Marketing is Rooted in Intelligence
Paige Rucker Orme
Strategic Marketing & Growth Leader | Data-Driven ABX Innovator | SaaS & AIoT Specialist | B2B Demand Gen Expert | GTM Architect | People-First Leadership
Intelligent Marketers Have Always Been a Centering Force:
Marketing and advertising aren’t necessarily one and the same, but one hand feeds the other. Ads can be incredibly creative to the point of being abstract. There are events – such as the Clio Awards – where advertisers are recognized like writers and directors are with Oscars.
That creative genius has its place, undoubtedly. But it’s a puzzle piece that relies on other puzzle pieces. At the end of the day, a Clio Award doesn't generate profits; that rests on your ability to draw paying customers.
Namely, intelligent marketing strategies drive successful advertising.
No matter how incredible the creative execution, an ad is likely to be a square peg in a round hole without sound marketing. An advertisement for golf clubs ends up on a ballerina apparel website. Or a 30-second TV spot for the latest hip tequila drink ends up playing during a 60 Minutes.
Marketers Provide the Nuts and Bolts of Successful Campaigns:
?From the dawn of marketing, industry professionals were the nuts and bolts of a broader, big-picture creative strategy. Those who were most proficient utilized the most cutting-edge technology to provide detailed information about demographics, geography, products, clients, etc.
Soundly executed marketing strategies – no matter the method involved – have always necessitated intelligence. This allows for no wasted movement and everything fitting into place. Thus, every bit of brand messaging reaches its intended target and speaks to their distinctive needs and preferences. Through this lens, campaigns become more personal.
The Dawn of Intelligent Technologies:
For ages, methods and technologies have honed and bolstered overall marketing intelligence.
While the professionals involved have always been intelligent, the same can’t be said for the technologies. They’ve been clunky and cumbersome, never quite reaching their full potential.
The year 2021 tells a different story, however. Now, marketing technologies have caught up with their human counterparts, if not eclipsing them in some way.
Why is Inbound Marketing Inherently “Intelligent?”
The Limits of Outbound Marketing
Outbound marketing efforts still have their place. Advertisements in newspapers, on television, and on the radio do a tremendous job with brand recognition. Even cold calling can be incredibly useful in a power-by-numbers sort of way.
The biggest pitfall with the above approach and its proceeding executions is the lack of precision. Sure, a transcendent campaign on television can turn a brand into an icon—but it's much more of a guessing game than it is a science.
With outbound marketing, you're far likelier never quite receive the return on your investment that makes it all worth it. ?
By its nature, outbound marketing isn’t interactive with customers. You’re ramming a message in the face of the consumer and hoping it sticks. Some brands thrive with this philosophy, but rare should it be your only marketing weapon in what ought to be a diverse arsenal.
Think about this: sources cite outbound leads converting at a rate of 1.7%, compared to the staggering 14.6% close rate of inbound leads, bringing us to the next subsection.
The Strengths of Inbound Marketing (And It’s One Critical Caveat):
Inbound marketing in 2021 includes the following facets:
The inbound marketing approach is inherently intelligent because it focuses specifically on your target consumer and interacts with them. Generally, such campaigns rely on customers “opting in,” where they actively seek out your organization.
Initially, inbound marketing sounds like the most efficient and intuitive approach. You’re obviously going to have better “luck” closing with leads who are already interested in what you offer.
And therein lies the caveat.
Inbound leads aren’t conjured from thin air. There are pinpoint processes required to cultivate content that engages target consumers and lures them to your brand.
There’s a chance that goals and return on investment can be reached through manual means, basing it on ‘feel’ and guesswork. But that’s akin to walking 100 miles when someone’s offering you a ride in a Ferrari.
?How Can You “Smarten Up” Your Inbound Marketing Campaigns?
?Outlining the Key Ingredients for Intelligent Inbound Marketing:
Any recipe for success is chockful of critical ingredients. Just like a well-oiled machine requires a series of moving parts operating in harmony, keeping one another in check.
?In the instance of inbound marketing, the impressive sum is made up of the following
?These separate components are of equal importance. They are drastically weakened when one is ignored or neglected. Conversely, when each aspect is given the required care, it boosts all others to meet one big-picture goal. Suddenly, you find yourself equipped with an efficient inbound marketing strategy that provides lasting value to your target market.
Let’s now delve into the various components that take your inbound marketing and make it intelligent:
The Personal Touch:
Given that the entire point of intelligent inbound marketing is to engage directly with an interested customer, a delicate personal touch is a must.
Unlike traditional outbound methods, you aren't broadly throwing a message out there and hoping it lands. You're speaking directly to somebody with whatever platform or process you're applying. This same principle applies whether it's one individual or multiple people within an organization. Regardless, it's humans involved, not targeted numbers that boost your bottom line.
That means "putting the customer first" isn't merely a platitude but the entire foundation of your campaign strategy.
?Another term for this is your ideal buyer persona. Some organizations perform surveys with industry peers to understand their target consumers and how they behave online.
Once this facet is defined, it becomes far more straightforward to hone and finetune campaigns. Everything you do, from choosing the platform and developing a mail list, will be done with a personal touch.
Clearing Out the Clutter with Automation:
As a leader in your organization, you play a critical role in your big picture. Imagine combining those responsibilities with custodial tasks, cooking for your entire staff, and taking every incoming phone call.
We're assuming the above paragraph sounds ludicrous. CEOs, COOs, and other executives can't function in their capacity if they're focused on the minutiae. It muddies up the works and clutters up your brain, distracting you from what's most pressing.
Our point isn’t to downplay the value of more menial tasks (because they’re entirely necessary). Instead, you must find a method that ensures you don’t get lost and absorbed by them.
Unfortunately, without giving your marketing team the benefit of automated technologies, you’re cluttering up their workloads.
Let’s examine what this automation entails through the lens of Hubspot’s software:
?HubSpot's social media tool schedules posts and tracks engagement.
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There’s this idea that automation removes the personal touch that was discussed above. Such a notion couldn’t be further from the truth.
These technologies allow us, humans, to flourish because we can focus more on what’s important. The software involved isn’t a magic bullet—the delicate touch of an expert marketing team is a non-negotiable requirement.
Here are some eye-opening statistics to further drive the value of automation home:
Channeling Your Efforts on the Right Platform:
Did you know that 51% of 13-to-17-year-olds use Facebook?
Now, that’s not necessarily anything to scoff at if that’s your target demographic. Yet, if your ideal buyer persona is teenaged, focusing on Facebook won’t necessarily bear the most fruit. Conversely, after some research, you’ll find that Instagram and Snapchat are far better platforms for that age group.
The above example serves as a microcosm for your intelligent inbound marketing. You must be where your customers are if they’re going to actively engage with your brand.
Also, timing is everything. Releasing a podcast, emailing a newsletter, or posting on social media while your ideal consumer’s attentions are elsewhere won’t generate conversions.
We can really see how all the moving parts come together with finding the most relevant channel for your content. Knowing your customers allows you to understand what platform they'll utilize. Automation will help you produce the content more efficiently and at your desired time.
Furthermore, using data-driven insight and benchmarks will better help you execute when the time is right.
Using Data to Market with Sage Insights:
We live in a world where analytics reign supreme. With that comes a blind adherence to the statistics provided, not considering whether they're actually relevant to an organization.
Intelligent inbound marketing doesn't merely kowtow to data; it ensures that you identify the most valuable information. Otherwise, you'll be dealing with another painful clutter problem, similar to the one we previously discussed.
Before delving into a use-case example, we’ll leave you with a core principle of intelligent inbound marketing:
You don’t want to get lured away from critical, long-term patterns by smaller data samples filled with recency biases. Staying ahead of overarching trends and keeping your finger on the pulse will drive your success.
How do you ensure the data coming your way will provide value for your organization and its target market?
One company that worked directly with HubSpot cites how they applied specific properties, behaviors, and demographics to this process. From there, it was possible to clean up their database and link specific personas to thousands of contacts.
Lists and automation workflows streamlined the process of assigning future contacts for the company in question. Beyond that, the HubSpot tool allowed for persona questions to be added on forms that future-proofed segmentation via automation.??
Establishing Relevant Benchmarks:
Setting impossible goals and benchmarks will have you overcommitting in the wrong places. Ensure that whatever you're intending to accomplish is within the realm of possibility.
Furthermore, your benchmarks should be concrete and specific, with everyone being clear about what’s expected. Goals should also be measurable so that it’s evident where your team stands at all times. Don't be vague and say things like, "we need more customer engagement." Instead, specify how much and what type of engagement you're looking for.
There's also the matter of relevance. A typical example of where companies go wrong with social media is overvaluing the number of 'follows' they get. Something like the number of click-throughs you're getting to your website means much more.
And you must ensure your benchmarks and goals have a specific date in mind to keep everybody's eyes on the prize.
Your goals and benchmarks should be based on metrics such as:
Really, this is only scratching the surface. Take a peek at a HubSpot breakdown of these benchmarks.
Excellent Creative Execution is the Final Intangible:
This subsection has loomed over the entirety of this blog. All other intelligent inbound marketing techniques mean virtually zero without your team’s ability to execute.
Intelligent inbound marketing is all about combining the theory with the practice. All components involved are meant to set the table for you to create marketing magic.
Another consideration is that intelligent inbound marketing requires seamless collaboration amongst many departments. Similar to how all facets of this process play off one another, so do sales, product, customer success, and so forth.
Conclusion: It’s Time to Get Smartened Up About Inbound Marketing
With vastly higher conversion rates than other methods, inbound marketing offers organizations, such as yours, the keys to the castle. However, merely deciding to embark on a campaign without a highly involved plan in place won’t reap your desired return.
It’s only by adhering to the “Intelligent” components discussed above that your inbound campaigns can thrive. By immersing your organization in these processes, you’ll put forth content and other marketing that draw customers like flies to honey.
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