The publishing business model is undergoing a transformation. More and more digital content creators supplement their advertising dollars with revenue directly from the reader through “digital products” – for example, content behind a paywall (known as “paid digital memberships”), webinars, ecourses, ebooks, etc.

Why the change? It’s risky to depend so heavily on advertising. Over the past five years, 35% of print ad spend has dissipated. It’s challenging to make up for that online since pricing has declined by an average of eight percent each year for the last five years. There are no signs of digital ad pricing turning around. And forget about mobile advertising saving the day. About 400 million people have some type of mobile ad blocker installed. 

Advertising is not going to go away all together, but to grow, publishers need to rely on additional revenue streams. 

Not formally a “publisher” but still creating great content that you think consumers would pay for? Take note: there are best practices that all content creators should follow in order to monetize distinctive paid digital products. 

Consumers Will Pay For the RIGHT Digital Content

While some executives refuse to believe that consumers will ever pay for digital content. The data says otherwise. Consumers will pay for the right content. Research has shown that consumers are willing to open their wallets for paid digital memberships, so long as the content is high in quality (both the content itself and the associated experience online), curated and targeted at their wants and needs, and from a brand they know and trust. They’re also more willing to pay if it is for work, entertainment, or a hobby.

This is not to say that you should require consumers to pay for ALL your content. You still need to offer free content to support your inbound marketing efforts. This builds trust and nurtures your readers into a paid product. However, there is an opportunity to put your premium content behind a paywall.

If you already have content and an audience, you have an advantage over others to monetize content through paid digital memberships. However, one thing is sometimes missing: while the quality of the content is high, the quality of the digital product itself (e.g., the design, features, user experience) is not always up to par.  If you want people to pay to subscribe to your site, you’re going to need an upgrade.

Did You Follow a Structured, Consumer-centric Process for Launching Your Membership Site?

Let’s face it. Nothing is guaranteed when innovating. But you CAN reduce the risk. Businesses that follow a consumer-centric process have 32 percent higher success rates, meet sales objectives 42 percent more often, and meet profits objectives 39 percent better, according to Nadia Bhuiya of Concordia University.

If you’re following inbound best practices, you have already done a lot of the work. You’ve defined your personas, and figured out their wants and needs. This is often the first step in any robust process.

A solid consumer-centric process includes testing concepts with your target persona. What types of premium content will you put behind the paywall? Will your app/website have special features that appeal to your target persona?

As part of the process, companies also need to make sure economic modeling serves as the “gut check” that the new product will be profitable under reasonable assumptions. 

When your building and launching your product, use an agile method. What this means is instead of spending a year building everything behind the scenes and hoping you got it right, you create your offering incrementally and see how your persona responds to each piece before building the next component. This way, you incorporate real marketplace feedback into your development process.

Does Your Homepage Clearly Demonstrate Your Value Proposition?

A value proposition clearly states who you are targeting and what needs you are meeting for that population. 

At Cook’s Illustrated, visitors are greeted with the message “Our 50 Test Cooks Make the Mistakes So You Don’t Have To. Get immediate FREE access to 3,000 foolproof recipes, 1,500 no-nonsense equipment reviews (we take no advertising), and 1,500 supermarket food taste tests.” Clearly, they are targeted serious home cooks who don’t want to waste their time sifting through the millions of free recipes of dubious quality.

Does a visitor to your website clearly understand who you are talking to and what problem you are solving for them? This is where you should use A/B Testing to get the message exactly right. 

Is Your User Experience Responsive?

Users will consume your content across devices (desktop, tablet, phone). Unfortunately, research has shown as little as 12% of websites are currently responsive. When your site does not look good on a phone, you are hurting conversion, AND Google is ranking you lower, so you are missing out on prospects as well. Make sure your development team incorporates responsive design, or, if you use a website hosting platform, that your theme is responsive. Responsive design is simply a must.

Are you Current on Payment Processing Best Practices? 

Here is a vocab quiz for you.  What do each of these four terms mean?

• Wallet functionality
• Transparent redirect
• Card recycling
• Refresher program

If you don’t know, time to go to payments school. Best practices can lead to a 12-20% improvement in revenues once implemented. Here is a primer on these terms.

Wallet functionality means you can keep a card on file and use it to process all future transactions (think: Amazon one-click). By removing the friction in checkout or at renewal, you will see substantially higher conversions.

Transparent redirect allows you to bypass handling sensitive credit card information while making it look to the user like they never left your website. The form that captures the credit card data comes from your web server and looks/feels like your website.  However, behind the scenes, the sensitive data goes direct to your payment gateway. This is really the best of both worlds. You’ll lose conversions if you physically send the customer to another website for checkout. You don’t want to deal with the legal liability and potential customer service headaches of handling sensitive information on your own servers.

Card recycling means re-trying transactions a few times after receiving a “soft decline.” A soft decline occurs when there is a temporary problem with a credit card (for example, if there was a temporary hold while a possible security breach was being investigated). Don’t give up – try again. There is an optimization point where the success rate of the re-try justifies the added processing costs.

A refresher program updates credit card numbers and expiration dates on file. This is especially important if you are running a subscription business, because customer’s cards expire (and/or get stolen) over the course of a year.

Do You Have Flexible Business Model Options?

You should have the ability to offer monthly or annual subscriptions. You can also help conversions with free trials, couponing, and gifting. 

One truth about paid digital memberships is there is no silver bullet when it comes to business model. You are going to have to test into what works best for your specific audience and content vertical.

Is your payment system set up to handle this range of options? If not, you’re leaving money on the table.

Do You Nudge Engagement Through Content Discovery on Your Site?

One mistake is lack of direction behind the paywall. The reader buys into your marketing messages, but once they plunk down the credit card, they’re a little confused about what to do.

You should be nudging your customers to engage with your content once they’re on your site, so when that renewal notice comes, they do not decide to unsubscribe.

Here are three ideas for you:

1. Make sure you have a quality on-site search technology in place. As part of implementing this technology, you need to commit to adding the right metadata to your content to aid with search discovery. 
2. Make sure you are using a content recommendation engine. Use the info you already know about them and what they’ve engaged with to continue to delight and serve them the best and most relevant content.
3. Think like a print newspaper – have a new headline every day. Readers still like when you curate interesting content for them. On your homepage, be sure to rotate what goes on above the fold daily. Fresh content is also critical for Search Engine Optimization.

Are You Always Testing, in a Simple Manner?

Always have a learning agenda! This is a list of open questions you have about optimizing your business.  For example:

Acquisition

• What ad copy / ad image / offer is most effective at driving traffic to our site?
• What homepage best communicates our value proposition, thus leading to lowest bounce rate / greatest time on page?
• What free offer is most effective at email capture? 

Conversion

• What introductory price leads to the highest conversion?
• What landing page / squeeze page / checkout page leads to the highest conversion?
• What traffic source leads to the highest conversion?

Retention

• What features / content create the most engagement?
• What renewal price leads to the highest renewal rate?
• What renewal notice language / design leads to the lowest unsubscribe rate?

You should review your learning agenda at least once per quarter with your management team and agree which experiments you are going to run over the next 90 days to answer a few of the unanswered questions. 

Furthermore, best practices is to only test one thing at a time. There is a trend toward “multivariate testing,” and there are some good use cases for that. However, there are also many stories about abusing multivariate testing, resulting in a “Frankenstein Product.” The math suggested optimal subcomponents, but when you add them up to the whole, it just looks weird!

Optimize Your Paywall Today

Again, the purpose of this article is NOT to encourage you to put ALL your content behind a paywall. You still need to use free content to build your reputation and attract an audience. 

However, there is an opportunity to add more revenue by putting premium content behind a paywall, thus creating a paid digital membership.

There are some tactical best practices discussed above, but the most important point is to make sure you are staying consumer-centric in all your decisions. You have a head start if you are already implementing inbound marketing best practices – you have defined your personas and figured out wants and needs that resonate with them. Make sure your digital product manifests this understanding.

What is working or not working for you with respect to charging for digital content? Post in the comments! 

I recently came across the greatest dog bed in the history of dog beds — seriously, it felt like it was made of clouds. And after asking the dog owner about it, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the same company also made regular beds. (Score.)

Needless to say, I’m now the proud owner of the human-version of said dog bed.

You see, when a friend or family member recommends a product, you’re more likely to take their endorsement seriously. In fact, Nielsen reports that the most meaningful form of advertising is recommendations from friends and family: 83% of consumers in 60 countries say they trust these recommendations over any other form of advertising.

The story of how I bought my mattress is a great example of social proof, which refers to the theory that people tend to adopt the opinions or actions of people they trust. And to help illustrate how brands are using this persuasive technique in their marketing, we’ve put together a roundup of social proof in action below.

What Is Social Proof?

Social proof is the idea that consumers will adapt their behavior according to what other people are doing. It makes sense, right? When we see a line of customers waiting to eat at a restaurant or a photo of a celebrity drinking a certain brand of coffee, it lends an air of gravitas and quality to the product, doesn’t it?

But there’s more to it than that. In fact, according to Buffer, there are actually five different types of social proof:

1) Expert Social Proof

Expert social proof is when an industry thought leader or influencer approves of your product. This could take the form of them blogging, posting on social media, or being quoted or photographed as a product user.

2) Celebrity Social Proof

Celebrity social proof typically takes the form of a celebrity using a product and promoting it on social media or in public. This form of social proof is especially meaningful if the endorsement is unpaid.

3) User Social Proof

User social proof consists of positive feedback from actual users, typically taking the form of customer reviews and testimonials.

4) “Wisdom of the Crowds” Social Proof

“Wisdom of the Crowds” social proof appeals to our sense of Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): When lots of people are using or buying a product, others want to follow suit.

5) “Wisdom of your Friends” Social Proof

“Wisdom of your Friends” social proof refers to the phenomenon I described previously: The recommendations from people we know and trust carry far more weight than other types of promotions or advertising.

Which Types of Social Proof Work Best?

The (social) proof is in the pudding: Social proof in your marketing and advertising can have a huge impact. But what type of social proof works best?

While this will likely depend on the product or service you are marketing, the folks at ConversionXL conducted some research to help shed some light on the situation.

Below you’ll find some noteworthy statistics from their research about the types of social proof that perform best, and what you need to know about convincing your prospective customers:

• Testimonials featuring photos perform best.
• Readers remember press mentions featuring company logos more than press mentions featuring quotes.
• Prominent client logos in testimonials are highly memorable.
• 86% of female shoppers say they put the most trust in product recommendations from real people — either industry bloggers or people they know — more than celebrities.
• 66% of consumers trust customer reviews online.
• 60% of consumers prefer to make purchases from brands they are familiar with.
• 77% of consumers say that word-of-mouth from family and friends is the most persuasive way to get information about new products.
• Excessive negative customer reviews in Google Search results can result in a loss of up to 70% of potential customers.

Now that we’ve reviewed what social proof is, and the impact it can have, let’s dive into some real-world examples of each type …

20 Examples of Social Proof in Action

Click the categories below to see real-world examples of social proof:

1. Expert Social Proof
2. Celebrity Social Proof
3. User Social Proof
4. “Wisdom of the Crowd” Social Proof
5. “Wisdom of your Friends” Social Proof

Expert Social Proof

1) Nature Made

Nature Made uses the expert certification of the USP (U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention) to speak for their vitamins instead of describing their quality themselves. The image of the seal of approval also echoes the text in their Facebook post.

2) Workday

Workday’s Newsroom features an article in the Harvard Business Review about their company culture, which is a smart use of social proof: By featuring a well-known university name and publication with expertise in business, they impress site visitors from the moment they try to learn more about the company. 

3) Fitbit

Fitbit lets health and tech industry experts speak to the quality of their products in the “Buzz” section of their website. It adds a lot of weight to claims of Fitbit’s success when multiple publications are saying the same positive things they are. That could be why Fitbit is often rated the top fitness tracker on the market.

4) 2U

Education SaaS company 2U uses expert social proof to lend gravitas to its homepage. Highlighting press mentions on your website commands authority and lets visitors know that important voices are talking about you in the press. (Check out this handy PR guide for more on the power of press.)

Celebrity Social Proof

5) Jenny Craig

When celeb Kirstie Alley signed on as Jenny Craig’s spokeswoman, she lost a well-photographed 50 pounds on the program, helping to skyrocket the brand’s popularity in a crowded market: It’s one of the top three diet plans in the United States.

6) Cisco

Here’s Cisco using celebrity social proof to add wow factor and storytelling to market their IT systems, which aren’t typically the most exciting commercial topic. The celebrity adds a human element to a highly technological space in a way that’s memorable and inspires recognition. (Who doesn’t love Obi-Wan Kenobi?)

7) Tracy Anderson Method

Gwyneth Paltrow is a longtime fan and friend of Tracy Anderson and her exercise program, which she frequently posts about on social media. This isn’t an official celebrity endorsement, and its authenticity helps drive more people to Anderson’s program: The Tracy Anderson Method is now a multi-studio, DVD, and live streaming fitness empire.

8) Manuka Doctor

I had never heard of Manuka honey until I watched this episode of Broad City, but it exploded in popularity after Kourtney Kardashian started using it on her reality show, and then became a celebrity ambassador. This is a particularly successful celebrity social proof because Kardashian’s longtime use of the product lends more authenticity than a celebrity endorsement alone would.

9) Wix 

Website builder Wix uses Heidi Klum for celebrity social proof in their commercial. It works in two ways: to add a high-profile name to a business in a competitive industry, and to demonstrate Wix’s pitch (that anyone can build a website).

Wix also used Kung-Fu Panda (fictitious celebrities count, too) in their 2016 Super Bowl commercial, which garnered more online views than any other commercial at the game.

User Social Proof

10) Yelp

Yelp relies on user reviews to rate restaurants, bars, and business, and the use of social proof is beneficial for their company and for its users searching for customer reviews. Yelp generates roughly 145 million visitors each month and is one of the most popular websites in the United States.

11) IMDb

IMDb visitors can consult their review directory to learn what other movie-goers are saying about films they’re interested in, and its savvy use of social proof helped make it the top movie review sites online today with 250 million unique visitors per month.

12) Amazon

Customer reviews and testimonials are one of the strongest forms of social proof, and Amazon provides another great example of how they can be used. In their review sections, they publish the breakdown of the different ratings so visitors can easily see if the majority of purchasers were happy or unhappy with what they bought.

Customers can also publish reviews with specific comments and photos of their purchases, which are more eye-catching forms of social proof for visitors than testimonials alone. 

13) G2 Crowd

G2 Crowd is a business built on user social proof: It offers businesses a database of reviews and recommendations before making a software purchase. The reviews feature verified users of the product, their LinkedIn career information, and the logo of the product being reviewed, which is a research-backed strategy for promoting greater viewer recall and retention.

14) BuzzSumo

Here’s a thorough example of user social proof from BuzzSumo. Their website features customer testimonials and case studies so visitors can read about the full story behind the product they’re considering without any question of its impact on real customers and organizations. This transparent user proof is extremely compelling for visitors and potential customers.

“Wisdom of the Crowd” Social Proof

15) Copyblogger

Copyblogger has a fantastic blog, and they use the CTA above to get readers to subscribe by encouraging them to join a larger community of people with shared interests. If 334,000 other people are finding value in the content, it must be good, right?

16) Netflix

Netflix takes advantage of user trends by suggesting new TV and movie options based on popularity. This clever use of social proof helps them keep people binge-watching instead of navigating away when they finish a movie or season — a great retention strategy, if you ask me.

Much like when things are trending on Twitter, trending suggestions aim to pique the interest of users and persuade them to tune in. 

17) TrackMaven

TrackMaven’s blog features a “Most Popular Content” sidebar shown above to show blog readers other articles that are generating lots of reader traffic. This feature encourages visitors to go with the crowd and spend more time on the site, where TrackMaven can prompt them with calls-to-action and content offers to generate leads.

“Wisdom of your Friends” Social Proof

18) Facebook

Facebook suggests Pages and articles for users based on how their friends are interacting with the social media platform. This form of social proof is supported by our inherent trust in people we already know:

Remember, we take our friends’ recommendations more seriously than any other type of advertising. 

19) Ticketfly

Ticketfly pulls customer Facebook data to show them which of their friends are attending the same events as they are. It also uses social share buttons so users can share what events they’re attending to garner more interest among their social media networks.  

20) Stitch Fix

Stitch Fix recruits new customers for its personal shopping service using social proof by offering a hefty $25 referral bonus for sending friends to the site. It’s a cost-effective method for retaining me, their current customer, and recruiting my friend, who could become a new one. 

Now that you’ve learned all about social proof, check out our article to learn how to take your social proof to the next level. Happy brainstorming!

What social proof strategies have worked on you? Share with us in the comments below.

In the past, content marketing revolved around one thing: your blog. Marketers lived by the promise that if they wrote quality articles on their website’s blog, traffic would come. And after decades of interruptive television commercials and dinnertime cold calling, it was a welcome change in the world of marketing and selling.

But, your website isn’t as important as you think — at least not on its own. Top content marketers aren’t simply cranking out blog posts and ebooks. Instead, they’re publishing on Medium, exploring live streaming video, and project managing web development tools. Between all of these rising trends, content publishing is becoming decentralized across the web.

Just like it sounds, content decentralization is the movement away from website-based publishing in an effort to reach beyond the limits of your current audience and build a community where people are already consuming content. It’s not meant to replace traditional content marketing, but instead, augment it.

In the infographic below, we’ve gathered actionable data to help you realign your priorities with the content consumers want. For even more insight on the future of marketing, be sure to download the 2016 State of Inbound report.

Want more data on the future of content marketing? Download our free 2016 State of Inbound report.

It’s quite simple: You can’t expect to sell the merits of your agency’s social media expertise if your Twitter presence is underdeveloped or inactive. How are clients supposed to trust you with their social media accounts if you can’t keep up with your own?

Your agency’s Twitter shouldn’t be a jumble of PR announcements and random links — it should be a reflection of your agency’s personality. It should highlight your work, promote your culture, and showcase your formidable social media chops for prospective clients.

While there isn’t a single perfect formula for a successful Twitter presence, we’ve compiled a list of 11 agencies with remarkable Twitter accounts to inspire you to take your tweets to the next level.

11 Ad Agencies to Follow on Twitter

1) R/GA

Handle: @RGA

It was a real struggle to just pick a few tweets from R/GA’s Twitter to highlight here, since their entire account is a treasure trove of clever industry insights, pop culture references, and general witticisms that will resonate with anyone working in a creative industry.

R/GA is the global ad agency behind major campaigns for Google, Samsung, and Nike. The man responsible for their delightfully offbeat Twitter presence is R/GA’s managing director of copywriting, Chapin Clark.

After a long day of staring at screens, it’s nice to kick back and relax with my screens.

— R/GA (@RGA)
August 31, 2016

Oh you’re a designer, that’s cool. What do you design?

I make up stuff to cover the Apple logo on laptops in sitcoms.

— R/GA (@RGA)
August 30, 2016

When IT says the update will take just a minute http://pic.twitter.com/xy7iBTeM7p

— R/GA (@RGA)
September 12, 2016

2) McCann

Handle: @McCann_WW

You’ve probably seen this ad agency’s work for big brands like Coca-Cola, Mastercard, and L’Oreal, but did you know they also have a spot-on Twitter presence?

McCann’s Twitter offers a mix of behind-the-scenes snapshots, agency news, topical jokes, and unconventional news stories. It’s no wonder the content is so funny: their tweets are managed by Bruce Stockler, a former joke writer for Jay Leno and current McCann director of content and social media.

So, @ladygaga is single again.

A social media feed can dream, can’t it?

— McCann (@McCann_WW)
July 19, 2016

Aren’t we all? http://pic.twitter.com/kwbux0r4uj

— McCann (@McCann_WW)
September 6, 2016

3) Deutsch

Handle: @DeutschInc

Deutsch might have produced campaigns for Target, IKEA, and other sizable clients, but their Twitter bio is decidedly succinct: “Not Germany or a bank.”

This account is worth a follow if you want timely industry updates, thought-provoking articles, and updates on Deutsch’s high-profile accounts.

Our Director of Production, Vic Palumbo weighs in on production trends with @SHOOTonline https://t.co/J7hPFIDbSD http://pic.twitter.com/py54FD5oPq

— Deutsch (@DeutschInc)
August 19, 2016

Content Management Systems Are Killing Creativity: Deutsch’s @watchclark via @VentureBeat https://t.co/rqLdR5QRYM http://pic.twitter.com/ej2Zax8VjA

— Deutsch (@DeutschInc)
August 14, 2016

4) Wieden+Kennedy

Handle: @WiedenKennedy

If you’re in need of some ad inspiration, this Twitter account from Oregon-based agency Wieden+Kennedy is sure to get you motivated. Their feed is a curated collection of their best client campaigns, accompanied by creative insights from their talented team.

#5 Coca-Cola: It’s Mine

When making a SB ad remember this basic formula: “Big + simple.”https://t.co/WhTm0kxI6X http://pic.twitter.com/ddhTI5fJmm

— Wieden+Kennedy (@WiedenKennedy)
February 2, 2016

We wanted to bring some joy and fun to Slack. So we created a bot that can impersonate your co-workers. https://t.co/K11Iui4JXI

— Wieden+Kennedy (@WiedenKennedy)
July 21, 2016

5) The Barbarian Group

Handle: @barbariangroup

Have you ever wondered what working for a top ad agency is really like? The Barbarian Group’s Twitter gives followers a peek into their day-to-day office culture and latest projects for brands like Pepsi and IBM. It also offers savvy commentary on industry news and events.

One of the last authentic spaces on the internet, @reddit, is getting sponsored posts. Brands beware of trolls. https://t.co/obPx3tBw8B @qz

— The Barbarian Group (@barbariangroup)
August 1, 2016

Everyday is Friday when you’re a dog ✨ #BringYourDogToWorkDay http://pic.twitter.com/78xSiRmS3G

— The Barbarian Group (@barbariangroup)
June 24, 2016

The full version of The Crystal Pepsi Trail is finally here! Congrats, team. https://t.co/Fnom8C7loy http://pic.twitter.com/kSrvezO5oi

— The Barbarian Group (@barbariangroup)
July 7, 2016

6) Firstborn

Handle: @firstborn_nyc

When this New York-based agency isn’t spinning up creative ads for clients like Mountain Dew and HBO, they’re curating a pretty impressive Twitter account. Their feed puts the creative team front and center, sharing current projects, events, and interviews about their work.

Our creatives are kind of a big deal #Paparazzi @RitaOra http://pic.twitter.com/gRKQalt5Bu

— firstborn (@firstborn_nyc)
July 19, 2016

Virtual apathy or virtual reality? Our SVP of Business Planning @fusehead weighs in https://t.co/9kl6HOTLQy via @campaignliveus

— firstborn (@firstborn_nyc)
June 1, 2016

7) Huge

Handle: @hugeinc

The latest industry news? Check. Snappy commentary? Check.

If you need a laugh during the middle of a client meeting where you are discussing the 24th revision to a logo, or if you just want to keep up on weird, wacky, and interesting news and links from around the web, then add Huge to your list.

Beyonce can solve most problems, but she definitely can’t solve your dwindling site traffic. https://t.co/C8R538wN01 http://pic.twitter.com/00u1zXWTIF

— Huge (@hugeinc)
September 13, 2016

Snapchat is joining the Bluetooth universe, which is great if you want more ways for Snapchat to drain your battery. https://t.co/9grzMgCQKK

— Huge (@hugeinc)
September 7, 2016

8) Droga5

Handle: @droga5

This top ad agency’s Twitter is worth following just for updates on their big-name clients alone, but their feed is so much more than that. 

If you take a scroll through Droga5’s account, you’ll find everything from pictures of office life from their interns to shrewd ad industry observations.

Creative Director Devon Hong on how people with disabilities are represented in advertising. https://t.co/hPs2xD5CjS http://pic.twitter.com/oES8SMOs4R

— Droga5 (@droga5)
September 13, 2016

Waving goodbye to our Summer #D5Interns! Deadline for Fall internships 8/31. Link to apply: https://t.co/y7eluz7g4O http://pic.twitter.com/v7uULdYly7

— Droga5 (@droga5)
August 26, 2016

9) Big Spaceship

Handle: @bigspaceship

Whoever’s behind Big Spaceship’s Twitter presence has a knack for digging up oddball news articles and providing wonderfully cheeky commentary. Their feed’s lighthearted, humorous approach to ad agency culture is a perfect afternoon pick-me-up if you’re feeling uninspired at the office.

Wow! He can almost afford 1 beer in New York now! https://t.co/I8i8kPNbpC http://pic.twitter.com/9uF0NEsIRF

— Big Spaceship (@bigspaceship)
September 13, 2016

Tinder’s sociologist gave suggestions on getting a match. We have our own system. #MeatCute https://t.co/c9aqgB6Vgf http://pic.twitter.com/CREhIbqf20

— Big Spaceship (@bigspaceship)
August 3, 2016

10) Pentagram Design

Handle: @pentagram

This design consultancy has created impactful designs for many well-known brands, including Mastercard and Verizon, and their Twitter is a veritable gold mine for cool design inspiration. Follow their account to keep up with their latest work and get advice from leading designers.

Our work for @Mastercard leads The Age of the Worldless Logo by @kalleomattila @TheAtlantic https://t.co/4V8T1Bpxgo http://pic.twitter.com/6OMijpzLoF

— Pentagram Design (@pentagram)
September 10, 2016

.@michaelbierut & team design new identity for reopened @BookHamptons bookstore https://t.co/e1d1ezaelW http://pic.twitter.com/kCicQ2w1P8

— Pentagram Design (@pentagram)
July 21, 2016

11) You & Co

Username: @youandco

This Australian agency caught our eye with their stunningly curated Twitter feed. Design aficionados will appreciate the well-coordinated graphics, and everyone can learn something from the marketing articles they regularly share. You & Co proves that even agencies on the smaller side can rock their Twitter presence with style.

We all love a good story, but have you ever wondered why? https://t.co/mIWd8mdo6F #storytelling #marketing http://pic.twitter.com/GC8PbBmkZi

— You & Co (@youandcomedia)
July 14, 2016

This is most likely how your #Customers are feeling. Help em out! http://pic.twitter.com/Jyv1NWe9cn

— You & Co (@youandcomedia)
July 18, 2016

 Did we miss your favorite agency Twitter account? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Infographics are an awesome way to present information. When you combine data visualization, contextual information, and graphics, it’s much easier to capture and maintain the attention of your audience.

However, creating well-designed infographics that actually help increase your traffic can be quite the process. With so much information, where do you start? What colors should you use? Which data should you represent?

That’s why HubSpot and Venngage are joining forces to bring you a live master class on September 27th where Venngage Co-Founder & Chief Data Viz, Eugene Woo, will discuss everything you need to know about creating and using infographics in your marketing.

More specifically, he’ll cover:

• How to incorporate infographics into your content strategy.
• How to optimize infographics for your funnel.
• Best practices and design principles to live by.
• How to visualize different types of data.
• How to organize data, information, and graphics effectively.
• Much more about using infographics in your marketing!

Save your seat for How to Create and Use Infographics in Your Marketing today.

Inbound marketing is about matching the way you market and sell with the way people actually want to shop and buy. And after reading the 2016 State of Inbound report, it became clear that inbound was beginning to change at a pace more rapid than anything we’ve seen before.

New technologies were being introduced. Consumers’ habits were evolving. Things were different.

What does that mean for the future of this movement? Quite honestly, we believe that in five years time marketing and sales as you know it will no longer exist.

To help dissect some of these future trends, we invited WordStream Founder Larry Kim and ClassPass CMO Joanna Lord to have a discussion with HubSpot’s VP of Marketing, Kieran Flanagan, via YouTube Live. This talk dives into what the future of inbound marketing might look like, as it relates to content, search, and ads.

Watch the video below to hear the full discussion:

The Future of Marketing: A Forward-Thinking Conversation Featuring Leaders From WordStream & ClassPass

If you didn’t have a chance to watch the full YouTube discussion, don’t worry. We’ve summarized both Kim and Lord’s thoughts and input below to make it easy for you to distill some of the top takeaways.

How do you see technology changing the way people shop and buy?

Larry Kim, WordStream

According to Kim, the future of shopping online is going to be less about stumbling upon something in Google and more about customers actually expressing their preferences for brands. Marketers need to do more marketing. And that boils down to getting people familiar with your brand so that they favor you when it comes time for a purchasing decision.

If your first appearance is when a consumer finally decides to search for your products and services on their own, you’re too late. People overwhelmingly click on the things they are familiar with, so you have to get them even before that.

Joanna Lord, ClassPass

Lord mentioned that when ClassPass first started, they spent a lot of time on the consideration phase and differentiating value props. Because consumers are far more informed, they’re far more in control, and marketers really need to create that bias early. Of course it’s about being where they want you to be, but it’s also about connecting with them sooner.

What stood out to you most in the 2016 State of Inbound report?

Larry Kim, WordStream

One of the things that stuck out most to Kim was that inbound marketing and advertising don’t seem to be getting along that well. Advertising is seen as being overrated and annoying — and that’s really unfortunate because, like all channels, it’s less about the medium and more about how you use it.

Joanna Lord, ClassPass

The big thing that stood out to Lord? Video as an emerging vehicle.

She went on to explain that video helps you tell a great story, but today, marketers might over-index on that being videos’ purpose: a dynamic, compelling way to tell a story. However, what came through in the different statistics in the State of Inbound report is that there’s a stickiness to video.

According to Lord, marketers need to be thinking about multiple touch points along the video journey, and different ways to build infrastructure to support and track that effectively. Marketers can’t just be ‘dabbling’ in video at this point — it has to be an all-in play.

Do you think people are frustrated with advertising because a lot of marketers are doing it poorly and not providing a great experience?

Joanna Lord, ClassPass

Lord admitted that a lot of advertising is, in fact, poor. A lot of people try to take historical advertising approaches and apply it on new platforms.

The best marketers that understand advertising will see these new and emerging platforms as a way to amplify their best content. Right now, there’s a bit of a disconnect: Marketers are trying to apply a historical approach on new platforms and they need to take a new approach on new platforms.

Larry Kim, WordStream

When it comes to this debate, Kim explained that he thinks we need to be pickier in terms of what it is we’re advertising.

He went on to explain this example: If you have $1K to spend on social media advertising, and your blog puts out 10 posts a month, the worst thing could do is split the money up and use $100 to promote each post.

Why? Because some of them are going to be garbage, and one or two of them might be great.

Kim argued that what marketers need is a change in mentality. Instead of dividing the money equally, you should take the $1K and go all-in on the top performing post. Doing this will not only get you a much higher ROI, but ultimately it will help you appear less annoying in the eyes of those coming across it, as you’re promoting stuff that people actually find interesting.

Do you think that video has a place across the whole funnel, or does it work better in one part of the funnel?

Joanna Lord, ClassPass

Lord explained that while it’s probably very specific to the brand and the service or product they offer, video can be used in every part of the funnel. She followed that by stating that video is often more compelling in different phases for different brands.

For example, ClassPass is a lifestyle brand with a demographic of young urban women, which provides an opportunity to use video more often — and in more phases — than some B2B companies.

She went on to explain that one of the best places that video comes into play for ClassPass is actually in post-conversion nurturing for lifetime value, because it’s all about motivation and milestones, and that’s the voice of a customer story.

Larry Kim, WordStream

According to Kim, the purpose of content marketing and advertising is to bias people. You want people to have happy thoughts about your brand and what it is you do, so later when they need to buy whatever it is you’re selling, they favor you.

When it comes to the effectiveness of video, he thinks that the message you convey through video is more memorable, inspiring, visual, and dynamic than any other medium. And from that perspective, video content is orthogonal to the funnel, meaning you should be creating video assets for every stage.

While Kim doesn’t think of bottom of the funnel or top of the funnel as being more important than the other, he does have a hard time with the costs tied to video production.

To avoid wasting budget, he suggests auditioning a lot your content to see what performs best — especially in regards of engagement. Then, transforming only the top-performing stuff into video content.

What big bets are you making at WordStream and ClassPass around marketing tactics that you think will be important over the next couple of years?

Joanna Lord, ClassPass

Lord explained that their top investment priorities are photography, video, and humanizing the brand.

People love the service when they when they sign up and when they try a class, but there’s also a lot of noise in fitness, and there are a lot of great brands to compete with. Everyone is getting into health and fitness and wellness, which is why ClassPass’ biggest investments are around differentiating the brand’s point of view. And they way they see it, photography and video are their strongest bets in terms of bringing what’s important to them and their audience — living fully and spending time of experiences that nurture you — to life.

Larry Kim, WordStream

According to Kim, one of the challenges WordStream has is that they’ve kind of tapped out the market of low-funnel people — people who are actively searching for these types of pay-per-click advertising solutions.

So when he thinks of growth in 2017 and beyond, it’s all about creating demand and awareness among people who aren’t actively searching for the products and services that WordStream sells. He explains that if you’re just waiting for people to search, you’re not really growing your market — you’re just harvesting the demand of people who are already looking to buy that thing in the first place.

His goal is to create biases in people’s minds earlier on, so that when the need arises for advertising solutions, they’ll automatically think of WordStream.

What formats would you encourage marketers to invest in over the next 12-24 months?

Joanna Lord, ClassPass

According to Lord, the vehicle is important. And when it comes to vehicles and formats, video is going to be very important — especially episodic content and snippet video.

She went on to explain that episodic content is the idea that there’s a volume or a series to it. In other words, you’re telling a story over a long period of time. It’s a multi-touch approach, and that allows you to meet people earlier in the funnel, nurture them, and hopefully bias them along the way.

How important is it to publish content on external sites like Medium or LinkedIn?

Larry Kim, WordStream

According to Kim, if you’re in the tech space, Medium is a fantastic outlet for content publishing and content syndication.

In the last six months, he was able to become the top 20th ranked author on Medium. (That’s about a million views of his content every month.) The best part? He said it wasn’t all that hard — all he did was syndicate existing content. And Medium makes that easy with the help of its republishing tool.

In terms of time distribution, Kim went on to explain that he spends about 20% of his time creating content for external sites. However, he also urged that the worst thing you could ever do is abandon your blog, and that 70-80% of the content you create should still be going there. 

What evolving consumer trends will disrupt marketing the most over the next year?

Joanna Lord, ClassPass

One thing Lord mentioned that she is currently focusing on is this concept of being the backdrop to a consumer’s life. As she explained it, a lot of companies are thinking about the currency of time: How can you have enough value around your core product so that it’s actually consuming more of someone’s time?

ClassPass is primarily an app-based experience, but everything they’re starting to test in the product will be peripheral and adjacent to that, so they can earn the right to have more of someone’s time. Part of that is thinking through the many times a person might need your brand or product in a day — in other words, what are they hiring you for in their day? If you uncover that, you can build it into your product road map.

Lord also stressed the importance of personification. She asked the questions, “Who does your customer want to be?” and “What will they need to hire you for in 3-5 years if you do your core job right today?”

Larry Kim, WordStream

The biggest thing that’s going to grow revenues for WordStream over the foreseeable future, and for their customers, is advertising. Not just advertising the same old way, but online advertising using ridiculously powerful new technologies that have been released in the last 12-18 months.

For example, they are currently focusing on the ability to target specific ads to specific phone numbers or email addresses. According to Kim, it’s kind of like email marketing, where you can target people who are on your lists and build custom audiences. What’s different is that you’re not limited to segmenting by just everyone on your lists — you can segment by behaviors and interests and demographics. According to him, it has never been easier, in the history of marketing, to go after your target market.

If you enjoyed this discussion between Larry Kim and Joanna Lord, head over to stateofinbound.com to learn more about the future of content, search and ads and how it’s evolving in 2017.

Running an agency is a tough business. You’re constantly balancing new business development, creativity, employee management, legal concerns, invoices, new tools… the list goes on and on.

With so many responsibilities, how do you know what to prioritize? Wouldn’t it be nice to know what your clients think you should focus on?

We rounded up some pieces of advice from a few marketing executives and CMOs to help you handle the many varied demands of running an agency.

7 Pieces of Agency Advice from Marketing Executives

1) Focus on building a partnership with your clients

The advice is, for marketers, you only get what you put in. If you kick it over the fence, expect it to be kicked back. Okay? If you lean in and you say, ‘Hey, agency. This truly is a partnership.’ In that, we’ll get the best solution and the agency gets the best partnership because there’s a transparency in our business.

Part of what happens early on in our agency relationships is everyone is taking a guess. The tension tends to come as reality starts affecting that guess.

When you’re trying to sell in on the agency side, you’ll always err towards the side of, ‘Oh, it will be fine.’ On the client side, you’re like, ‘Well, I don’t understand what those fees are,’ and yet there’s no working in between. That would be the big thing, to lean in.

– David Jaye | CMO of The Weather Company

2) Get your executive team involved from day one

Think about some of the great marketing of our age. Apple’s a perfect example. It wasn’t a partnership between Lee Clow and Apple’s CMO. It was Steve Jobs and Lee together creating great work.

I think that is a formula at the top, a creative partner and the CEO working together. If those two people can work together, it’s magic.

– Brian Chesky | CEO of Airbnb

3) Highlight your specialties

There is too much focus on sales and cross-selling, and not enough on unique capabilities.

Never hire your PR agency to do your paid search and find agencies that truly specialize in one core service to deliver the best results.

– Ed Nevraumont | CMO of A Place for Mom

4) Empathise with client’s drive for revenue

One big thing that the agency side doesn’t understand is the ever present need to drive revenue and to make sure that I’m managing the spend against that.

Things can get away from you very quickly if you have a slow Q1 — you’re not going to make your annual revenues. Just that shift and thinking away from the quality of the program, if you will, to the responsibility for the revenue and investment for the enterprise. That was probably the biggest shift I had to make.

– Ellen Donahue-Dalton | CMO of Medecision

5) Don’t wait for a crisis to build strong relationships

Should a crisis or high-profile communication occur in your organization, you need to already have strong relationships across your executive team.

Build the rapport now so that you’re not waiting until crisis hits to build those relationships and protocols.

– Amy Comeau | CMO of Emory Healthcare

6) Don’t underestimate the value of speed

I need agencies who are very fast — that’s point number one, especially in a startup. I will actually sacrifice some strategy for speed.

I needed an agency that would be fast, that would be nimble and also that wasn’t going to lock me into a big retainer. That’s a real mistake that companies make, especially small companies. You just can’t afford monthly hits of $10,000 or more.

You may not use the agency in a given month because you have other priorities, and then you’re still paying the $10,000, and there’s always exit fees. It ends up getting very expensive.

– Jeff Perkins | CMO of QASymphony

7) Play well with others

I love the agencies that play well with others. I love putting agencies together.

I think that’s one of the most powerful things we can do. I know that’s not always easy. Who’s on first? Who’s on second? Can be tricky. When that dance is well danced, I think it’s beautiful.

I love agencies who truly understand they fill a void. Yet are able to rise up out of that specialty and connect other dots for us. I think that’s a very, very powerful capability from an agency.

– Rebecca Messina | Global CMO of Beam Suntory

Is your company fully embracing the digital age? Is your team engaging digital transformation beyond updating your website every 6 months? For many companies, failure to adapt to new technology means getting left behind and losing business. Your prospects and customers are researching and buying online, so why aren’t you focusing on marketing to them via digital channels?

Ask any millennial about Kodak and they will struggle to tell you more about what it does. For many of us however, Kodak was a household brand and a former heavyweight in the analog film business. Kodak not only missed the boat on digital but also acutely misunderstood the ways consumers wanted to be engaged, interact with their photos and the technologies involved. As a result, Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

For companies like Kodak, to stay in business, they are forced to make desperate cost cutting measures starting with employee layoffs. Often, these layoffs start from traditional cost centres like IT, Human Resources and Marketing. During layoffs planning, the company looks at departments that are unable to prove return on investment (ROI) and are adding to the cost of running a company.

When the marketing department gets downsized, it can be difficult for marketers like us to accept. After all, marketing has always been in charge of bringing the product to market. The reality for most marketing departments is that they have a long list of complex strategies influenced by a mix of internal and external stakeholders. We are bogged down with a host of business functions such as increasing brand awareness, product adoption & pipeline creation, resulting in being tied down with more projects than we can handle, which means proving the ROI can get left behind.

But how do you know what’s working for your business if you can’t measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns?

Let’s compare this outlook with the sales department, which operates under a constant sense of urgency because they are always working to meet a predetermined sales quota. This sense of urgency is exacerbated by the fact that their compensation is tied to meeting or exceeding those quotas. This gives them an extraordinary sense of focus around measuring their results and reviewing their strategies.

There’s no reason why marketing can’t work towards targets in the same way sales does.

Work Out What to Focus On 

In order for marketing to be empowered as a function, we need to cut out the noise and confusion that can make it difficult to focus on objectives that matter the most; those that ultimately drive sales and prove ROI. At a high level, these objectives should address the Top of the Funnel (TOFU), Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) and Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU):

• TOFU — If you need to increase traffic to your website, utilize tactics like blogging, Search Engine Optimization & Social Media

• MOFU — While blogs are very effective at bringing visitors to your website, they won’t help you qualify prospects or make a sale. To turn visitors into leads, MOFU tactics like ebook offers & webinars will help you get there

• BOFU — By the time a lead reaches the bottom of the funnel, they are ready to buy and the only question is who they will buy from. This is the chance for marketers to add more qualified opportunities to the sales pipeline by using tactics like lead nurturing through email marketing & case studies

Once these objectives are top-of-mind, the marketing department can devise a strategy that turns them from a cost centre into a profit centre, fully capable of explaining results and impacting the company’s growth.

Set SMART Marketing Goals 

To do all that, we first need to develop  measurable goals that allow for strategy changes and reviews along the way. Measurable goals also help us prove how effective we are and spur on improvement.

However, goals are useless if they’re not realistic. That’s why it’s critical to set SMART goals. Here’s how you can set a SMART goal:

• Specific — Set real numbers with real deadlines
• Measurable — Make sure you can track your goals
• Attainable — Work towards a goal that is challenging but attainable
• Realistic — Be honest with yourself, including what your team can or cannot do. Address the challenges that might come up
• Time-bound — Give yourself a deadline, “sometime down the road” is not specific enough

To help you do all that now and eliminate the confusion on setting goals, HubSpot has put together a free goal setting template. With this template, you will be able to find out how far off you are at from your year-end goals so you can put in place a strategy to make this your best year yet.

More than ever before, people are relying on their mobile devices for web browsing. In fact, a recent study from Hitwise found that almost 60% of U.S. online searches are conducted via mobile, and according to Litmus, 56% of emails were opened on mobile devices in April 2016.

With so many potential customers opening emails on mobile, it’s essential that marketers optimize their sends for tablets and smartphones in addition to desktop computers. Luckily, Google has made that easier with their announcement that Gmail will begin supporting emails created with responsive design later this month.

Let’s dive into some of the details marketers should know about this announcement.

What’s changing?

Until this month, many email marketers have had to optimize their sends for mobile using manual tactics — changing the sizes and proportions of images, links, calls-to-action, and so on. (HubSpot customers: You get to skip the headache thanks to default emails automatically optimized with responsive design.) But these steps are time-consuming to say the least. 

However, last night, Gmail announced that both Gmail and Inbox by Gmail will now allow for emails developed with responsive design. In other words, emails will dynamically adapt so their content automatically fits the size of all screens.

What’s the difference in experience between an email that’s been optimized for mobile, and one that hasn’t? When emails aren’t optimized for mobile use, the content might appear distorted, forcing readers to zoom in or out to read the message or click on a link. When emails are optimized for mobile devices, images and links automatically adjust so they’re easier to view on a smartphone or tablet. 

To put the significance of responsive design into context, consider that 39% of people will stop engaging with a mobile site if images take too long to load, and 38% will stop engaging with a website if the layout is unattractive, according to Adobe. 

This GIF from Google illustrates the difference:

If you’re design-minded, Google is making this possible by means of CSS media queries. According to Jeffrey Vocell, principal product marketing manager at HubSpot, these coding filters are used in website and email creation to ensure that an email, regardless of the device it’s accessed on, will look just the way the sender intended. They make it easy to change the style of content depending on which type of device is loading the email or website.

What does this mean for marketers?

I asked HubSpot Demand Generation Marketing Manager Nick Barrasso what he thought about the announcement.

“It’s about time that Google is supporting media queries for responsive design,” Barrasso said. “The growth of email engagement on mobile devices is not slowing anytime soon, so this is a move that’s not only welcomed, but long overdue.”

Here’s why Gmail’s announcement is such a big deal for marketers:

1. Greater access: Gmail has one billion users worldwide, and 75% of Gmail users access their accounts on mobile devices. This change represents a tremendous opportunity for email marketers to target millions of potential customers with emails optimized for mobile.
2. Better user experience: 42% of consumers in a BlueHornet study said they would delete an email if it didn’t display properly on a mobile device. This change will improve the recipient experience, and perhaps save some messages from the dreaded delete.
3. Greater accessibility: According to Kevin Mandeville, content designer at Litmus, “Accessibility in email is essential for a campaign’s success.” Features in CSS media queries that Gmail now support include larger, touch-friendly buttons and automatic image resizing. Additionally, Gmail will support CSS screen-reading settings so recipients can more easily listen to emails as well.
4. Streamlined email design: Email marketers and designers will no longer have to hack their way to mobile-optimized emails using CSS inlining, templates, or manually adjusting sizes and proportions. CSS media queries are a far less complicated, one-stop process for responsive design.
5. Gmail is an influencer: Now that the largest email provider is supporting responsive design, other services may follow suit in order to compete. 

With more than 80% of global email users projected to access their email on mobile devices by the end of 2018, it’s of no small consequence that Google has just taken the next step to improve user experience and results for Gmail users and email marketers.

Now that producing mobile-optimized emails has gotten that much easier, check out our roundup of remarkable email marketing campaigns to start brainstorming creative sends to engage mobile users.

What do you think about Gmail’s announcement? How are you preparing to optimize your emails for mobile? Let us know in the comments.

Not all keywords are created equal. Some, like “marketing,” draw in huge crowds of searchers each month. Others, like “marketing tips for small shoe store companies,” might squeak out a couple hits.

As marketers, we’re often conditioned to go after attainable high-volume keywords. You know, the kind that pull in over a hundred Google searches per month? The rationale seems sound: We’ll attract more traffic, generate more leads, and close more customers. More clicks = more business, right?

Not always. We always knew that targeting some low-volume keywords was a sound strategy, but one surprising discovery backed it up with cold, hard evidence. We dug into one client’s keyword strategy and found that a forgotten low-volume keyword was generating some of their most highly converting leads.

This goes against the “more clicks = more customers” convention. But when logical assumptions and data go head-to-head, data always wins.

Here’s how we improved conversions with low-volume keywords, and how you can make them work for your own strategy.

Low lead conversion with a “typical” keyword strategy

(Editor’s note: Our experience was based on one client’s experience, but for privacy purposes, we’ll refer to them as Client A; and we have changed keyword examples.)

We began an inbound partnership with Client A, a content management system for churches, and all was going according to plan.

We implemented an inbound marketing roadmap with Client A and devised a keyword strategy based on industry norms: keywords that had high searches (at least 140 a month) and low ranking difficulty (under 70). We kept buyer personas in mind, considering who the target customers were.

Download the free eBook, “Inbound Marketing: Blueprint to Your Success,” to learn how keywords generate qualified leads in an inbound marketing strategy.

We developed a list of keywords that hit the mark. Then, we set off developing content and campaigns around them. Our main focus was especially high-volume keywords (a few thousand searches a month) — we were shooting for the stars, and hoping for big wins in organic traffic.

Then we began implementation. We pulled out all the inbound stops for optimization. We blogged, wrote ebooks, posted on social media, hit “send” on email campaigns, and began workflows for engaging leads.

Traffic… but not conversions

Thanks to our efforts in high-volume keywords, we moved Client A from a 100+ ranking for high volume keywords to the top of Google in just eight weeks. Cue the celebration! But even though traffic was solid, we weren’t seeing astounding organic lead conversion success from these high-volume keywords.

This meant we were hitting all the keyword stops, but not converting traffic to new leads. We were generating traffic, yes, but not necessarily the most ready-to-convert traffic… and that’s where a forgotten low-volume keyword saved the day.

Low-volume, highly targeted 

Recently in Client A’s website, we found a year-old, untouched landing page that was converting at a miraculous 50%. (For a visual, picture a gleaming treasure chest buried in dust). The offer had been developed before our partnership began — months and months ago — but was quietly converting leads all along.

Many of Client A‘s offers convert well, but this landing page was especially high. So we dug into the landing page metrics to find where all the traffic was coming from. The surprising (or, not so surprising) answer was organic traffic: the evergreen goldmine of marketers. 50% of this highly converting traffic was coming in for free via organic, and these people were practically diving down the funnel.

We audited the content offer and found that it was on the first page of Google results for the keyword “church icons.” We did a collective “huh?” This low-volume keyword didn’t fit the criteria for a typical target… after all, it had fewer than 10 searches per month. By definition, this wasn’t a keyword we were going to invest content creation into. It just didn’t seem worthwhile.

Even so, 21% of the people it attracted each month were becoming brand new contacts. This offer was an incredible source of traffic-to-lead conversion, especially compared to many of Client A’s offers that mainly reconverted existing leads. 

How did it work so well? Let’s dig in.

Why it worked

Since the keyword “church icons” was so specific, it’s unlikely to show up as a recommended keyword in any keyword tool. In fact, it was labeled as a “low volume” keyword in our HubSpot portal, meaning you could count monthly searches on two hands. But the interesting thing was that those handfuls of monthly leads were piling up. And this is where you need to break from convention and go with your gut.

The successful lead conversion of this keyword owes itself to two things: clarity and relevancy.

1) Clarity

What do we mean by clarity? Since this keyword was so specific, visitors searching the term and then clicking through the link knew exactly what they were going to get. 

These people were directly searching for something, and so they were brought to a landing page just for that purpose. They skipped the “blog post” and “CTA” steps entirely — no need! They were already convinced they needed the offer, and Client A just needed to deliver.

2) Relevancy

The offer itself had the perfect chemistry of being relevant and useful — mainly because it was perfect for Client A’s buyer persona. These people were looking to improve their websites themselves, so they searched for design elements (icons) related to their industry (Church).

When they landed upon such a relevant resource, they naturally engaged with the landing page. Submitting the form was a breeze. And a form submission put them on an educational track to begin thinking about their problem (ineffective websites) in terms of a solution — like investing in a customized CMS! (AKA, Client A’s service.)

Use low-volume keywords in your own strategy

In your own keyword strategy, take a closer look at your high volume keywords and the conversion rates they are generating. They might be bringing in high traffic, but is it clear which content you should be producing to match the keyword’s intent?

For example, when someone searches for the high-volume “project management,” they could be looking for information on how to implement project management, or what the definition of project management is, or which methods are best for small business project management, or how to find tools to improve internal project management. Your content might hit the mark, or it might not. And for many of those questions, your service might not even be the answer.

On the other hand, someone who searches something like “church icons” is pretty clearly looking for, well, church icons! And design elements naturally tied into Client A’s mission: better church websites.

This keyword was a ready-for-conversion opportunity — the dream Google result. It proved our presumed hypothesis that we could pump effort into high-volume keyword optimization, but that those keywords weren’t necessarily clear for searchers… meaning potentially irrelevant offers and fewer conversions.

But is it worth it? Consider this equation:

• A keyword with 100 monthly searches that converts 20% of traffic, of which only 5% are qualified leads = 1 potential SQL/month.
• A keyword with 10 monthly searches that converts 50% of traffic, all of which are qualified leads = 5 potential SQLs/month.

The key is in finding the right low-volume, long-tail keywords that bring in qualified leads — and pairing them with just the right offer. Here’s how it can be done.

1) Brainstorm your offer

Think: Which tools, handbooks, or other freebies can you offer potential leads? They don’t need to be directly related to your product (after all, Client A isn’t a design company specializing in icon design), but they must interest your buyer personas and eventually tie back to your product. Think of pain points for your ideal customers, and how you can easily solve them with some freebie or resource.

(If you’re stuck, you can skip directly to step 2 to start with relevant keywords and work backwards to identify an offer idea.)

2) Find the right phrase with keyword research

Run these ideas through a keyword tool to find potentially related keywords. Remember: clarity and relevancy are key. And if you’ve got a good idea, don’t mind the “search volume” after all!

3) Craft the offer

Spend some time using your resources to get this offer just right. It doesn’t need to be complex: simple checklists or handy how-to worksheets can work wonders for leads.

4) Optimize your landing page

Craft your landing page accordingly. Make sure to optimize the landing page around the keyword with best practices.

Takeaway

Don’t put all your eggs into the common benchmarks for keywords: high volume, low difficulty keywords. It’s important to spread your strategy across different options. After all, some of the best lead conversion opportunities come from highly relevant, low-volume keywords. (That being said, don’t  put all your eggs in the low-volume basket, either! Aim for a diversified strategy.)

The best way to find those opportunities is to understand your buyer personas and what your most qualified traffic is searching for. This affirms our stance that it’s not necessarily web traffic that matters, but rather the right web traffic.

Download the free eBook below to learn how an inbound marketing blueprint helps you nail down your target customer — letting you generate qualified leads and more customers.