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It's probably nothing new when you hear that you need to blog. "What's it gonna do for me," you ask? Well... it can mean all the difference in the number of good leads that you bring in through your website. And that should help you increase sales.

We often hear, "Blogging takes time and it uses my resources." This is true. And there's no point in doing something just to do it. It has to produce results, aka: more leads who better match your target audience(s). So, how do you blog to increase leads? 

How Much of Your Marketing Should Be Digital?

Before you decide on a budget, you should consider what you're trying to achieve. Remember: 70% of a purchase decision is made before someone talks to a sales representative. Because of this, a heavy online marketing presence plays a big part in the overall sales process. 

Which of these two terms better describes the impact that customers have on your business: outcomes or drivers?

Sales people and marketers from 20 or 30 years ago would likely say "outcomes" without a second thought. After all, their jobs revolved around moving prospective customers down the sales funnel, until the company finally acquired them as actual customers. And that's a great outcome, right?

You may have come across the term “landing page” while learning about digital marketing. But honestly the term is used very loosely. So what exactly is a landing page, sometimes referred to as a lead capture page? How do you use them in your digital marketing and advertising?

Have no fear - we are here to help! Once you understand what landing pages are and the purpose for them, you’ll be able to make a plan to incorporate them into your own inbound marketing efforts. 

The implementation of successful landing pages can help increase your marketing ROI through your website AND help you ensure that you are targeting your ideal personas.

Facebook advertising can play a critical role in your overall marketing strategy, whether you're marketing to consumers or you're a B2B marketer. 

That's because you don't have to wait for someone to search for you, or phrases related to you, like you do when advertising on Google Adwords. Facebook will show the ad to those who you've defined as a "good fit" -- people who fall into your targeted personas. This makes it a great place to advertise if you need to:

• Help people find you because they don't know to look for you
• Drive more sales -- local or in-store -- to people in your target audience who aren't necessarily searching for something related to your products right now.
• Get a larger audience for your Facebook posts
• Collect leads

Companies are sometimes a little hesitant to use social media in B2B healthcare marketing situations. We've heard a few things like:

• No one is going to see my post on Facebook.
• Twitter is just so overwhelming.
• LinkedIn is just for people looking for jobs.

Despite the fact that there's some truth to these statements it doesn't mean you can't use social media for B2B sales, including B2B healthcare marketing. Here are a few ways B2B companies, even those in the healthcare industry, can use social media in a logical way to develop relationships and increase sales.

HIMSS recently published the State of Content Marketing 2016 report with data from healthcare B2B marketers across the U.S. There were some surprising results in that report, including:

• 85% of healthcare B2B marketers have a content marketing strategy, but
• Only 4% of them said their content marketing programs are extremely effective.

This is a bit worrisome since 58% of respondents said that they use content marketing to achieve lead generation. Do you see the disconnect?

We’ve seen over the years a lot of healthcare industry websites that are built with the “set it and forget it” mentality. A healthcare company will invest thousands of dollars every 3 or so years to create a great looking website and then let it sit there, unchanged, until the next big redesign. Yes, they may run some analytics reports to see what content is most important. But they’re not typically addressing the real question which is, “Is the website providing my visitors with what they want and need in order to produce more leads?” If the answer is anything other than, “yes and here’s how we know…” the website is probably in danger.

A picture is worth a thousand words. We've been told since the early days of our marketing and design careers (and maybe as early as grade school) that imagery will speak volumes about who you are and what you stand for. And it's still a true statement. You can have the coolest product or best service in its class, but if your website doesn't represent your brand, it won't bring you the customers you need. And since most people have a website for lead generation you'll want to be sure that the images you choose support your strategy.

If you're in the process of a website redesign, or creating an entirely new website, you're most likely trying to decide what to put on the home page and how to organize the site's content. It can be a struggle. But there are some key questions you can ask yourself and your colleagues (and even your boss) as you plan for what to include, especially on the precious, limited space on the home page.