Two organisations’ approach to inbound marketing

A review of two organisations’ approach to inbound marketing

Constant Contact & ActiveCampaign

Inbound marketing is the process of attracting customers to a product or service using tactics such as content marketing, social media, SEO and branding. It uses a less intrusive way to attract people, by offering helpful answers and solutions through the customer journey to build and nurture lasting relationships. In the contra part, outbound marketing has a more disruptive approach, it’s loud and it focuses on creating brand awareness.
Inbound-marketing-stages


Figure 1. The four elements of the Inbound Marketing Methodology. Source: Raka (2020)

 

Each organisation’s approach to inbound marketing

Constant Contact’s method of inbound marketing is an overall holistic approach.  They use the four principles of the inbound methodology to attract, convert, close and delight customers and build relationships. Their website has a great layout, easy to navigate, big on imagery with lots of white space and good use of phrases such as “Get Started” with an added call to action on every page. They have an overall strong social media presence with regularly updated content and a blog with a vast number of articles and video guides.

ActiveCampaign follows the same inbound concept as Constant Contact, however, they are heavy on content, fewer images, but big on infographics, such as a visual of “What is Marketing Automation”.  According to Single Grain, infographics are the best visual format for audience engagement. (Single Grain, 2020) The website has immense information and resources such as useful toolkits & guide books. They have a great navigation bar and a handy search tool to find what you need. When it comes to CTA’s (call to action), you’ll find a “Request a Demo” and “Star your free trial” as the first action on their website.

Both Constant Contact & ActiveCampaign websites are mobile optimised and feature keywords throughout. They also incorporate social media buttons on each page.

 

Strengths and weaknesses of the inbound marketing approach used by each organisation

Constant Contact has a strong social media presence on Instagram, they have created a series of videos titled the “Power on Stories” using the concept of social proofing, which is known for building trust with brands.  They have replicated this concept across their social channels, showing good use of content marketing and video. (Hubspot, 2020) In contrast, ActiveCampaign has yet to make its Instagram page official as they are short on followers, this could be due to lack of quality content.

ActiveCampaign has optimised its content for keyword research, enhanced the loading speed of the website and added in over 4 million backlinks which is one of the ways to improve the website visibility on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). (Niel Patel, 2019). They have also invested in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) using Pay Per Clicks (PPC) to ensure they feature at the top of the search page. 

A key element of inbound marketing is to convert leads through the exchange of information from the buyer in return for an e.g. Playbook.  Constant Contact has an abundance of content available without the exchange of details. Contact information is the currency of inbound marketing and forms are essential for nurturing and converting leads into customers. (Hubspot, 2020)

 

Which organisation is best at inbound marketing and why

In can be debated that Constant Contact is best at inbound Marketing overall, based on the abundance of inbound marketing elements including, calls to action available throughout their website, blog and the strong social media presence. They use free webinars to capture people’s details allowing Constant Contact to gain insights into the lead and take through the buyer’s journey by offering personalised content through their channels, nurturing them from leads into customers. They are strong when it comes to keywords, showing up on the first page of a google search, offering a variety of solutions via their YouTube channel, blog articles, community page and Twitter account.

 

Suggestions & Improvements

Although ActiveCampaign has a vast amount of content on their website, they lack a share of voice on social media and would benefit from refining their brand identity and messaging. Also building influencer relationships will support their social media growth strategy.  There is also a lack of video on their website and blog and the content available on YouTube seems to be out of date according to customer comments. Constant Contact could benefit from a chatbot feature, it would top their inbound strategy by bringing an element of interaction and personalisation which would help improve the overall user experience.


FOR MORE CONTENT VISIT: Petite Marketer 


References

ActiveCampaign (2020)  “Blog” [online].  Available at https://www.activecampaign.com/blog [accessed 1 November 2020]

Constant Contact (2020)  “Blog” [online].  Available at https://blogs.constantcontact.com/ [accessed 1 November 2020]

HubSpot (2020)  “Social proof” [online].  Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-proof-examples [accessed 8 November 2020]

HubSpot (2020) “ Why landing Pages are Indispensable” [online].  Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32566/why-landing-pages-are-an-indispensable-part-of-marketing.aspx [accessed 5 November 2020]

HubSpot (2020) “ Lead Nurturing” [online].  Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/lead-nurturing-email-examples [accessed 5 November 2020]

HubSpot (2020) “ What is the buyer's journey” [online].  Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/what-is-the-buyers-journey [accessed 26 November 2020]

Neil Patel (2019 )“22 Inbound Marketing Strategies” [online].  Available at:  https://neilpatel.com/blog/22-inbound-marketing-strategies-startup-needs-start-using-today/ [accessed 26 November 2020]

 Single Grain (2020) “Content Marketing” [online].  Available at:   https://www.singlegrain.com/blog-posts/content-marketing/7-types-of-interactive-content-why-and-how-to-use-them/ [accessed 25 November 2020]

Smart Insights (2020) “7 elements of an effective inbound marketing” [online].  Available at:    https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/inbound-marketing-strategy/7-elements-of-an-effective-inbound-marketing-strategy/ [accessed 25 November 2020]

Raka (2020) “Inbound Marketing” [online].  Available at:  https://www.rakacreative.com/inbound-marketing/ [accessed 5 November 2020]

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