Inbound Marketing Accelerators

I was watching my favorite new show, Top Gear, last night and was inspired to blog about it. Here’s the setup. 3 guys, two amateurs like me and one professional driver, get to drive their fantasy high performance cars and trash talk each other. Perfect. Last night, 3 top of the line Lamborghinis. It was epic. One amateur won bragging rights by doing a standing quarter mile topping out at 180 mph in a Superleggera. Yeah, I know, I’m salivating. Major league bucket list stuff, but where’s the marketing “takeaway”? Well, obviously if you can get your hands on one of these cars, just slap up a simple call-to-action on your site, and you’re an inbound marketing legend. But what can us mere mortals do to take our online businesses from 0-to-60 in 3.2 seconds?

At the Start

Don’t abandon your primary strategy – inbound marketing. Building up a sustainable increase in traffic and leads with content, SEO, social media and lead generation is still your best bet in the long run. Keep this effort going but consider a few accelerators.

0-10 mph

Put the peddle to the metal. You want to make a splash, so get splashing. If you’re a new company or have a new product, plan a coming out party. Consider a real event, complete with speakers, entertainment and guests. Give it plenty of time and create lots of buzz in advance via social media, pre-release content, e-mail marketing, press releases, even TV and radio if you can afford it. Hire an agency to come up with some sexy ads and videos promoting the event. The more, the merrier.

10-20 mph

Gotta get through the low gears quickly and efficiently. Your online and offline media blitz should be well planned and executed flawlessly. Get the message right. What’s in it for your target market? Focus on that. Make sure your SEO people are on the same page with your designers and strategists. Everything needs to be coordinated so your campaign doesn’t stall out. Create a publication schedule so you know exactly what goes out and when. Start tracking lead conversions right away so you know where the buzz is happening and keep feeding it.

20-40 mph

Now we’re feeling it. Let’s kick this bad boy into another gear. Just when people are starting to calm down after your initial blitz, hit ’em in the chops with something better. Leave some of your hottest details for this stage and release them via all of your channels. I’m thinking blockbuster here, like “oh by the way, Google is taking a 1/3 interest in the company”. It doesn’t have to be that spectacular, but something that your potential customers would see as a game-changer. Consider hiring or recruiting some PR people to help you reach all the media channels. Emphasize social media as well, since you have already captured a large audience and they are hungry for fresh meat.

40-60 mph

This is where driving makes all the difference. You’re bearing down on the first milestone, release of your new company or stuff. Don’t let up. Don’t think ahead. Just keep coming up with new spins, new funnies, new sexies. Keep your foot on the pedal through the finish line, and don’t forget to have a great time at the party. Make an event out of the event. Make sure the event gets lots of coverage, interviews, videos and social updates.

Cruising to 180 mph

Now people know you. You have gained a lot of search engine and social media traction in a hurry. Now it’s all about feeding your fans and talking to them instead of blitzing them with advertising. Emphasize participation in ongoing events, games and contests. If you’re selling Lamborghinis, let your fans upload pics of their Lambo’s and trash talk each other online. Do some webinars on how to drive that Superleggera without killing yourself, or worse, scratching that beautiful car.

Just a Fantasy?

This all sounds pretty foreign, doesn’t it? This is what the big brands do and not real folks like us? Not so fast. You can do all of these accelerators, just adjust the scale to fit your budget. But don’t skimp on the imagination. The more creative you are, the faster you will max out the rpm’s. And don’t forget the inbound marketing part. That’s what will keep your Italian stallion humming for years to come.

Looking for a high performance tune-up? Chiamami!

Gorgeous photo credit: Damian Morys Foto