The following is a guest post by Brian Whalley of HubSpot. HubSpot is an inbound marketing software company in Cambridge, Massachusets, that focuses on helping small- and medium-sized businesses with lead generation online.

The core of any successful marketing program is generating new leads for the business. Since businesses began advertising their services and products online, they have been trying to find better and less expensive ways to generate those leads. This is very important to watch: Businesses are trying to generate leads just like they were last week or a month ago, but many of them are experimenting with new methods of advertising themselves and attracting attention. Generating content and inbound marketing is one angle that those businesses are taking to attract new visitors and leads to their websites.

Who’s Interested In Locksmithing?

One of the toughest questions businesses face when developing website content about themselves is answering the question: “How are we interesting?” Many marketers and business owners, like Ollie below, are afraid of how boring they believe they are, or that no-one could possibly be interested in their businesses. The simple solution for this challenge is to go ahead and put your feet in the water. Start a blog for your website about whatever it is that your business does. While you’re there, write your first post about one thing that you can explain to people about what you do, or a tool in your job. If you’re a locksmith, you would be surprised at how many people want to read about how a lock works, what tools you use to open a lock, or how evolving technology has changed your job in the last ten years. Don’t believe me? According to Google, last month approximately 1,300 people searched for the phrase, “Double Cylinder Locks.” That’s a lot, and that’s just on the technical name for a specific lock.

How can you get there?

We use inbound marketing to describe how great business leaders educate everyone around them on their industry and business, most commonly though blogging. Let’s call that business leader Ollie. When someone asks for a recommendation or reviews for that type of business, everyone knows to refer that person to Ollie, and Ollie is soon flooded by leads who are looking for his products or services. Ollie has established himself as a leader in his field and his great expertise is widely known. At the beginning, Ollie was only interested in making sure that his content about locksmithing was accessible to people looking for information, but he has now positioned himself as one of the most accessible people creating information about locks and locksmithing. Ollie writes about what people are searching for and wanting to learn about, and it will be found online.

Ollie is now in a great position to generate leads from his blog. He can put a lead generation form with an offer (Perhaps a free consultation? Or a guide to picking your new lock?) or some kind of call-to-action on his blog, in his blog posts, or in other places on his website. No matter where he puts those offers, he is in a leadership position and a reference expert in his industry now.

Graduating from college was a major achievement, and now that you have your marketing degree, you are ready to take on the world. The only trouble is finding the perfect job and putting that new degree to work in a way that makes the most sense for your long term goals. You want unlimited potential and the ability to get noticed for what you contribute. You want to work on projects that matter and be a part of a winning team, but where to go, and how to get the job?

The first step of course is to research the companies that employ people like you, and to apply for work with them. This can be done in any number of ways, but typically starts with the web. While you are compiling your list, however, you may want to take note of more than just the name and number of the companies you are thinking of applying to. In fact it will help out in the interview process (and maybe even in the cover letter) to know a little about your prospective employer before you go, and also to know who their competition is.

Preparation for your first interview has a lot of steps, and they probably taught you most of them somewhere along the way. Dressing for success, positive attitude, eye contact, etc. are all required, of course, but did they ever tell you to do research on the company you are applying for, or to know who the competition is and how they compete?

You should learn all you can about every company in the field that competes for the same marketing dollars, and if possible, learn a little about their clients as well. Do they target Pepsi, or are they focused on the little mom and pop operations that need work once a year? Do they offer charity work for worthy causes, or are they focused on the big contracts? Knowing what is important to your prospective employer will allow you to prepare for answering the tough questions they may throw at you in the interview process. It will also give you a chance to put together a custom resume for each interview, one that focuses on the things that company is looking for.

You may also want to go one step beyond a resume, and put together a little marketing package of your own on the one thing you know best – yourself! By marketing yourself to employers, you can let them know what is important to you and that you share some of the same goals as them. Having a resume and cover letter targeted to a single employer is one thing that can help you stand out in the crowd. You may also want to put together a custom web page for each one as well. You can get free websites from a variety of different providers, and could customize each one for a different employer, listing it in the cover letter, for example.Marketing yourself effectively shows potential employers that you take your career seriously and allows you to show off your ability to perform your new skills.

For centuries, people have been keeping journals to express their thoughts and discuss what is happening in the world around them. Mostly, however, these were only seen and read by the original owner and perhaps a few trusted individuals. But times change, and with the invention and explosion of computers and the internet in the world, the way people jot down whatever comes into their head has also changed.

“Blog” originates as an accepted shortening of “web log,” which in layman’s terms is a place online for someone to keep a daily log of whatever they like. The owner of the blog can take this chance to share their feelings and reactions to what they encounter in their life, both online and offline, or choose to discuss a specific subject or hobby that they are passionate about.

Because blogs are free to make and easy to find, anyone with an internet connection can create one. Many of these blogs eventually gather online communities dedicated to visiting and interacting with people similar to themselves. Depending on the popularity level achieved, the “blogger” may become quite influential and even make money from their blog via merchandising, ads, etc.

So why should a business look into creating a blog themselves? There is no law that states a blog must be run by one person and one person only, and blogs are so popular that it would be impossible to count them, with more coming every day. To survive in today’s business world, it is vital that a company put one together, and there are multiple reasons as to why this is true.

For one thing, you can receive feedback from your customers instantly. Mere moments after making a post about a special promotion, new policy, product release, and so on, you can hear how people feel about it. It is very important to take note of what the customer has to say and apply them to future endeavors. Your customer will feel that you value their opinion. They will realize that you are reachable, and that may lead to respect and brand loyalty. In fact, many popular sites, such as Twitter and Blogger, have adopted their own blogs and in doing so have only added to their success.

When you create a blog you are giving your business a face, giving it life, giving people a real person to talk to. Many customers think of a business as cold, stuffy and money hungry. But in choosing to join in on this internet phenomenon, you can break this stereotype and show that you care and can adapt with modern times. They can get to know you, and in getting to know you they may find themselves compelled to purchase or invest in your product.

Creating a blog is not difficult at all. There are many host sites to sign up at, and they provide many attractive layouts for you to use. All you have to do is customize it to your liking and hit the “write entry” button when you feel ready for it. All it takes is a little practice and experience, and the payoff will definitely justify it.

Although most contemporary marketing professionals understand that interactive marketing represents the future of marketing, the current economic recession has made it somewhat difficult in getting this message through to the executives that write the checks. Thankfully, the evidence in favor of evolving your firm’s marketing agenda into the modern era continues to pour in every day. It is increasingly easy to find the cold, hard data that your clients or supervisors want to see before they reconsider their bottom line. Here are a few tips on how to break down the current state of marketing to an outsider so that you can secure a solid budget for your next big interactive marketing projects by explaining the current situation.

Just within the last year there have been some convincing studies that forms of traditional advertising are losing their original impact even faster than predicted. The numbers look particularly bleak for forms of printed media such as direct mail or advertisements. Everyone knows that classic avenues of media advertising like newspapers and magazines are dying a slow, painful death. You just need to get it through your manager’s head that interactive marketing is filling the void left behind.Sharing some of these numbers might help you break through. In a recent study by Forrester Research Inc., over half of the marketing professionals who participated in the survey said that they were already in the process of increasing their interactive marketing budgets by moving over funds that were formally used for traditional advertising. The old school methods that were placed on the chopping block first were direct mail (40% reduction in budget) and newspaper advertisements (35% reduction in budget). The numbers associated with interactive marketing, on the other hand, tell a startlingly different story. For example, industry expenditure in mobile marketing is already predicted to surpass $300 million in 2009 and is likely to double in size every year through 2014. This is the first year that most businesses have begun to embrace the power of social media, and an estimated $700 million has already been spent getting relevant marketing programs off the ground. If these numbers are indicative of what is to come during the next decade, businesses who have yet to embrace interactive marketing are already at risk of falling behind.

Despite the media hype on newer forms of interactive marketing, many companies have been understandably slow to embrace the most exciting forms of new media due to shrinking or frozen marketing budgets in the stagnant global economy. However, as leading market indicators seem to be increasingly point to a healthy recovery that is slowly getting underway, it is important for corporate strategists to understand that the time to get ahead of the ball on interactive marketing is now.

The online market could be akin to a huge whale that swallows up businesses with the best intentions of success. Is there a way to compete with the biggest of the big markets online? Competition in business is always a matter of endurance, consistency, persistence and perseverance. The strongest online businesses survive. With these businesses, persistence is the engine that drives endurance and perseverance. Consistency is the ignition key. To achieve online marketing success, finding niche is most important. For every business established, a niche existed before it. Knowing where the particular business niche exists is how to be the best of the best in online marketing.

Discovering The Business Niche
Is it better to be a jack of all trades while your business image is master of none? Online business is not a big box enterprise with everything sold under a single roof. Browsers and search engines prove this all too clearly. In order to find anything online, a keyword or search string must first be used. This narrows the search sufficiently to produce the best results. If an online business offers too much, the niche is lost and with it the ability to specialize the search terms.

Stick to a particular line of products or services for maximum success. Offer high-quality products that are closely associated with the reliability of your online business name and your marketing scripts. If your online business is a clone of every other business with the same product or service offering, your marketing scripts invariably will have the identical keywords as those of the biggest competitors. Sell a widget with a unique proposition and marketing script. A widget is a widget unless it has a unique quality others don’t. Find that unique quality and the marketing is original, the key words in the search string expedient and website hits increase in volume.

When “Just Okay” Is Not “Okay”
Online marketing is an enterprising endeavor that requires a certain willingness to go the distance. While others race to the finish line, exhaust all of their resources, the adept, qualified online business consistently pulls out far ahead of the others. The question isn’t “why”. It’s “when”. When was a threshhold lowered to the extent that mediocrity slipped into advertising and customer service? When did the service or product become a flat line that was acceptable? If the goal is to be the best of the best, everything associated with this effort rises to a level of productivity that cannot be copied, much less become your future competition. When other online businesses just market their product or service, the best of the best sell theirs. That’s the difference between “just okay” and a well-designed plan of business.

Reaching Up While Reaching Out
The dimension of online business is parallel to its upward reach as well as outward reach. This simply means that while online business is always in a mode of reaching ever upward, the arm of the marketing plan spreads out at the top creating the canopy of success. Marketing should always be proactively involved in movement upward as it evolves from one level to the next.

Businesses should treat customer service as an intangible company asset: one that is as valuable and important as any product held in inventory. Customer service may not be a physical product in a warehouse or on the sales floor. It may not be directly purchased at the point of sale. However, customer service is part of every transaction. It can influence existing customers, draw in new ones, and increase the spending of both groups. Within reasonable limits, raising the level of customer service raises the level of profit. The appropriate level of customer service is the one that satisfies patrons while increasing revenue.

Determining exactly how customer service can increase revenue is not always obvious. Improved customer service may not appear to have immediate results. It is necessary to consider a broader picture. For example, improved customer service in one area may result in the retention of customers who will return to purchase additional products and services. Often, these additional purchases may be in completely different areas than the initial interaction. Sometimes, the additional purchases will be larger, more valuable, or involve a higher profit margin.

Patron satisfaction is easier to observe and measure. Survey information is probably the most popular means of collecting data to evaluate the level of customer service. Mathematical formulas can be applied to calculate the percentage of products delivered on time and undamaged. Customer retention and attrition can also be measured. The challenge in this area is not in measuring customer service; it is in targeting and reaching a correct level of customer service.

When evaluating increased revenue, exact one-for-one dollar amounts may be less accurate than possible correlations within the larger profile of a company. Many systems and examples exist to help businesses conduct these studies. As long as a positive correlation can be found, and earnings continue upward, the level of customer service is in the appropriate range.

The cost of training employees can be viewed as an investment rather than an expense. When service workers can employ active listening, questioning, and problem-solution methods with customers, customer service levels are increased. When rewards are given for attention to customers’ needs rather than speed of processing orders, a customer-service culture is created. When decision-makers are willing to review and change longstanding traditions they demonstrate a commitment to customer service. As these and other strategies become fully integrated into company policy, the relationship between satisfaction and profitability may become evident.

Establishing the appropriate level of customer service requires creating a culture of awareness, communication, and training. Managers and employees should all be properly trained in customer service strategies. Customer service goals and profit data should be shared openly so that all members of the company can view progress toward goals. Everyone in the corporation, from owner to part-time intern should share a commitment to customer satisfaction, because they should all value it as an important part of doing business.

In short, the company as a whole should be able to view customer service as an asset that can be managed, measured, and improved. The appropriate level of customer service will be clear to all when both profits and patron satisfaction increase together.

Businesses live and die by public perception. If your potential clients don’t know about you, they can’t come to you. This is as true of a medical practice as it is of anything else. For a surgeon, a good marketing campaign can be the difference between a busy, profitable practice and one that just gets by. And with more and more patients turning to the Internet for medical information, you need an online presence to get their attention.