Business-ready B2B Marketing Advice

When you create a call-to-action (CTA) you want your prospects to click. In an ideal world your CTA would be so irresistable that your leads just can't help themeselves but hit that "action" button with force. But how do you create such a CTA, and more importantly, what does a truly seductive CTA look like? In her recent story on the Content Marketing Institute blog, Julie Wingerter has compliled a list of interactive CTAs every B2B marketer should draw some inspiration from. Here are our two favourites:

Being an inbound marketer isn't always as exciting and creative as you'd like it to be. You're always under a lot of pressure to get your marketing and especially your content to perform. With analytical tools being widely available now, your efforts are constantly under a microscope so you NEED to be doing well – you need your content to excel. But what can you do to improve your content? A recent article by Neil Patel offers 7 Surefire Ways to Get More Impact From Your Content Marketing. Have a read of three tips here:  

Content marketing, as the name suggests, relies heavily on content production, and so does Inbound Marketing. So, as an inbound marketer, it is rather important to ensure your spelling and grammar are on point. As the Managing Editor here at BeInbound, I come across a lot of grammar and spelling errors, some more common than others, and while writing and editing comes natural to me, I understand that this isn't the case for everyone. Luckily, HubSpot have compiled a list of 25 grammar mistakes that everyone needs to stop making, so I don't have to write a ranty blog post myself. Go ahead, read, learn and polish your grammar!

Good website design is pivotal to your success as an inbound marketer and while you might not be a master coder or even at all responsible for your website's design, you still need to be able to judge what good looks like. You need to know what the future of website design holds in order to make the best decisions for your business as well as your clients. In her recent medium.com article, Jowita Ziobro, elaborates on seven unavoidable web design trends you might want to consider for your next facelift.  

You’re an Inbound Marketer and as such you clearly draw a line between yourself and the press-junket planning, journo-calling ladies that run the PR agency around the corner. But it’s undeniable that with the shift towards digital, the borders between the various sections of marketing such as outbound, inbound, PR and sometimes even sales have become blurred. Think about it, as part of your content strategy, you probably encourage guest blogging and posting for larger publications, you have probably even thought about writing press releases, and events to promote your brands come in handy. So it's only natural to wonder, how much PR do you actually do, and is it a good move? In her recent article for Business to Community, Sarah Greesonbach discusses the difference between digital PR and Inbound Marketing and outlines which one is better for your business.

Remember in April when Google released its latest algorithm change and with that a mobile update? Suddenly mobile-friendly sites became Google's BFFs. Since then it has become mighty clear that you need to optimise your site for tablets, smartphones and other portable devices your customers might be searching on, or else Google will penalise you. As a marketer, you know your website design and its functionality are not only key to your marketing but also the key to beating the competition.

Even though it's been a few months since the update has been released, you might still feel a little lost as to what to do with your website. In a recent blog post, HubSpot’s Dan Slagen compiled 16 of the Best Examples of Mobile-Friendly Website Design to get your creative juices flowing.

You’re a marketer, not a designer, so your strengths are strategy, facing clients and staying on top of your campaigns' KPIs. Design and creativity are usually pushed to the bottom of your list of things to do. But you know that good marketing is far more than just following a plan, it’s just as much about pleasing the eye and drawing in your targets with great graphics. Sadly, you just don’t have the time or the right tools to make the most of your content, so you leave it to the design team and hope for the best. Luckily, Kevin Beaudry offers help for time-strapped marketers with his fantastic article, 7 Awesome Design Resources to Add to Your Arsenal.

How is your marketing performing? Not many marketers are actually able to answer this truthfully, not because they don’t want to, but because they lack the right data, facts and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure against. KPIs are vital to any business in order to analyse what is and what isn’t working. But how do you find out what your KPIs should be? In a recent article on the HubSpot blog, Jesse Mawhinney discusses How to Choose the Right KPIs for Your Business.

You’re ready to embark on your Inbound Marketing journey. You’ve identified the right team members to support your new strategy and they are thrilled to get going. The only issue: you don’t know where to start and how long it’ll take you. Thankfully, HubSpot’s Spencer Powell has a few handy tips for you, which he outlines in his blog post titled How to Build an Inbound Marketing Strategy in 24 Hours.