When a business signs a contract with an inbound marketing agency, they have certain expectations — expectations that both the partner and agency established together on Day 1.
Though agencies often wear many hats, the results they deliver should revolve around some core inbound marketing deliverables — deliverables that every client should expect.
Behold, the 4 things every client wants to hear from their inbound marketing firm:
We Boosted Traffic
Every business I talk to has this goal. It’s why content marketing and inbound marketing agencies exist. Who doesn’t want more web traffic?
But not just any old traffic increase will do. Of course you want targeted traffic. If you sell bikes — the pedal kind — you don’t want visitors who are interested in Harleys.
And make sure that once all these new people come to your site that they stay there because you delivered on your promise. They found what they wanted, could find their way around and you provided enough incentives for them to stay past one click.
At the very least, you’ll have made enough of an impression that they’ll come back in the future.
We Increased Leads
Inbound marketing is all about creating content that piques the interest of strangers and eventually turns them into customers. In between the stranger and customer stages, there’s a lot going on.
What your inbound marketing agency is doing will make the difference between a successful relationship and one that falls below expectations.
Creating quality leads is at the heart of a good content marketing plan. How your business acquires leads whether through white papers, free consultations, demos or the like doesn’t matter as long as it’s working.
We Nurtured Relationships
Unless you’re an ecommerce site selling small-ticket items, you’re unlikely to convert a customer on the first visit. You’ll need to nurture the relationship with relevant blog posts, social media, newsletters, and targeted, “non-salesy” emails.
You’ll know you’re nurturing relationships by watching your blog visits increase, newsletter subscriber base grow, email opens/CTRs/downloads tick up, social shares blossom and links back to your articles start to appear, which is almost always flattering.
And once you have that customer, you’ll want to keep working hard for them so you retain them (and resell or renew) and they sing your praises — preferably with referrals.
We Created Premium Content
When you hire a good inbound marketing agency, you pay a premium because you expect that the content created will also be premium. No farming out writing to other countries or to freelancers who don’t know the business.
Even for industries with historically “boring content”, the expectation is that your agency will take the most sleep-inducing topic and make it informative, if not interesting.
You’ll know if the content is premium as soon as you read that first batch of blogs or white paper.
- Does it speak to your personas?
- Does it educate?
- Does it answer the right questions?
- Does it sound like it was written by someone who knows your industry?
- Is it written in the style you agreed on?
- Is it grammatically correct?
In Case You’re Wondering
A successful, sustainable marketing plan takes time. But you should be having regular calls with your inbound marketing agency to discuss results whether they are below expectations, or they make you want to sing “We’re in the Money.”
