Glossary
You know what’s confusing as hell?
Sales and marketing jargon…blah, blah, SEO, blah, Google, blah, Google, blabitty blah SEO, Google, Google, Google.
It’s almost as if those peddling in jargon have completely forgot how to speak basic human. Or they’re just carpetbaggers, you pick.
So, before we launch into the services we offer, we’d like to outline some core concepts to help you better understand sales and marketing. Then, you can pick the right sales and marketing partner. (Notice we didn’t say, “carpetbagger.”)
Digital Marketing:
According to DigitalMarketer (shout out to founder, Ryan Deiss), it’s “… the act of promoting and selling products and services by leveraging online marketing tactics such as social media marketing, search marketing, and email marketing.”
Integrated Marketing:
Basically, integrated marketing is the process of delivering a unified brand voice and consistent messaging across all of your marketing channels. For example, you write a blog about this year’s cybersecurity trends and publish it on your website. You then post and promote this same blog on your social media channels. After which you include the blog (and videos from your YouTube channel) in your monthly client newsletter. Effective integrated marketing helps promote your products and services across all of your marketing channels in a reliable and strategic manner.
Outbound Marketing:
Outbound Marketing: a marketing strategy that uses interruptions and strong promotional techniques to communication with prospects until they buy. These include TV commercials (let’s take a break from our regular programming to sell you octagon shaped cheeze-its…) radio ads, print ads, tradeshows, cold calling and email spam. Think of driving around in your car with a megaphone shouting at people to buy your wares..
Inbound Marketing:
A marketing strategy based on attracting and connecting with prospects by using valuable content (articles and blogs where they actually learn something like a useful tactic or bit of knowledge) and custom experiences.
Content Marketing:
Content marketing is the foundation and driver of any digital marketing campaign. All of your marketing campaigns, search, social, email or paid traffic, are built on your content. Google and your customers need content to find you. Content performs multiple roles along the marketing funnel pathway. It helps your prospects understand what your company is about and what you have to offer. It helps them gauge your personality and what they expect during a professional engagement with you. It helps educate them on the value of their offerings and how they’ll benefit from working with you. Content performs all of these functions and more though suffice to say that it’s the backbone of every successful marketing campaign.
Did that last definition sound biased at all?
Good. Because it was. We don’t do that here.
(Okay, to be fair, some outbound marketing tactics are viable when used in an integrated marketing plan…)
Now that you have some of the sales and marketing basics down, let’s move on to what we offer (hint: it’s NOT a la carte).
Based in Minneapolis, MN, and Fargo, ND.