To tie our whole inbound marketing strategy together we need a 12 month editorial calendar because its all about delivering the right content, to the right people at the right time and we need to organize and keep track of it. For this we can use a number of different tools – there’s things like Google Calendar, Excel spreadsheets and kapost.

In today’s cluttered and digitally connected world, inbound marketing makes great sense. By now you would have grasped the importance of changing your focus from outbound advertising that people are switching off too, to rich relevant content marketing that your customers want more of.

But to do this effectively you need to understand your buyer persona, create relevant bi-weekly blog posts, email nurturing campaigns, daily social media posts, landing pages with offers and son on. Then measure it all in real-time and make adjustments – Who’s got the time for all that?

It is important that while trying to generate new business and convert your leads into customers that you don’t forget about your existing ones. Keeping your current customers happy and delighted is such an important part of building a strong and loyal customer relationship. These customers will become your strongest brand ambassadors and tell everyone how good and happy they are with your services providing you with a strong stream of referral-based clients.

Leads are the digital equivalent of people walking into your restaurant, shop or business. So how do you encourage these leads to make an order, buy your product or request your services?

Many believe a lead is a done deal, a customer that just needs someone to take up the order. However, in today’s world of smarter consumers and increased competition a lead needs to be nurtured through all levels of the buyer’s journey. The cold hard fact is that 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales due primarily to this lack of lead nurturing (Source: MarketingSherpa)