by
Courtney Eckerle, Manager of Editorial Content
For the last MarketingSherpa Inbound Marketing newsletter article for 2014, discover case studies representing the most prevalent inbound marketing tactics and trends. These articles expose marketers' efforts throughout the last twelve months to innovate in content, SEO and social media.
Featured in this collection of articles are the grit and innovation your marketing peers employed to integrate new tactics and ideas. Click the link to read the entire case study, or simply peruse the summary for the nine articles below, to discover actionable tactics and steps to improve your inbound program in the coming year.
Tactic #1. Innovate new ways to integrate content
One of the biggest issues is always how do we get all the content that we need?
But, once you have that content, how do you use it most effectively? The marketers below utilized content and social media in unexpected aspects of their overall marketing strategy to create a maximum impact with customers and followers.
After the 2008 recession caused occupancy and revenue to take a hit, hotel Jamaica Inn decided to completely revamp its marketing strategy. The marketers integrated relevant content into email sends while launching Pinterest, Google Plus and Instagram accounts alongside existing Facebook and Twitter campaigns.
With those efforts running in conjunction with the launch of a new website, they were able to infuse a cohesive value proposition throughout Jamaica Inn’s marketing messaging. Through this new effort, Jamaica Inn was able to achieve a 52% increase in revenue.
In order to meet its customers at every possible touch point, Kahlúa used their Pinterest page to merge social media with brick-and-mortar gearing up for the holiday season. Using a sweepstakes to garner attention and excitement around the "Taste the Spirit of the Holidays" campaign, Kahlúa promoted a series of
Kahlúa-inspired drinks and recipes.
Click here to see the full version of this creative sample
By combining B2C tactics, such as in-store kiosks, with social media content such as blogs, videos and Pinterest, Kahlúa was able to increase its Pinterest followers by 1,432% in a month.
All of the content Infochimps had prior to transforming its inbound marketing funnel transformation "wasn't really relative anymore. We started, really, from scratch," Amanda McGuckin Hager, Director of Marketing, Infochimps, said.
"They specifically brought me in and said, 'This is what we have. This is the deal,'" she added.
This article covers how the marketing team at Infochimps built an inbound marketing structure that could support a new venture and enabled the sales team to grow business into the Fortune 1000.
When author, angel investor and self-described "email-phobe" Tim Ferriss realized he had collected hundreds of thousands of email addresses over seven years of posting to his blog — without ever sending an email — he knew he had to act.
From this base, Ferriss decided to create
an email program that would focus on content and the lessons he had learned from building up his blog audience. He developed the email program to be a boon to his blog by brushing off "best practices" and figuring out how to best use it himself as a way to put fresh content in front of his audience.
Click here to see the full version of this creative sample
Tactic #2. Utilize customers’ voices across the board
Your customers have a lot to say — are you listening? More importantly, are you using that feedback to improve and grow your programs?
These three case studies focus on marketers who used their customer’s voices to further marketing goals and provide a better service.
As gym 24 Hour Fitness continued an expansion, the marketing team wanted to use social media to drive new memberships. Unlike their current brick-and-mortar recruiting system, social media allowed for a more powerful referral, coming directly from a friend or family member.
See how this effort was able to drive more than 300,000 direct referrals while integrating social media with the existing in-store system.
Aware that word of mouth and recommendations are the primary way that mothers make decisions on buying baby products, the marketers behind the Playtex Baby brand decided they needed to
foster mom-to-mom social media interactions.
Click here to see the full version of this creative sample
Using a "Review-to-Win" contest, the team built up reviews in its Facebook community, garnering more than 2,000 product reviews in just seven months.
When animal pharmaceutical company Zoetis spun off as a separate company from Pfizer Animal Health, it needed to establish brand equity and recognition, and it needed to do so quickly.
Turning to Facebook, Zoetis set up company-wide rules for social media through a customer-focused strategy and was able to cultivate 107,000 Facebook page fans in one month for its EQStable brand. With those fans the company is constantly responding to, and integrating, tactics to keep the conversation flowing between brand and customer.
Tactic #3. Experiment with new aspects of social media
For any marketer, new is exciting, but also daunting. There’s less of a guarantee of return and more explaining to do to achieve buy-in from stakeholders and higher-ups.
However, it can have a big pay off with customers when done thoughtfully and creatively. See how the marketers below utilized unique tactics to reach people from an unexpected angle.
When rebuilding a long-standing design contest for customers, Design Within Reach incorporated social media like never before. Hosting the contest on Instagram, the marketing team also wanted to engage consumers visually on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest.
The community-driven campaign saw 1 million impressions on the brand's Instagram profile and increased followers by 32%.
In launching its new app, Scantopia, LuckyLabs needed to not only catch the attention of users in a crowded sphere but keep it. By building social media and gamification into its utility app, LuckyLabs' Scantopia was able to grow to more than 6,000 social media shares a day.
This team of marketers displays how to put a viral "app mentality" into your marketing strategy in order to get customers excited.
Creative Samples
- Kahlúa sample
- Tim Ferriss sample
- Playtex Baby sample
Related Resources
Inbound Marketing: The top 9 MarketingSherpa case studies and how-to articles showcasing 2013 trends and tactics Email Marketing 2013: The top 10 MarketingSherpa articles for your New Year's marketing resolutions Social Media Marketing: Small sporting goods store sees 1,100% ROI increase with Facebook coupon Social Media Marketing: Visit Detroit sees 4 million Twitter impressions with social media campaign to win USA Today award Real-time Marketing: Nonprofit uses current events to increase revenue 22%
