Inbound Marketing Blog

Guess what I was doing at 11:15 p.m., last night? I wasn’t asleep or Netflix-binging like a normal human being. Instead, I was curled up in bed with my husband, Patrick, snoring quietly beside me as I basked in the glow of my iPhone screen. I know, I know. There’s this whole nutso movement out there telling me I should be screen-free at bedtime, but I can’t help myself. When it’s sleep-o-clock at our apartment, my Type A creative brain doesn’t want to turn off. It screams for inspiration. So, that last hour of the day is my time to scroll through my LinkedIn feed, trolling for interesting articles that pertain to my professional passions. But last night was different.

In business, many like to think purchase decisions are all about dollars and cents, but in reality, it's just as much about emotions and senses.  In this week's episode of The IMPACT Show, Bob and Nick ask the question "do you know what makes your buyer's buy?" and chat about role of pain points and emotion in buyer behavior. They also reflect on YouTube's Studio update, the iPhone's 10th birthday, and what you should know IMPACT Live 2017. 

Regardless of your industry, service offering, or goals, all great marketing strategies center around one key driver: Knowing your audience! Without knowing who you’re targeting, it’s impossible to effectively craft messaging, capture attention, and push the right leads down the funnel to ultimately gain more business.

Despite millions of years of evolution and the development of abstract thought and critical thinking, humans still rely heavily on emotions when making decisions. That’s right, regardless of all your data analysis and that awesome pros/cons list you made, your decision to buy (and that of your consumers) is largely influenced by one of the more primal brain areas and less about by what makes us so smart. Because of this, as marketers, we need to be masters of connecting emotionally with customers and clients.

Let’s take a quick “journey” together. Pun intended… Ha! Imagine for a second that you’re a part of the project management team at a mid-market, consulting and advisory firm. You’ve just been tasked with the HUGE responsibility of finding a replacement software platform that will help you better manage your client data and project information.

Twas the night before (the night before) Christmas and all through the house... the busy marketer was stirring, typing and clicking his mouse. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and for many in the marketing and retail space, it’s also the culmination of a long and busy campaign season. As the day comes to a close, the numbers will start rolling in and brands and businesses alike will learn officially if sales were as high as expected and where they stand financially going into the new year.

Twitter has been around for some time and has established itself as an inbound marketing staple. Is your company active on the micro-blogging platform?If your answer is no, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to drive targeted traffic to your website, generate qualified leads, and fully establish your company’s online presence and expertise. But first things first – if you’re reading an article titled Twitter Marketing 101, chances are that you’re new to the platform.

Most inbound professionals refer to Buyer Personas as semi-fictional characters that represent their ideal customer. Businesses usually create these personas based on research, data, and analysis of who is already buying from them as well as educated projections related to that ideal customer’s demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals. This is a great place to start, but the strategic importance of defining a buyer persona goes much deeper.