Transcript Understands loves inbound marketing

Leveraging the
Power of
Partnerships
1/10/2013
Thank you for having me
It took some work to build Rome
3
“As you navigate through the rest of your life, be
open to collaboration. Other people and other
people's ideas are often better than your own.
Find a group of people who challenge and inspire
you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will
change your life.”
- Amy Poehler
4
Introducing, The Ecosystem
3 Core Pillars of Inbound
Marketing – Pick (at least) one
• Creating & publish optimized content (get found)
• Transforming websites into conversion machines
(convert)
• Tweak & design campaigns based on lead intel + metrics
(measure)
The Startup Inbound Marketing
Agency Challenge
It is extremely difficult to be good at everything
If you attempt, you will fail.
The Market 8 Case
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
[I] started Market 8 [alone] in 2010
Tried to do everything for clients
Tried the partnership early on
Some went (and are still going) great
Some went horrible and made us risk our own
reputation
Market 8 is now a strong go-to partner for Inbound
Marketing web redesign
Have now formed better and stronger partnerships
70+ website launches in 2013, up from 5 in 2012
Tripled in size 2012 vs. PY
8 full time employees and growing
The Market 8 Case – Phase 1 –
Outsource to a partner agency
• Select a partner agency with resources in house to do the
design and development of new sites
• Market 8 focus on managing the engagements and doing
the inbound marketing thing
• It was perfectly conceived, sounded great…
But…
•
•
•
•
•
Our partner started missing deadlines
Was taking too long to respond
Communication was clumsy
We spoke different languages – marketing vs. creative
Our partner proved “too big” for us
The Market 8 Case – Phase 2 –
Outsource to Partner Soloists
• Selected a partner agency smaller partner that we could
grow with - to do the design and development of new
sites
• We wanted someone that could be trained
• Market 8 focus on managing the engagements and doing
the inbound marketing thing
• It was perfectly conceived, sounded great…
But…
•
•
•
•
Quality wasn’t that great
Project management was difficult
We still spoke different languages
Our partner’s objectives were incompatible with ours
Now What?
something was missing…
Understand Your Strength
• Decide: specialist vs. disruptor vs. connector
• Specialists:
• focus on your craft
• leave the rest to Partnerships
• Disruptors & Connectors:
• choose partners within the Inbound Marketing ecosystem
The Perfect Partner
1.
Understands loves inbound marketing
2. Values partnerships
3. Does not charge everything by the hour
4. Has a healthy and stable business
The Perfect Partner
1.
Understands loves inbound marketing
2. Values partnerships
3. Does not charge everything by the hour
4. Has a healthy and stable business
The Perfect Partner Understands Loves Inbound Marketing
• Web Designers may do great graphics but understand
little about what makes a site convert
What
am I
suppo
sed
to do
here
?
The Perfect Partner Understands Loves Inbound Marketing
Copywriters may write beautifully but not customercentric and might not be vested in tracking metrics.
“ACME is not about best practices: it is
about next practices. What we can do to
transform our business and reexamine
the model and build this business to
create, capture, and deliver value in
ways that we haven't even imagined…”
Did
you
get
what
this
comp
any
does?
The Perfect Partner Understands Loves Inbound Marketing
An SEO firm may know how to do effective white hat SEO
for websites but might lack the context of what keywords
are relevant
Our own example:
Market 8 ranks in first page for
• Online Marketing
• Advantages of New Media
And also drive up our bounce rates 
Do
not
try
to
get
irrel
evan
t
traf
The Perfect Partner
1.
Understands loves inbound marketing
2. Values partnerships
3. Does not charge everything by the hour
4. Has a healthy and stable business
The Perfect Partner Values Partnerships
• Process
• Structured Pricing
• Quality
• Communication
The Perfect Partner
1.
Understands loves inbound marketing
2. Values partnerships
3. Does not charge everything by the hour
4. Has a healthy and stable business
The Perfect Partner Does Not Have an Hourly Rate
Hourly Rate Mentality
•
•
•
•
Unpredictable costs
Errors cost
Learning curves cost
Focus on the task
Value Mentality
•
•
•
•
Predictable costs
No paying for learning
No paying for errors
Focus on the value
delivered
Fixed
pricing
shows
mastery
The Perfect Partner
1.
Understands loves inbound marketing
2. Values partnerships
3. Does not charge everything by the hour
4. Has a healthy and stable business
The Perfect Partner Has a Healthy and Stable Business
Signs of a Healthy Business
• Growth YOY
• Low employee turnover (there is more than one
employee)
• Has clear investment initiatives
• Expresses his expertise clearly
Do
not be
shy
asking
about the
financial
health of
Partnerships Made In [Inbound
Marketing] Heaven
Content
Marketing
Web Design
Conversion
Optimization
Disciplines
must
complement
each other
Partnership Example
+
•
•
•
Content
Websit
that
es
adds
for
We do the sites
– they do the content
value
lead
One combined
methodology for discovery
Both firmsgen
can offer a more complete package while
focusing on their strengths
A Unified Discovery Process
What
How do
does
they
the
buy?
custom
The result- from a single discovery process we get:
er
• Content & Conversion Plan
want?
• Site Architecture
• Goal setting
• Learn more at www.market8.net
Coming up next…
How To Manage a Web
Redesign Project
•
•
•
•
•
•
Different types of websites
Design & conversion principles
Content
Toolbox
Project structure
How to price a project
How to Manage a
Web Redesign Project
Coming up March 1st, 2013.
A Comprehensive Guide for
Inbound Marketing Professionals
30
Partner Program
http://www.market8.net/hubspot-var-program/
31
Thank You!