There are several reasons that inbound marketing efforts fail to produce the intended results. The most common relate to the following misconceptions:

• Inbound marketing is not simply blogging.
• Blogging is not a content strategy.
• Content alone is not inbound.

If your inbound marketing efforts are not yielding the leads you're looking for, assess the following components within your Inbound Marketing content strategy to find an opportunity for improvement. 

Top of Funnel (TOFU) Content

Does your TOFU Content... Suck?

Is your Top of Funnel Content relevant? Does it have a title intriguing enough to entice people to click? Are you sharing it on social media, in your customer newsletter, or utilizing communication channels like corporate email signatures to distribute your content? WAIT, please don't say it's product or service focused!!

Your TOFU content should be the content you actively distribute anywhere and everywhere you can. It should be value-add pieces that address common customer pain points and helps people solve common problems.

TOFU content has titles like "5 Weekend DIY Projects to Improve the Value of your Home" NOT "The Best Home Loan Rates in Windsor County." TOFU content introduces a concept and leads the visitor to a larger content offer piece for additional information. Some of the best TOFU content is video content.

Content Offer

Is Your Content Offer a Mid-Term Essay?

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that content offers have to be eBooks. Video content is more relevant and important than ever. If your content offer looks more like a high school homework assignment than an interesting, desirable offer of information, it won't generate leads.

Your content offer should also be your fully optimized Pillar piece of content for a product or service.

Not sure what Pillar content is? It's explained in more detail in our Ultimate Guide to Successful Inbound Marketing for Financial Institutions.

Landing Page

Is Your Landing Page Plain Jane?

If your landing page is your Pillar page then you'll want to have a lead capture form near the top of the page and at least one more form to grab contact information about halfway down the page. If your landing page is not a Pillar page then be sure to make your offer as desirable as possible without the user having to scroll.

Instead of using CTAs and form titles like "Download eBook Here" spice it up with form titles like "Claim Your Free Copy Now" and "Send a Link to Your Inbox" with form CTAs like "Claim Mine" and "Send it Now!" to bring a sense of excitement and urgency to the page.

Increase conversions and make your landing pages rock with short videos that entice the viewer to fill out the form.

Imagine a short video with someone saying "What are you waiting for? It's just a little form! If you don't like our stuff you can always unsubscribe later - unlike Grandma's birthday cards!"

Landing Page Forms

Are Your Forms Too Expensive?

Think of landing page form fields as currency. Visitors are only going to give you as much contact information as they feel your content offer is worth.

Start with name and email to establish a baseline percentage of form conversions. Then you can try adding a single form field and see if the conversion rate goes down. If it does, Name and Email are the only 'currency' your offer is worth. It's as simple as that.

Thank You Page

It's a Thank You Page Not a Break Up Page

The thank you page is one of the most underutilized pages in content offers. In most cases thank you pages provide a link to the offer and it's the end of the interaction.

Your thank you page should include another offer that moves your new contact quickly through the buyer's journey or encourages them to share the current offer with others.

Add CTAs like "don't keep this great content to yourself! Use this button to share it." Or, add another offer like "your content offer also includes a FREE credit report assessment! Use this form to save your appointment spot now."

Middle and Bottom of the Funnel Nurture Content

Is Your Middle and Bottom of the Funnel Nurture Content Any Different Than Your TOFU Content?

It's more important that middle of the buying journey content is optimized for Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) than TOFU content. Afterall, you're not really trying to rank on Google for "weekend DIY projects," you're trying to rank for "Home Equity Loans."

Since MOFU and BOFU content will lead readers to your actual products and services for solutions, it should be fully optimized with a keyword strategy implemented in the titles,  proper use of H1, H2 and H3 title structures, metadata appropriately completed in alignment with your content and paid search strategies, and on-page content that offers valuable information (NOT keyword stuffing!).

Continuous Improvement with Data

'Set it and Forget it' Is NOT Acceptable!

Your Inbound Marketing strategy, and every Inbound Marketing campaign, should be continuously improved through data-driven decision-making.

First, it's important to distribute your content in all applicable and relevant channels for your target audience. Google likes your content when users give it attention on other channels. If your articles are getting a lot of traffic from social media, paid advertising, and/or referring sites, Google will notice it and rank it higher for organic results.

Analyze your source reports and content distribution channels to optimize for an increase in clicks back to your site.

Second, every element of an Inbound Marketing campaign (including all those you just read about) should be monitored and adjusted to maximize the number and quality of leads and conversions. And believe it or not... data doesn't lie.

If your TOFU content isn't generating a high percentage of traffic to landing pages, or your landing page forms aren't converting the number of sales qualified leads you need to meet your revenue goals, don't make excuses, make changes!

Lastly, don't be afraid to pivot. Change little things, change big things, change EVERYTHING if that's what it takes!

When you're continuously improving, you're continuously changing; the cycle never stops.

Inbound Marketing is the Future of Marketing.

As virtual assistants become increasingly more popular, voice search will become the most utilized form of search. Virtual assistants use the database we call the internet to provide answers. Is your credit union or community bank going to be there?

Inbound Marketing often requires more resources than most credit unions and community banks have in their marketing departments. That's why FI GROW Solutions offers our Inbound Lead Generation package. It's more cost effective than hiring additional staff members and you'll benefit from years of professional experience in community banking. Why reinvent the wheel? 

Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your inbound efforts succeed!