When it comes to measuring performance, the inbound marketing landscape is dominated by quantitative metrics such as website traffic (organic, affiliate, PPC, etc.), time on site, conversion rate for various digital properties and landing pages, lead generation, and the list goes on. Obviously, all of these metrics are vital for managing and optimizing various inbound marketing programs, campaigns, strategies and tactics. However, they do not tell the full story.

While successful CEOs vary in terms background and vision, there is one trait that unifies them regardless of whether they’re at the helm of an electronics retailer, engineering enterprise, healthcare network, and the list goes on: they make informed decisions based on reliable facts. 

If you’re an owner or decision-maker in a B2B organization, then you might be standing on the sidelines of this whole “inbound marketing thing,” waiting and wondering if it’s really something that you should be doing. In three words: yes, you should.

There’s no shortage of inbound marketing tips for startups floating around the interwebs these days. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), most of the advice isn’t for startups. Rather, it’s for all kinds of businesses, including large, established enterprises that have been on the inbound marketing bus for years.

The world is full of terms, phrases and expressions that, upon closer inspection, would benefit from a re-boot.

For example, we park on driveways, yet drive on parkways. We send cargo by ship, and shipments by car. And we call certain digital properties “landing pages,” even though we don’t want leads to merely land on them; instead, we want to convert them into qualified prospects and ultimately, into profitable and loyal customers.

Some web designers and even some marketing agencies believe that there’s no fundamental difference (let alone a whole bunch of them) between a B2C website and a B2B website. To say that these people are wrong is a gross understatement.

Based in the growing tech-hub of St. Louis, Missouri, Leap Clixx is an inbound marketing firm always looking for new challenges and opportunities to help businesses grow. After many years in this industry, which is ever-evolving and growing more sophisticated by the day, we’re hyper aware of the many pitfalls. A common misconception, for instance, is that rankings will improve just by haphazardly integrating keywords throughout a website. In contrast, we know from experience that great content and a thoughtful SEO strategy go hand in hand. For this reason, our agency has expert content creators who work alongside SEO experts. We have written eBooks and frequently contribute pieces via our blog to better inform the average buyer about best practices. Above all, we’re committed to transparency, trust, and customer-relationship building. In line with our belief that collaboration is at the core of success, we wanted to take the opportunity to highlight our partnership with Clutch, a B2B market research firm based in Washington, D.C.  

Since email marketing has been around for a couple of decades (though in various ways and versions), it’s easy to forget that this staple of the online marketing world is by no means headed for virtual pasture. On the contrary, when it’s done right, email marketing has never been as important or profitable. For example:

In the last few years, content marketing has evolved more than anything else on the online and inbound marketing landscape. That means the rules have changed as well – rewarding businesses that know what works, and punishing those that don’t.

In the old days when servers needed an entire climate-controlled room and people younger than 70 knew what the “Yellow Pages” were, marketing was a very lopsided contest between the haves and the have-nots.