their new would produce promising leads that could be converted? If you’ve experienced minimum conversions rates, then you understand how important motivating your sales force is in converting a lead to a client. But regrettably, often the in-house personnel get overlooked as the exciting new technology enraptures everyone and your business suffers from a lack of proper training with your staff.

Is there misappropriated reporting?

Certain reporting procedures are critical for inbound marketing success. But if your information concerning site visits, lead conversions, and sales is accidentally misappropriated or improperly credited, the resulting errors can cause confusion and blunders about what type of programs are working for your business. It would be like your significant other receiving flowers and gifts that weren’t from you but you took credit for it. Down the road, they’re going to expect that treatment and when they don’t receive it be very confused about the type of person you really are.

Are you blogging and pumping out educational content?

Along the same lines as taking credit for someone else’s gift, if you give your significant other flowers every week at the beginning of the relationship and then 2 months in stop all romantic gestures all together they’re going to be confused and hurt. Many businesses make the mistake of thinking that blogging consistently doesn’t matter, or they include blog content that is barely related to the actual service or business. But blogging is an essential practice in any marketing strategy and your level of educational content—the information about your services—is vitally important in modern marketing.

Applications: Making Inbound Marketing Work

Renewing your passion for your inbound marketing plan involves two important steps. Positive actions on your part and professional expertise can make all the difference in whether or not your marketing strategy actually does what you expect and propels your business forward, or if it stagnates.

Positive Actions

Since reporting is such a vital aspect of determining if a marketing technique is working, first make sure you’re focusing on the reports that matter. Second, make absolutely certain that your analytics are attributed correctly, and then use that information to take action.

Consider which items are working and reinforce and increase those activities, but also identify which ones are not and remove them and replace them with ones that do. You may have heard another old saying, ‘when you find yourself in a ditch…stop digging.’ Because no two techniques will work with the exact same level of success for two different companies, that cliché is imminently practical when you’re determining which methods to keep and which to ditch.

Professional Expertise

Sometimes finding love can be as difficult as finding results from your inbound marketing agency. There’s nothing wrong with using an outside resource to help with either problem! Whether it’s a matchmaker or a marketing agency, both can help you get the results you want.

Outsourcing your marketing strategy to an agency that can establish real results by introducing new ideas consistently is the way to ensure success. If your business faces a serious legal dilemma you would naturally employ an expert to protect your company interests, and this same philosophy can be applied to inbound marketing.

An agency can develop a customized strategy for your marketing plan, offer the technical advancements that provide critical measurements, and maintain fresh ideas with a consistency that is almost impossible to achieve in-house.

Professional attention helps manage and create:

• Blogs


• Press releases


• Videos, podcasts, and webinars


• Informative whitepapers, e-books, and articles


• E-letter subscriptions and RSS feeds

All of these inbound tools can be utilized, but a professional agency can assist with their orchestration and development so that you know that the information you’re offering your targeted clientele has been specifically designed to increase sales.

Conclusion

When your inbound marketing plan has let you down, and you begin to wonder why you even waste your time and money on ineffective activities, discovering the source of that disenchantment can be tricky. But don’t give up too soon!

The next relationship you have will be better if you look at the past problems and figure out how to improve yourself for next time. If you don’t, the same problems will arise.

By understanding the common problems that haunt inbound failure, you can prevent it. And when you apply the proven business principles that got your company where it is today to your inbound strategy, you’ll also recognize the inherent advantage of seeking professional assistance in the set-up, execution, and monitoring of your marketing techniques because—let’s face it—in today’s global, technological marketplace, getting your business information to the customers you need requires a steady plan that is tailored to your needs.

You can find out more about agency inbound marketing strategies by contacting a qualified inbound marketer today.

Don’t Panic! What To Do When Inbound Marketing Goes Wrong