But there is one very important thing missing from that list, that you should have as part of your winter to-dos for 2015: get up to snuff with online marketing!
Think about yourself. Do you pick up a newspaper and look for ads if you need a new pair of sneakers? Do you drive around to find a billboard to take your spouse out for dinner? What is your reaction if you get the third call during dinner from a telemarketer?
Even TV commercials are skipped by 86% of viewers, according to The Guardian.
Old school outbound marketing does not work as effectively anymore. Customers turn to search engines as a trusted advisor and ask friends and family on social media for recommendations. According to HubSpot, 78% of Internet users conduct product research online.
(Need more convincing? Read more here!)
But there is a way how businesses today can reach their audience. But the ways people shop and make buying decisions has changed - and so do the rules of selling and marketing.
Modern marketing provides helpful information where consumers are looking for it and only the businesses who show up, will get the business.
Sounds expensive? Actually, you can do all of it yourself and even if you hire an Inbound Marketing agency, it is highly measurable. Studies have shown that Inbound Marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional, outbound marketing. (Source: State of the Inbound Marketing Report 2014)
That is why we offer a free email marketing course for you to learn the basics and get started!
This course is comprised of eight emails over the next month. It is designed to teach you why traditional marketing methods don't work the way they used and how to use digital marketing to your advantage.
The course can be used for all industries as it teaches the principles of Inbound Marketing in 8 lessons:
What makes this course so helpful:
This course would only be half as much fun (or useful for that matter) without a challenge at the end to see how many of you have put into practice what you learned!
We will look at each of your progress and the changes you are implementing. The top 3 will be featured in a blog post and the winner will receive a fully personalized 60 minutes consultation with us for free.