BUSINESS
JANUARY 8-21, 2016
Inbound marketing, N.H. style
Firms discuss the emerging online strategy
BY BETH LAMONTAGNE HALL
Less than 10 years ago, Michael Conway
was building websites at a top New Hamp­
shire Web development firm. The big clients
that would come through the door paid top
dollar for their beautiful, well-designed sites,
but Conway wondered if there was more that
these sites could do for the customer.
“At the time, I used to ask this question
frequently, ‘What’s next? We have this re­
ally great website but how are we going to
Old fr-
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REVIEW
market it?”’ said Conway. He started
researching concepts like search en­
gine optimization (SEO) and discov­
ered the software company Hubspot,
a leader in inbound marketing strategy
and analytics.
Eventually, Conway left his large firm to start
the boutique marketing company Means-of-
Production in Webster and made inbound
marketing a major focus for his clients, which
INBOUND MARKETING,
VOL. 38* NO. 1
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FEATURED INTERVIEW
Q&A:
Calypso
Communications’
Kevin Stickney
How to have a
happier and healthier
workplace nan
Tapping into the
pool of retired
talent phu
N.H. CEOs tout benefits
of being family-friendly
BY BOB SANDERS
Workplace policies enable
employees to thrive, they say
What if a forum were held about family-friend­
ly workplace policies featuring New Hampshire
executives, and all of the panelists were men?
A group of organizations did exactly that a
week before Christmas by presenting a panel
discussion entitled, “Making Cents: CEOs
on Building a Family Friendly Economy.”
The forum was to include one woman,
who couldn’t make it, but “we do we
do think it’s critical that men speak to
these issues,” said Karen Hicks of the
NH Campaign for a Family Friendly
Economy, one of the organizers of
the event. “There was a deliberate ef­
fort to bring those voices to the fore.
Most CEOs are men, so this is reflective of
leadership in corporate America.”
The panelists extolled the poli­
cies that enable not just women,
PAGE IS but all employees, to thrive in
the workplace. There was Gary
Hirshberg, who discussed
Londonderry-based Stony-
field Farm’s policy of paying
for six months of family leave;
Bill Whyte, who talked about
Gilsum-based WS Badger Com-
N.H. CEOS, PAGE 1?
 ■
FROM PAGE 1
are largely in the construction, architecture and inte­
rior design industries.
Traditionally these companies relied on print media
to spread the word about their services, but Conway
helped his clients gain traction by posting answers to
common questions potential customers have about
building a new home, designing a kitchen space or
investing in a new heating system.
For instance, a blog about wells and water might
not sound like compelling reading, unless you’re try ­
ing to figure out why brown gunk is coming from
your faucet. Conway said one of his clients, a New
Hampshire-based well drilling company, increased
its website visitors from 120 per month to 22,000
per month over a three-year period, mostly by post­
ing informative articles twice a week that answered
questions about common New Hampshire well wa­
ter problems.
“All the statistics I’ve ever read show blogging and
email marketing have a greater return on investment
than anything else,” said Conway. “Advertising is
great for big brands and small items where top-of-
mind advertising gets people to buy things. Inbound
works well for things where people need to think
about it, like a big purchase.”
Developing trust
Inbound marketing, also referred to as content
marketing, has transformed in a few short years from
a buzzword to the gold standard of online market­
ing. The strategy utilizes a vast range of Web tools,
from websites to social media to email, as a way to
provide useful information about a company that
will eventually draw customers to their site, generate
leads, and convert them into sales.
Think about the last time you made a big purchase,
like a stove. Likely the first place you went was the In­
ternet. You browsed the big box store sites, looked at
a few local retailers to compare prices, and scoured
online reviews to see what make and model was right
for you. Before you even headed into a store, you
had narrowed your search to tw o or three stoves.
Inbound marketing is a way for companies to grab
the attention of customers during this online search
process in a way that media advertising cannot do.
Providing useful content on the company’s blog -
such as “The five best gas stoves in 2015” - is pro­
viding a service to the customer, while also building
Sources to improve Internet marketing knowledge
Source: Moz’s 2013 Industry Survey
The inbound/outbound marketing process
INBOUND MARKETING OUTBOUND MARKETING
SEO, content, Advertising, PR,
blogging, social events, direct,
media sales support
LEAD GENERATION MEASUREMENT/REPORTING
Offers, registration
pages, promotion,
CRM/automation
1 Analytics, metrics,
dashboards, activity
calendar
Source: M odern M arketing Partners Infographic
trust in the company and increasing the chances of “They were positioning themselves as experts in
that customer walking through the doors when it education, as opposed to just saying, ‘Come to our
comes time to make a purchase. school because it’s so great,”’ said Flaherty.
“I think it started with Siri,” said Conway, referring
to the iPhone voice-command program. "People Looking for a new way
no longer put in search terms specific to what they
Stephanie McLaughlin of Savoir Faire marketing in
want. They started to ask search engines questions.
Manchester knows there are plenty of local compa­
Inbound marketing people realized, if you answered
nies that are looking to get more out of their mar­
the question you will get traction.”
keting dollars. Her company’s website gets right to
Sarah Flaherty, director of content marketing at
this point, telling potential customers, “You had a
Calypso Communications in Portsmouth, sees in­
handle on it at one point. You knew what worked.
bound marketing as less about making a sales pitch
You ran ads in the industry journal or attended trade
to customers and more about providing information
shows that produced leads. These tried and (no lon­
and developing trust.
She pointed to one recent client, a private school ger) true methods just don’t produce the results they
that was looking to increase enrollment. Calypso once did.”
“A lot of the things people know and understand
asked the clients about common questions they
about marketing, those things are no longer work­
hear from parents. They then created a series of blog
ing,” said McLaughlin. “You can no longer call people
posts that answered those questions and talked
and expect they will answer their phone and no lon­
about education philosophies and child develop­
ger send an email and expect it will get through.” >
ment.
Most invested in inbound marketing
O Business O w ner/P artner
O CMO
O C EO/Exectutive Mgmnt.
G Vice President
O Director of Marketing
O Marketing Manager
O Marketing Operations
• Sales
O IT
O Other
100% Source: HubSpot
JANUARY 8-21. 2016 19

switch from traditional advertising, Fla­ not committed to writing a blog a week, has to be onboard with doing it in some
herty said presenting the strategy should or hiring someone to write a blog once a way,” said McLaughlin. “A lot of expertise
Providing useful focus on outlining business goals and find­ week, and handling the emails that go out and what sets you apart from competitors
ing ways to achieve them using all the tools and come in each week, then you’re going is locked up in your people.”
content online, like inbound marketing offers. to fail.” Having those in-house experts sit down
a company blog, not “People want to know, ‘Why should we “When it comes to producing the con­ with a writer for 45 minutes once every few
have a blog?’ They think ’it's nice to have tent, we will ask if they have the resources months will eventually result in blog posts
only aids the customer but how does it affect my bottom line?”’ in-house, but many clients find it is really that show off the company’s expertise. You
said Flaherty.
but also builds trust Another big hurtle for companies is pro­
time-consuming to produce posts,” said
Flaherty. "It can be a good choice to work
need that time spent to make sure the qual­
ity is there, she said.
in the company and ducing the large amount of content need­ with an outside resource to produce that Another asset of inbound marketing is the
ed to run a successful inbound marketing content. You need momentum over time to lasting power of the Internet. We all know
increases chances campaign. Conway said it takes about a make it work and see results.” that whatever goes online stays there forev­
of a purchase. year to see results, which can seem terribly Producing quality content also requires er. Same goes for all those blog posts pop­
long to some clients. that all employees, from the company pres­ ping up in Google searches, even years later.
“The Achilles heel to this kind of market­ ident to the college intern, be willing to par­ “When you put information online, it’s al­
FROMPAGE18 ing is the quantity of this kind of content ticipate, said McLauglin. ways there and always generating leads for
“ Now your website can literally be your
that needs to be written,” he said. “ If you’re "This must be a cultural thing. Everyone you,” said Conway. I7TTIBR
best salesperson 24/7/365,” said McLaugh­
lin. “ It can develop leads and nurture them
through purchase process. You can no lon­
ger demand somebody physically come to
you and ask those questions and get that
YOU'RE INVITED TO THE THIRD ANNUAL
information. If they can't find it from you
online, they're going to get it from some­
one else.”
If done well, the results of inbound market­
N ew Hampshire H ome
ing can be compelling. McLaughlin said she
increased one client’s business by $5 million,
doubled the number of fans for another cli­
ent’s social media page, and increased a cli­
ent's click-through rate on an email newslet­
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Hubspot has become a particularly popular
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herty. “When I put out this e-book and five
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and sell products best.

The virtue of patience c o ^ pdint:

While most companies today accept that I). R. DIMES Landry.
a Web presence is important, not all com­
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panies are sold on the wonders of inbound
marketing.
“Generally, I get one of tw o reactions,” SSI yagSgncmske i>ium ij a f e s s i y
said Conway. The almost knee-jerk reaction
is, ’Oh, I don’t want to spam people,’ or the X
light bulb goes off and they understand the
importance of sharing quality information , ; 1 .
about their services to people.” j
Because inbound marketing is such a
:______!_________ i___
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