pcorvalan/hubspot_cert_guide.mkd

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              hubspot_cert_guide.mkd
            
          
    #acronym

Inbound Methodoloty: ACCD - Attract, Convert, Close, Delight
Buyer's Journey: ACD - Awareness, Consideration, Decision
Content Creation: PCDAR - Plan, Create, Distribute, Analyze, Repeat.
Six Stage of the funnel: PLMMOC: Prospect/Lead/MQL/SQL/Opp/Customer
Pilar of delight: innovation, communication, and education.
Goals: SMART: Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely


INBOUND FUNDAMENTALS

Essentials of an Effective Inbound Strategy

###I. Why inbound?

What's the difference between traditional marketing and inbound marketing?

Traditional: Marketer Centric, is call calling, cold emails(SPAM),interruptive Ads
Inbound: Customer Centric ,SEO, Blogging, Attraction.


What is inbound?

Inbound Marketing is marketing focused on getting found by customers. It�s customer-focused.
Inbound is about EMPOWERING potential customers.


What is the Inbound Methodology?

Is the process to convert stragers into promoters.
from strager to visitor (Attract), visitor to leads(Convert), leads to customer(Close), customer to promoters(Delight).


What are the different phases that make up the Inbound Methodology?

Attract, Convert, Close & Delight.


How does analyze fit into the Inbound Methodology?

Analysis should be inherent in every single thing you to with your inbound strategy.


###II. What are the fundamentals of inbound success?

What are the inbound best practices?

Use buyer presonas,
use the buyer's journey,
Create remarkable content,
leverage your content.


What is a buyer persona?

Semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on real data and some select educated speculation about customer demogrphics, behavior patters, motivations, and goals.


How do you create a buyer persona?

Conducting Persona research: Buyer personas must be based off of actual research, not assuptions.


How do you go about researching buyer personas?

Persona Detail, Sample question to Ask.
role job title, organization industry, Goals, Challenges, Watering holes, Shopping preferences. Start by interview current customers.


What are the components of a persona profile story?

Background, demographics, identifiers, Goals, Challenges, how we help, common objections, real quotes.


What is the buyer's journey?

Is the process the buyer buy.


What are the stages that make up the buyer's journey? How are they defined?

Awareness, Consideration, Decsion.
The awareness stage is when your prospect is experiencing and expressing symptoms of a problem or opportunity. They�re doing education research to more clearly understand, frame, and give a name to their problem.
The consideration stage is when a prospect has now clearly defined and given a name to their problem or opportunity. They are committed to researching and understanding all of the available approaches and/or methods to solving the defined problem or opportunity.
The decision stage is when a prospect has now decided on their solution strategy, method, or approach. They are compiling a long list of all available vendors and products in their given solution strategy. They could also be researching to whittle the long list down to a short list and ultimately making a final purchase decision.


What part does content play in inbound marketing and sales?

Your content is your marketing toolkit. Things like blogs, interactive tools, photos/infographics, videos, and eBooks/presentations work to attract, convert, close, and delight.


In terms of inbound, what is context?

Context is who you're creating it for: you can't just write any blog posts, you have to write the right ones, tailored to who you're trying to reach and what they're interested in.


What are the different ways to leverage content?

You can use your website pages, business blog, social media, landing pages, calls-to-action, and marketing email, context leverage content (to the rigth person, to the right time)


###III. What does inbound look like?

What is considered a shift from traditional to inbound marketing?

customer centric.


What makes up a good persona profile story?

it�s time to start looking for trends. Patterns and similarities in answers to persona research questions indicate who your personas really are.


What makes content the right fit for buyer personas?

has to be grounded in the correct context.
The content in that blog post and that email need to be tailored to who you're trying to reach (your persona) and what they're most interested in seeing(which depends on where they are in the buyer's journey).


ATTRACT

Optimizing Your Website for Search Engines

###I. What is search engine optimization?

What is search engine optimization (SEO)?

SEO is the process of improving your website so that it attracts more visitors from search engines.


In what ways does SEO help your inbound marketing?

Search engines need to find the most relevant, useful, trustworthy answers. They send "spiders" to crawl through te web searching for the content.
Put your content at the top of the list in the organic search so the visitor see your content.


How do search engines find, understand and rank pages to show in search results?

They create a list of results, they rank the results in order of the popularity and authority of the websites.


What is the difference between paid results and organic results?

These websites are paying to show up on Google's search engine results page. Below the paid ads, you're looking at the top 1-10 unpaid, or organic, search results that contain the most popular, relevant answers. your goal is to be listed in the top organic results because


###II. SEO strategy and best practices

In terms of SEO, how are keywords defined?

Keywords are the words typed into search engines. They're the topics that searchers are typing more about.


How should you go about picking the right keywords for your business?

Make a list of keywords your buyer personas would search for.
What are the common industry questions the buyer persona might have?
What questions might buyer persona have that your company provides solutions to?
What questions might buyer persona have when deciding to buy your waterproof case?


What are the different steps for doing keyword research?

Problem-based keywords/Solution Keywords/Branded Keywords.


How do your buyer personas and the buyer's journey factor into your keyword research?

Mimic the language that your buyer personas use.
use a set of keyword for every buyer journey stage.


In what ways can you expand your list of keywords?

searching the web for alternatives
Type one of your keywords into a search engine and see what the results are.
You can also look for alternatives under the different search options in Google, like image search or video.


How can you determine which keywords people are using to find your site?

Using google Analytics


What is the difference between short and long-tail keywords?

More specific keyword phrase is called a long-tail keywords. A long tail keyword is a primary keyword usually 2-3 words, that expanded upon with additional context.


In what ways and where should you optimize your pages for search engines?


be specific about the subject in which you're referencing.


when you optimize for a long-tail keyword you're also optimizing the page for similar keywords these are all keyword phrases that a search engine is able to fish out.


How should you properly optimize a website page?

want to aim for keywords that have a higher search volume
with less competition.


What types of links should you include in your content and why?

add your primary keyword to the URL,If using a long-tail keyword, use dashes to separate words (companyname.com/long-tail-keyword-phrase). If editing a live page, any change that you make to the URL will create a new page.


Why is promoting a good user experience important for SEO?

Search engines are also looking at the experience that people have on your site when determining how to rank you.Make sure your website is intuitive and easy to browse


Why should you optimize for mobile?

Over 80% of internet users own a smartphone and most are on it searching online more than their computer


Why is promoting your content important for SEO?

The more that people see, share and link to your content, the more popular your site will grow and the more trust you'll gain with search engines. Well, much of this will come from your great optimized content, but some of it also comes from the number of links that are pointing to you. This is a part of what's called off-page SEO.


What's the relationship between links and SEO?

but some of it also comes from the number of links that are pointing to you. This is a part of what's called off-page SEO.


What are inbound links?

Links coming into your website are called inbound links. Search engines view inbound links as a vote of confidence. If a trusted site is linking to you, your website becomes more trustworthy.


What strategies can you implement to earn links?

High-quality links come from existing authoritative websites that are relevant to your business or industry.use a tool like the *Moz Open Site Explorer *or
HubSpot Links to see all of the websites who are linking to you and their authority.


What are online directories and why are they important for SEO?

Directories are websites like Yelp,
Yellow Pages, and local chambers of commerce. Having a page on a directory will increase the number of links and citations to your website. Citations are online mentions of your business name and address, even if those outside websites don't link to you. Both will help with your offpage SEO.


How can you optimize for getting found in local searches?

if your business is location-specific, create a Google+ Local Listing Page. This will help tie your website to a specific location, which Google will use in its search results. If your business is in a single location, link to your homepage. If your business has multiple locations,link to dedicated location page for each (ie - yourwebsite.com/boston)


###III. What does a successfully optimized website page look like?

How can you tell if a business has picked the right primary keyword for a page? (146)

They're addressing a common topic that their buyer personas might want to learn about.
they're mimicking the language that their buyer personas would actually use in their searches


How can you tell if they've optimized the page around the keyword?

They've created content that uses natural language and variations on the long-tail keyword, instead of using the same exact phrase over and over


How can you tell if they're linking to other sources?

They are- both internal and external sources, in fact. And their hyperlinked text that contains relevant keywords that they'd like to rank for.


How can you tell if they're offering a good user experience?

Their website is intuitive and easy to browse - the navigation is clear. And they're providing clear next steps, providing visitors a free account,which will help to convert those visitors into leads, and logging in, which will help their customers get to where they need to be.


How can you tell if they're promoting their content?

We can see that they have prominent social sharing buttons, which means that visitors can share the article themselves. They've also promoted this content on their Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook profiles.


How can you tell if they're earning links?

Look at related articles from outside sources in a Google search of company name. It looks like they've got CrunchBase and Geekwire writing about them.


Creating Content with a Purpose

###I. Why is content important to inbound?

What is content?

is the message your inbound strategy delivers


Where does content fit into the Inbound Methodology?

. Content has the very important job of pulling people from one stage of the inbound methodology to another. It plays an integral part in each and every stage.


###II. How can you create remarkable content?

What are the different steps to the Content Process?

Plan -> Create -> Distribute -> Analyze -> Repeat.


What are the three things that content can defined by?

Purpose / Format / Topic.


How do you determine the purpose of a piece of content?

essentially your goal, The purpose of these pieces of content is to attract strangers to your website.


What are different formats of content? What's the difference between these formats?

A piece of content can be a case study, a video, infographic, a whitepaper, a calculator or worksheet, an ebook, a template, research report, checklist, webinar, slideshare deck, or whatever else you can come up with.


How do you pick the best format for a piece of content?

the best format for your content is all about your buyer personas.


What two things should you always keep in mind when determining the topic for a piece of content?

. your buyer personas (who you're trying to reach) and the buyer's journey (what content will be most interesting or helpful for them).


What are different ways to identify content topics that matter to your buyer personas?

keyword research - what you want to rank for, internet forums, popular industry news, sales and support frequent y asked questions, your buyer personas' goals and your buyer personas' challenges.


What's the buyer's journey? What are the three stages and how are they defined?

The buyer's journey is made up of 3 stages - awareness, consideration and decision.
In the awareness stage, they first identify a problem or opportunity, then they investigate solutions, and finally, they decide on a way to solve their problem.


What are the best practices for content creation?

simply identifying what your buyer persona is looking for in each stage of the buyer's journey will help keep you aligned and consistent with your content creation.


How does distribution fit into the Content Process?

. Delivery makes content relevant ,While a piece of content is finite, the promotion of that content is infinite


What are the different ways to leverage content with distribution?

website pages, blogs, Landing pages, Social Media.Call to action, emails, etc.


What are the different metrics that can be used to measure content efficacy?

Number of visits - how many views did your content have
Leads generated, Social proof or share-ability.
Inbound links.
Authority
Performance by author or topic or format.


What's the value in repeating the Content Process?

Repeat what's working well for you and stop doing things that just don't seem to be clicking


###III. What does remarkable content look like?

How do you determine where a content offer fits into the buyer's journey?

. Awareness is focused on problem, consideration is more focused on solution.Decision is more about product/service.


How do you effectively take someone through the buyer's journey with content?

content that educates them and helps them make more confident buying decisions.


The Fundamentals of Blogging

###I. Why does blogging help your inbound marketing?

How does blogging help to attract new visitors?

Think about a stranger searching for information online. They have questions or problems that they're looking to solve. If your blog posts provide those answers, those strangers will find your posts, and will want to click through and read them, turning them into visitors. This is the attract stage of the Inbound Methodology.


How does blogging help to convert new leads?

Your blog can strategically promote offers from your business - anything from your latest ebook to a free consultation. If your visitor wants to learn more, you can provide them with that next step.


How can your blog help you to build trust with your prospects? Why is this important?

Finally, your blog can help you stand out as an expert in your industry. The more you blog, the more that people will start to look to you as a reliable, trustworthy source of information. And building that trust with your prospects will help them turn into customers down the line.


###II. How do you create a successful blog?

What are the blogging best practices?

write educational content.
make sure to write about your industry, not yourself.
brainstorm a list of specific topics that you could blog about.
When picking your topics, do keyword research
pick one topic to focus on per post
make a list of topics that support specific conversion
include a long-tail keyword in the title
When you blog, white space is your friend
include images to visually break up your text.
optimize the page around your long-tail keyword
include relevant internal and external links within the post
relevant calls-to-action throughout the post in areas like the blog sidebar and at the bottom of the page.
include a CTA at the end of each post.
blog sidebar to promote your recent or most popular posts, and add your blogto your primary website navigation.
Commit yourself to a blogging schedule.
look at the number of views for each blog post


How do you pick an appropriate blog post topic?

you need to answer the questions and problems that they're searching for answers to.


Why should you write about educational content rather than your business?

you need to answer the questions and problems that they're searching for answers to.


What are ways to brainstorm different topics to blog about?

then ask your sales and marketing teams - what are the most frequently asked questions? What do your buyer personas need help with? What do you wish people knew about your industry? What are industry bloggers, social media, and even your competitors talking about? do keyword research.


Why is it important to do keyword research around your blog topics?

They're the topics that people are trying to learn more about. Which keywords,your buyer personas use? Which are associated with your industry? Write about those topics to get found and start ranking higher in search results.


How many topics should you focus on per post, and why?

pick one topic to focus on per post.


What is a working title and how is it different from your topic?

A topic is general and title is specific


Why should you include a long-tail keyword in the blog post title?

Your title should help readers and search engines understand what your post is about.


How long should your blog title be, on average?

2 o 3 words plus 2 o 3 to expand additional context. . 50-60 characters of a title in search results.


Why is it important to format your blog post properly?

format and optimize the post so that both people and search engines can easily read and understand it.


What is white space and how does it affect your blog post?

Whitespace is the empty space on the page. It allows the visitor to focus on the content, not the clutter. Don't write long paragraphs that form into huge blocks of text - this will make your information look dense and hard to read.


Why are images important to include in blog posts, and where should they be placed?

include images to visually break up your text. Images grab attention and help your readers understand the post at a glance. Place one at the top of every blog post to entice your visitors to read further.


Why is it important to optimize a blog post for search engines?

search engines understand what you're trying to communicate,


Where should you place your long-tail keyword within your blog post?

optimize the page around your long-tail keyword, placing it in the page title and the blog post title, which are typically the same thing; in the URL, the image alt-text, the body and the headers.


Where should you include links within the content of your blog post?

Link to related blog posts or your site pages when appropriate. And while it may sound counterproductive, link to outside resources, link to one or two sources per paragraph at the very most.


How can you use your blog and blog posts to promote your other offers?

A call-to-action, also known as a CTA, is a button that promotes your offer. These should appear on every post.  blog sidebar to promote your recent or most popular posts, and add your blog to your primary website navigation. And, if your blogging platform provides the option, add a blog feed to relevant pages.


What are the different ways you could promote your blog posts?

share those posts on social media.promote posts through email.


Which metrics should you analyze to track the performance of your blog?

look at the number of views for each blog post. filter your most popular posts by topic, author, or even the channel


What does each metric tell you, and how can you use that knowledge to improve performance?

Learn what topics you should continue to write about, reward the popular authors, and determine the best way to promote your blog posts. Knowing what content is popular can help you decide what types of posts to write next.


###III. What does a successful blog post look like?

How can you tell if a business picked a good topic to blog about?

educational subject- enhancing,about their industry,assume that this is a topic that their buyer personas wants to hear about


How can you tell if they picked a compelling blog post title?

long-tail keyword in the title, it's short enough


How can you tell if the blog post has been formatted properly?

has good whitespace, use section headers to make it easy to scan,have a nice image of some paint brushes.


How can you tell if the blog post has been optimized for search engines?

got the long-tail keyword,in the page title, URL, body, and though you can't see it, it's behind the image in the alt-text.


How can you tell if the blog or blog post is promoting other offers, and if the calls-to-actions are appropriate?

call-to-action that's relevant to the topic at the bottom of the post, leveraging their sidebar, calling out ''subscribe to get email updates'' as well as providing information on how to get in touch with them at an upcoming even


How can you tell if a business is promoting their blog posts?

have social sharing buttons at the top of the post, meaning that the reader can share this post with their personal networks. Have links to popular posts in their sidebar, in case their readers want to browse.


Amplifying Your Content with Social Media

###I. Why is social media essential to inbound?

How does social media fit into inbound?

Social media can be used at every stage of the inbound methodology


In which stages of the inbound methodology can social media be used?

Use it to attract visitors by sharing remarkable content across channels. Convert new visitors into leads by offering opportunities for visitors to subscribe and receive updates or special offers. Close by acting on insights that you gather through social monitoring and provide value to prospects online. Delight customers by being a warm personality and creating unique ways to engage with audience members.


###II. How to amplify your content on social media

What are SMART goals?

Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely


How do you set a SMART goal for social?

This goal is specific because it clearly defines the type of growth that is expected from social media efforts
It is measurable because there are numbers that will help to quantify results
This goal is attainable if the company has achieved similar results in the past and has decided to allocate
This goal is relevant to the social media team and the entire company because increased site traffic is a primary focus for everyone
timely because it has an end date, meaning that there will be a finished line for them to cross resources to help achieve this new goal.


What is a social media content plan?

A social media content plan outlines the pieces of content you will promote and the social media channels you will promote them on.


What should a social media content plan include? What are the components?

content plan may include blog posts, ebooks, webinars, and videos that you would like to amplify on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter


What social media channels should brands be using?

The best way to discover the social media platforms that your company should be active on is to identify the platforms that your personas are active on.


How do buyer personas fit into a social media strategy?

You can do this by surveying your audience members or doing research on how your industry is currently using a specific platform


How can you find the right social media platform for your business?

Consider monitoring brand terms like your company or product name or brand adjacent terms used by buyer to describe your business. Also monitor for customer needs, pain points, or challenges. This will enable you to respond to customers quickly and delight them publicly for everyone to see
Another way is to run an experiment by creating a profile on a network and testing how well your audience engages with your company through that channel.


What are the key ways to use optimization?

The first is Platform. Next is Message. Then Visuals. And finally Results.


How are visuals used in social media?

pay close attention to the recommended dimensions for each platform.
Stay away from images that are pixelated or grainy and instead use clear photos that are easy to distinguish
get creative and make your own unique social images on platforms


How can you tie social media efforts back to ROI?

You first need to quantify how many resources, like time, effort, and money, you are investing in social media and then determine how much value you get in return by connecting the results back to the overall goals of the business.
Important social media metrics that can help you calculate the value of your efforts on social media are Reach, Engagement, and Audience Growth


How can you measure reach?

Reach is used to measure the size of your potential audience. This includes people who are directly and indirectly in your social network.


How can you measure engagement?

Engagement measures the number of interactions with your brand, such as likes and shares.


What is audience growth and how can it be measured?

Audience growth refers to the number of new audience members you attract.


###III. What does content amplification look like?

What type of inbound challenges can social media help solve?

brand awareness
lead generation machine


How does consistently publishing to social media help with content strategies?

established a strong and active presence which makes it easy for audience members to engage with them.


How can you tell if a business has properly optimized their social posts for relevant content across platforms?

maintain an active presence across the four channels their buyer personas engage in the most. They have also done a great job at optimizing each post by including links that direct audiences to blog posts and landing pages


What does it mean to 'meet your audience where they are'?

should be active on is to identify the platforms that your personas are active on.
use the social media that your buyer persona uses.


CONVERT

Enticing Clicks with Calls-to-Action

###I. How do you use a call-to-action (CTA)?

What is the conversion process?

is the process to convert visitor to leads. typically begins with a CTA.


What is a CTA?

A CTA is a button that promotes an offer and links to a landing
page.


How does a CTA help to convert visitors into leads?

When a visitor clicks on a CTA, they're brought to a landing page where they fill out a form with their contact information - turning them into a lead! After that, the lead is directed to a Thank-You page where they receive the offered content.


What role does a CTA play in a conversion process?

Since CTA kick off the conversion process, they're a critical first step.


###II. How do you create successful CTAs?

What are the CTA best practices?

call-to-action should be action-oriented
Don't make your visitors think too hard about what they need to do next
Clear, direct action verbs make for a great call-to-action.
CTA won't take up too much room on a page or in an email. It's always going to be secondary to the rest of the content.


What kind of words can you use on a CTA to get visitors to take action?

action-oriented words, consider the offer and your buyer persona and try out different action verbs like request, sign up, download or receive
use keywords that are consistent with your offer and landing page.


How do the keywords of your offer and landing page impact the CTA?

Using the same keywords and phrasing for the entire conversion process helps your visitors understand what they are going to get as they navigate from CTA to landing page to thank you page.


How can the visual aspects of a CTA, such as the size or color, help to grab your visitors' attention?

it needs to stand out so that visitors will know to click on it. Visitors recognize clickable elements like buttons and links. Consider your buyer persona's tastes when designing a call-to-action
Use highly-contrasting colors or an accent color that aligns with your company's branding. This will help your CTAs stand out, visually.


Where should you place a CTA in an email? In a blog? On a website page?

in a blog it's logical to place a call-to-action at the end of a blog post.
pages, this may mean featuring a call-to-action above the fold in other words, before a visitor has to scroll. This way, your CTA will be one of the first things they see when they land on a page
place a CTA in the sidebar of your blog to promote your latest offers or an upcoming event.
CTAs in an email, those can be placed at the end of the email, paragraph, sentence, or really anywhere that grabs attention without being distracting


What is a good click-through rate goal to aim for with a CTA?

a successful CTA would result in 1 or 2 visitors clicking on the CTA out of 100 people.(2% is a good click through)


What is a good clicks-to-submissions goal to aim for with a CTA?

clicks to submissions, ten percent is a great goal.(10% click to submission)


###III. What does an effective CTA look like?

How do you measure the effectiveness of a CTA?

click through rate
clicks to submissions
For those that clicked on the CTA and made it to the landing page, how many of those people submitted the form and became a lead?


What different ways can you test and analyze a CTA?

make these small changes one at a time and analyze if your change has improved the click through or submission rate


The Anatomy of a Landing Page

###I. How do you use a landing page?

What is a landing page?

Landing pages are essentially website pages that are designed to convert visitors into leads.


How does a landing page generate information about your website visitors?

all landing pages use a form to gather information. Without a form, the process of converting a website visitor into lead simply can't happen


Where does a landing page fit into a conversion process?

in the conversion process the landing page convert visitors to leads


###II. How do you create successful landing pages?

What is a good conversion rate goal for a landing page?

20% of the total people who get to the landing page eventually fill out the corresponding form


What are the landing page best practices?

First write a clear, concise, action-oriented headline.
explain the value and importance of the offer to your personas
use numbers, bullets and bolding to create easily digestible bites of information
remove all of the website's navigation menu and links.
submit button is highly visible and easy to click
form on the landing page should mirror the value of the offer


What kinds of words need to be included in a landing page headline?

clear, concise, action-oriented headline


What are some ways to place emphasis on the offer you're promoting with your landing page?

use numbers, bullets and bolding to create easily digestible bites of information
remove all of the website's navigation menu and links.
explain the value and importance of the offer to your personas


How long should the form on the landing page be?

form on the landing page should mirror the value of the offer


What kinds of questions should you ask on a form?

information that you ask for in the form fields and in the length of the form should mirror the value of the offer


What can you place on a landing page to visually communicate an offer?

include a relevant image, animation or short video.


What is the benefit in including social sharing icons on a landing page?

Add social media sharing icons to allow your visitor to spread the word with others in their social networks


###III. What does an effective landing page look like?

What is a blink test?

a visitor should be able to understand the nature of the offer and why it's valuable to them, in just a couple of seconds.


What is the purpose behind performing a blink test?

A blink test is a great way to simulate your visitor's experience.


How do you measure the effectiveness of a landing page?

After two weeks, if your landing page isn't converting at a rate of 20% or higher, take some time to analyze the landing page, and see if there are any best practices you can add


Guiding the Next Step with Thank You Pages

##I. How do you use a thank you page?

What is a thank you page?

thank you page allows you to present the next step to the newly converting lead, moving them even closer to becoming a customer.


Where does a thank you page fit into a conversion process?

converted lead is taken to a thank you page where the offer is delivered


How does a thank you page differ from an inline thank you message?

redirect your visitor to a thank you page instead, so that you can thank them while providing additional information.


##II. How do you create successful thank you pages?

What are the thank you page best practices?

Deliver the offer or set some expectations about when your lead will receive the offer
let the lead know what to expect.
try using a specific timeline when possible.
thank you page should display the site's navigation menu.
Use this opportunity to show them another offer that might be of interest and grab their attention with
include social options.


How do you set proper expectations of what happens next on a thank you page?

The expectation is specific, with little room for misinterpretation.


Why does displaying the site's navigation menu on a thank you page help your thank you page?

give your leads every opportunity to look around after they've converted and reached your thank you page. If they want to read more about your company and explore your website after converting, make it easy for them to do so!


Are you required to use a CTA on a thank you page?

Choose your CTA very carefully and if you feel like the call-to-action might be too aggressive or unnecessary for your new lead, then you don't have to include it.


How can you move leads further into the buyer's journey using a thank you page?

call-to-action


How can a thank you page extend your social media reach?

the lead shared the original offer across their own networks.
allow the leads to connect with you on social media by linking to your company profiles
##III. What does an effective thank you page look like?


When examining a thank you page, are you able to understand how to get the offer or what happens next?

yes


Can you identify what types of additional content to offer on a thank you page?

It's a good idea to offer additional content


How can you examine a thank you page to make sure it directs a lead further into the buyer's journey?

add a CTA here so the lead can move a little further into the buyer's journey and get a little closer to becoming a customer.


CLOSE

Sending the Right Email to the Right Person

###I. Why is email marketing still important?

What are some reasons why email works?

There are more than 4.3 billion email accounts today
95% of online consumers use email, and 91% report that they check their email at least once a day
Email is a channel that you own
77% of consumers prefer email for marketing communications.
Email lets you be highly personal.
we still use email because it has an ROI of 4300%|


How can email help you close leads into customers?

Providing your leads with helpful, relevant content helps you build a relationships with them. It allows you to position yourself as a consultant, ready to help them with their challenges. Inbound is all about that combination of context and content


How can marketers use email to delight customers?

the occasional check in, or perhaps sending helpful resources and special customer-only extras.


###II. How do you send the right email to the right person?

What does content and context mean to your inbound marketing strategy and how does this help email marketing?

inbound marketing is all about this marriage of context and content. When you divide your contacts into smaller groups based on similarities, it lets you use context to make your content more relevant and engaging.


Why are buyer personas and the buyer's journey important to sending great emails?

Use Buyer Personas and the Buyer's Journey to guide you in slicing and dicing your contacts into the right segments.


What different types of data can you use to segment your email sending recipients?

segment people by geography using criteria such as IP country, time zone, area code,and address.person's company - such as its size, the nature of their business -- B2B, B2C, Non-profit, etc. -- and their industry, You can also segment your leads by their role, seniority, what department they belong to, or their specific function within a department.


The average email list decays at 25% a year. What are some reasons that this happens?

As people change jobs, change emails, or hit the unsubscribe button, your list quickly loses its punch.


How can you avoid having your emails marked as spam? What is the impact of your emails being marked as spam?

not  buying lists and emailing people who didn't opt in. it actually decreases the value of your brand, That hurts your deliverability and credibility.


What type of content is appropriate to email leads during the awareness stage of the buyer's journey? The consideration stage? The decision stage?

In the awareness stage, keep your content easily consumable. Videos, blog posts, slideshares, free tools, and high level guides are great at capturing interest and educating prospects, which helps move them further down the buyer's journey.
In the consideration stage, you're answering the unasked questions that you anticipate are running through your lead's head. Some suggestions of content to email during this stage are webinars, case studies, FAQ sheets, product whitepapers, and third-party reviews.
And how about the decision stage? This is the time to send those free trials, ROI reports, product demos, consultations, and estimates or quotes, depending on your industry. You want to be upfront with what you can offer, and it's time to let the lead get up close and personal to your product.


How is the success of your email marketing tied to the rest of your inbound strategy?

It often takes a series of emails to build trust and earn business


What is lead nurturing?

Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with prospects with the goal of earning their business when they're ready.


What different ways can you optimize your email for mobile?

First, use responsive templates.
bigger is better
If you are using a CTA or a button, make sure there is plenty of surrounding space and it is big enough to tap with a finger


How does email personalization impact the success of your email sends?

Leads who are nurtured with targeted content produce a 20% increase in sales opportunities. 40% of consumers buy more from retailers who personalize the shopping experience across channels.Personalized emails improve click through rates by 14% and conversion rates by 10%.


What are the different ways to add personalization to your emails?

You can personalize any contact property - first name, last name, email, company name. Whatever helps you better target your contact database, use it!


What is actionable language, and where can it be used in your emails?

I'm talking about VERBS!!
You can also let your lead know what they can do by clicking your email's in-text-CTAs or buttons


What components of your email can you make a CTA?

Consider adding a P.S. to your signature that contains an enticing CTA.


What does delivery rate measure? Open rate? Click rate?

Delivery Rate:Both hard and soft bounces are good indicators of the shape of your contact database
Open Rate: Yes, it's nice to track the open rate. But note that this metric only tells you the effectiveness of your subject line, not your offer.
Click Rate: Simply put, this metric will track people engaging with your emails? Remember that clicks aren't valuable just because someone clicked. It's what lies on the other side of the click that matters.
contact churn - these are people who unsubscribed after receiving an email.


Why is it important to A/B test your emails?

Use it to learn more about your emails/audience. You can improve your total clicks, too, by testing the email and then sending the winning version.


What is the difference between a hard bounce and a soft bounce?

hard bounces means fake or out-of-service email addresses
soft bounces means your email is making it into the inbox but getting caught in a spam filter


How can you optimize your emails to look good on mobile devices?

Be aware that some people will be reading your emails on smaller screens.  If you are using a CTA or a button, make sure there is plenty of surrounding space and it is big enough to tap with a finger


###III. What does a great email look like?

Where are some appropriate places to put a CTA in an email?

there's a traditional CTA, but the copy as well as the image have been linked to the offer's landing page.
The email signature has yet another CTA to drive further engagement


Is it ever appropriate to have more than one CTA in an email?

You'll want to make use of every component of your email and use them all to achieve your goal by turning them into a CTA


What are some different ways you can you expand the reach of your emails?

allowing your recipients to share the content in your emails.


What are the components of a good email signature?

your signature that contains an enticing CTA.


The Power of Smarketing

###I. Why is smarketing critical to the success of an inbound company?

What is smarketing?

Smarketing is the process of aligning the marketing and sales teams around common goals within a business or organization, with the goal of improving revenue.


Where does smarketing fit into the Inbound Methodology?

its location in the close stage of the methodology


How does smarketing increase bottom line revenue results for organizations?

it turns out that companies with strong marketing and sales alignment hit twenty percent annual revenue growth.


###II. How does smarketing result in alignment?

What are the smarketing best practices?

Markting and Sales, both teams must have the same organizational goals.
visitors and leads goals should be tied to the sales quotas.
marketing and sales must have visibility into each other�s goals and progress.
base compensation on shared marketing and sales goals.
don�t forget about your personas.


Why is it important for both teams to have the same or interdependent goals?

align both marketing and sales around the same goal. In a business setting this goal is typically focused on revenue. A shared goal for an EDU could be the number of enrolled students. A nonprofit�s goal might be focused on donations or gifts.


What are the benefits of tying the marketing pipeline to sales quotas?

Sales can�t rely on marketing to deliver leads, the teams aren�t working together and the level of success (or lack thereof) will show in the bottom line results.


How does visibility into each other's goals create better alignment and bottom line revenue results?

each team is clear about how everyone is doing and can make adjustments in real time accordingly.


How is compensation around goals related to smarketing alignment?

Money can be a valuable lever for jumpstarting organizational alignment.


Why are personas important for successful smarketing alignment?

Your marketing and sales teams are communicating with your target customer on a regular basis, so expect details about your personas to be uncovered and discussed regularly


At what size company does smarketing work best?

Smarketing can happen at any scale. In a small business it can center around the marketing and sales VPs, but as the company grows you can pick leaders in the marketing and sales divisions to scale the alignment.


###III. How do you integrate smarketing into your organization?

What are the five steps to integrate smarketing?


Speak the same language


Implement a service level agreement


Set up Closed loop reporting


Rely on Data


Maintain open communication


What are the six stages in the marketing and sales funnel and how are they defined?

Prospect/visitor: website visitor who you've gathered minimal data on or how have signed up for a blog or an email newsletter.
Lead: referring to a contact who has submitted a form in return for a content offer.
MQL: Marketing Qualified Leads - identified themselves as more deeply engaged.
SQL: Sales Qualified Leads - are MQLs that your sales team has determined to be worthy of a direct follow up after thorough examination.
Opportunity:  An Opportunity is an SQL that a sales rep has communicated with and logged as a legitimate potential customer.
Customer: The final step is closing the sale and marking the opportunity as a customer.


What is the most generic term for anyone in a marketing and sales funnel?

contact


What does it mean when someone says the marketing and sales funnel is not always linear?

For example, imagine that a lead requests a demo and is thus marked as an MQL and passed to sales. But after sales accepts the lead as an MQL they find out the contact isn't ready to buy. In this case, it's probably best for sales to mark the contact as a lead, again, so marketing can continue to nurture their interests."


What constitutes a marketing qualified lead (MQL)?

Marketing Qualified Leads - identified themselves as more deeply engaged


What is a service level agreement (SLA) and why is it critical to integrating smarketing into your organization?

A marketing and sales SLA defines what each team will commit to accomplishing in order to support the other in reaching the shared revenue goal.
An SLA is great because it crystallizes that alignment around goals. Whether you're a one-person team that owns both marketing and sales or a ten thousand-person company, SLAs formalize the marketing and sales goals to ensure the company is set up to reach its revenue goal
-The sales SLA to marketing requires the sales team to commit to a specific number of MQL follow-ups. Depending on the number of sales reps and their individual quotas, they�ll only have a certain amount of time to commit to calling and emailing MQLs. You�ll want to address the number of customers that they need, the number of leads that they need to get there, and the quality of those leads. All of those things factor into what marketing commits to sales.


What is closed-loop reporting?

Closed-loop reporting completes the feedback loop between marketing and sales. At its core closed-loop reporting allows you to pass more lead intelligence and data over to the sales team and get more feedback from sales to marketing about which marketing efforts are translating into customers.


What are some questions to ask yourself to identify if your organizations needs closed-loop reporting?

Do you send leads to sales and never hear about them again?
Do you end up creating and trying to manage duplicate leads?
Do you send leads to sales with the basic contact information, but without intelligence about what content those leads consumed?
Or are you unsure of the impact your marketing efforts are having on revenue?


What are some benefits of closed-loop reporting for marketing and for sales?

The major benefits for marketing are: Getting up to date contact info and status updates, learning which marketing programs are working and which aren�t, and gaining visibility into ways to increase Marketing ROI.
The major benefits to sales are de-duplicated contacts, the prioritization of contacts, more educated contacts, and an increase in close rate and Sales ROI.


Analyze which marketing sources (organic, social, referral, etc.) are producing the most customers.


Allows you to use conversion assists to help you understand how each individual piece of content you create contributes to closing customers. This will provide you insights as to which content to surface to contacts to turn more of your contacts into customers.


Provide a timeline of all of the interactions a contact took prior to becoming an MQL or a customer such as the content they download, the emails they click, and other changes


Pass information to sales that can help aid them in connecting and engaging with contacts within the first 24 hours


Send automatic updates to your sales team when their leads revisit the website or take other key actions, to make sure to follow up at the best time.


Why are dashboards a great way to display data? What are the different types of dashboards?

Measure and communicate progress towards primary goals as agreed upon in the SLA.
Measure volume of leads or volume of quality leads against the monthly goal, and check daily to adjust.
Set goals per source and measure progress for each of your efforts
Analyze the results for each campaign � which efforts successfully drive traffic, leads, and customers.
Measure how many MQLs � and which types � are generated.
Monthly Marketing report
Sales by day dashboard
Sales activity report


Why is it important to rely on data not emotions when integrating and running smarketing?

provide frequent, public, and transparent updates as to how marketing and sales are performing. This allows the team to quickly change course when problems arise, instead of waiting until the end of the month or quarter.


What are the different ways to maintain open communication within your company?

In addition to the marking dashboard, you can also create a whole set of sales dashboards
In addition to the daily reports, a monthly marketing report provides the necessary time to analyze why you did or did not hit your targets and what to improve on for next month
In addition to meetings you can use emails to communicate important information across teams.
Another incredibly valuable type of email communication is product updates.


What should take place in a monthly management meeting regarding smarketing that is different from the weekly smarketing meeting?

weekly smarketing meeting. This is your opportunity to get the entire marketing and sales teams on the same page. This meeting is the perfect time to highlight smarketing wins and share relevant updates about products or services that you're selling. Be sure to include a weekly update on the dashboards you�ve created, and provide visibility on how each team is delivering the service level agreement.
"Once a month, meet with your management team to discuss the data you've gathered from your dashboards." This meeting is a great way to resolve issues and to discuss new opportunities.  Remember to rely on data as much as possible to drive the discussion and don�t let feelings get in the way.


Taking Your Sales Process Inbound

###I. What is inbound sales?

Why have buying habits changed?

the buyer has the power to research, so acting as an information gatekeeper doesn�t help you win more sales.


What's the difference between the traditional and inbound way of selling?

Traditionally, a sales team used to do cold-calling day-in and day-out using a static pitch, no matter who they were talking to. Sales reps acted like information gatekeepers, holding power over the entire process. This method of sales is referred to as seller-centric.


What is inbound sales?

buyers have so much information available to them that they typically have already made 60% of their purchase decision before even talking to a sales rep. Giving them a relevant, personal, �delightful� experience, driven by their needs, on their timeline is what an inbound approach to sales is all about.�


###II. How can you transform the way you sell?

What are the best practices for effectively transforming the way you sell?

transforming the way you target accounts
transforming the way you prospect accounts
transform the way you connect with accounts.
to transform the way your prospects perceive you as a salesperson.


How can you transform the way you target accounts?

focused on your buyer personas. You want to make sure you are targeting the right people.you ensure that the only people entering your sales process are the ones who are most qualified.


How can you transform the way you prospect accounts?

The first thing you need to do is thoroughly research your leads, starting with company information.


What things about your lead should you thoroughly research?

monitor the lead�s engagement with your company.
What did they download? What pages are they looking at? What is really resonating with them?


How is the goal of a call determined?

Based on the information you've gathered in your research


How can you transform the way you connect with accounts?

build rapport with our leads.


What are the guidelines for transforming the way you connect?

be completely unbiased and try to put the education of your prospect before your own personal initiatives
People don�t remember the sales process � they remember the experience!
know your audience.
When it comes to inbound, the point of contact is rarely the decision maker
speaking the prospect�s language.
be helpful


How can you transform the way your prospects perceive you as a salesperson?

In order to put yourself in the position to educate your prospects, you need to become the ultimate listening machine and truly understand your prospect�s pain points
As a salesperson, you need to become a trusted advisor.
By putting yourself in your prospect�s shoes, you can better understand their perspective


###III. What does a day in the life of an inbound sales rep look like?

If you needed to research a lead, where would you start?

As you pull up the company�s website
You find company news and press releases, past or upcoming events, and access to the names of not only their management team but their directors and advisors!


If you needed to research a lead, what information would you gather?

lead�s individual Linkedin profile.
see what their exact title
where they used to work, any recommendations they may have received, their hobbies, all sorts of stuff.


What is a positioning statement?

It�s an expression of how a given product, service, or brand fills a particular consumer need in a way that its competitors don�t. Focus on using a positioning statement when you want to create value around your phone call.


What are the three parts to a positioning statement?

(1) The root which must contain a reference to talking to a bunch of people just like them... this adds 'social proof' to the statement.
(2) You need to separate 'positions' so that you have twice the chance that what you say will resonate with the prospect. You should pick to very widely appealing issues that your prospects have and that your company can help with.
(3) A question that asks them to elaborate on their experience with step (2).


DELIGHT

##The Pillars of Delight
###I. Why customer delight is so important

In which stages of the Inbound Methodology can delight be used?

The inbound methodology shows us that customers who are delighted will become promoters of your business, and can help you attract more strangers to your business
great thing about trust is you can build it at every phase of the Inbound Methodology


When should you be focused on delighting people?

you can start to build trust from the very first moment someone interacts with your business.


Why do people stop doing business with a business?

of consumers surveyed said they�ve cut ties with a brand over a single poor customer service experience.
when a business thinks of you as a number, doesn�t want to spend time helping you solve your problem or answer your question.


###II. How to delight your customers

What are the three pillars of delight?

innovation, communication, and education


Which interactions will build or destroy trust?

An interaction could be a tweet, a phone call, the use of your product or service, or an email. If you think about it, there are probably tons of ways that people interact with you. All of these interactions can help you build trust with people. These interactions could also be detrimental to your organization if your employees aren�t focused on building trust.


What are the components to the customer delight checklist?

Solve problems, Provide recommendations, be yourself


What tool can help you solve customer issues quickly and exceed customer expectations?

Focus on building trust and building out that customer experience.


###III. The seven customer delight guidelines

What are the seven customer delight guidelines?

1 Delighting team members
2 Educating team members
3 Empowering team members
4 Listening
5 Asking
6 Serving
7 Following up


Who is responsible for delighting customers?

happy team members will create happy customers.


Why do you need to build a repeatable, consistent hiring process so you hire for character, train for skill?

Your hiring methodology should test for these five things:

The person's skills,
their culture fit,
their beliefs,
their past experiences,
and their ideas.


Your hiring methodology is going to help you create happy team members from the start and will develop them into even happier team members.


Why do you need to make sure you properly train your team so they understand why developing trust is key to delighting people?

It's everyone's job to build trust with people
every small interaction can make a difference. Over time, all of the small interactions will create the larger experience for a customer, and every interaction can either build or destroy trust.


Why should you be measuring and tracking as many of your customer's interactions as you can?

collect data to better understand how your organization can serve your customers through communication, education, or innovative product changes
Over time, all of the small interactions will create the larger experience for a customer, and every interaction can either build or destroy trust.


How can you educate your team members?

Team members should be using your product or service
Implement a new hire training program
Develop on-going training programs
Educate them by doing, not by way of lecture or presentation
Share stories of what great customer service resembles
Share examples of what solving for the customer looks like
Everyone at your business should be educating other team members


How can you exceed people's expectations during more interactions?

Serve, delight, and educate with content.


Why is following-up so important to delight?

they risk losing the trust they�ve developed.
Expectation setting is very important to ensuring you�re on-time. It�s such a simple thing that can really help you build trust with each person interacting with your organization.


What steps should you take when trying to solve a person's problem as fast as possible?

Ask questions to learn more about their problem or goal.


What's an effective way to empower your team while not micro-managing them?

One of the most effective ways to empower your team is by developing a set of defined principles that will help them operate autonomously.


#Questions
#Inbound Fundamentals
##Class 1:Essentials of an Effective Inbound Strategy(25 minutes)

What are the three stages of the Buyer�s Journey?
Correct Answer Explanation
That's right! The awareness, consideration, and decision stages make up the Buyer's Journey. This Buyer's Journey will come up a lot in the certification! As a reminder, it's the active research process someone goes through leading up to a purchase.
What are the four stages of the Inbound Methodology?
Correct Answer Explanation
You got it! The Inbound Methodology is a great way to think about how you actually do inbound, since it illustrates the four stages that make up the inbound marketing and sales process.
All of the following are best practices of inbound, EXCEPT:
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! Focusing on finding customers might seem attractive, but this is the traditional way of doing marketing. Generally, those types of techniques are interruptive. Inbound marketing is marketing focused on getting found by customers.
Fill in the blank: _________ is your marketing toolkit, like blogs, videos, and ebooks; _________ is who you're creating it for.
Correct Answer Explanation
Way to go! Inbound Marketing is Content plus Context. Your content is your marketing toolkit. Context is who you�re creating it for: you can�t just write any blog posts, you have to write the right ones, tailored to who you�re trying to reach and what they�re interested in. The best content � the stuff that�s really going to fuel your entire inbound strategy � has to be grounded in the correct context.
Buyer persona stories should contain information about:
Correct Answer Explanation
You got it! Buyer persona stories should include everything from who your persona is, their background, their demographics, and their goals and challenges.

#Attract Website Visitors
##Class 2:Optimizing Your Website for Search Engines(25 minutes)

What is the nickname of a bot that search engines use to crawl the web?
Correct Answer Explanation
That's right! Search engines find the most relevant content for your searches by sending what are known as �spiders� to crawl through all of the pages on the web. The spiders identify what each page is about and index it in a search engine's virtual library.
True or false: Search engines can read both text and images.
Correct Answer Explanation
Great job! You nailed it! Don't forget, any image you include on your website should have alt-text and use a keyword phrase that you're trying to optimize a specific page for.
True or false: Search engines count all links as equally important when crawling and ranking your page.
Correct Answer Explanation
That's right! Make sure that you're earning high-quality links, and not focusing on quantity. High-quality links come from existing authoritative websites that are relevant to your business or industry.
What should you begin your keyword research with?
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! Although the other answers are important to keyword research, your research should always start with your buyer personas. You need to determine who they are, what their goals are, and what problems they face, so you can begin to understand what they�re searching for.
Which is easier to rank for - the short keyword �teamwork� or the long-tail keyword �promote teamwork between employees�?
Correct Answer Explanation
You got it! It�s significantly easier to rank for because it�s more specific and targeted. Not to mention, the people searching for that long-tail keyword know what they�re looking for, meaning they�re qualified visitors who are more likely to turn into leads and customers.

##Class 3:Creating Content with a Purpose(30 minutes)

What are the two things you should consider when determining a topic for a piece of content?
Correct Answer Explanation
You got it! To easily come up with the best topics for every piece of content you create, there are just 2 things you need to know. These two things are the keys to creating remarkable content. They are - your buyer personas (who you�re trying to reach) and the buyer�s journey (what content will be most interesting or helpful for them).
True or false? When converting visitors into leads, you should only utilize consideration stage content.
Correct Answer Explanation
Correct! When converting visitors into leads, you can utilize content in all of the stages of the buyer's journey.
True or false? Focus on the design of a piece of content first, worry about the informational part second.
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! You should actually focus on the informational part of the content first, worry about the design second. Prioritize writing great content over making that content look nice.
Fill in the blank: It's not until the ________ stage of the buyer's journey when your product should be mentioned.
Correct Answer Explanation
That's correct! Your product or service typically shouldn't be mentioned in awareness or consideration stage content. Decision stage content is focused on your brand and how you specifically can help solve your buyer personas problems.
You perform an audit of all of your website content (content offers, website pages, and blog posts) and realize you don't have much content that would fit into the consideration stage of the Buyer's Journey. You decide to create a new consideration stage content offer. What should the topic be focused on?
Correct Answer Explanation
Way to go! Consideration content is focused on the solution. Remember, when your buyer persona is in the consideration stage that's when they have clearly defined their problem and are now looking for a solution.

##Class 4:The Fundamentals of Blogging(25 minutes)

Fill in the blank: Promoting your content offers on your blog can help you ____________.
Correct Answer Explanation
Correct! Promoting your content offer (with a call-to-action) is an opportunity to take your blog visitors and convert them into a lead. Just make sure the content offer is related to the blog post.
You read through a blog post from a coworker that�s about two different topics. Is this good or bad?
Correct Answer Explanation
You got it! You should try and pick one topic to focus on per post. Don�t try to solve every problem in one fell swoop. This will make each post clearer for your readers and for search engines.
What is the long-tail keyword in the title �An Easy Guide to Training Your Cat�?
Correct Answer Explanation
That's right! Remember to include long-tail keywords in your blog title. Start with a broad keyword (in this instance "cat training") and add descriptive keywords to make it more specific like "guide" and "easy" - you get "easy cat training guide"!
What can analyzing the most popular posts by promotional channel tell you?
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! Understand which channels are giving your blog posts the greatest reach so that you can determine the best way to promote your blogs. And don't forget - continuously promote that awesome blog content, even after the publish date.
What is whitespace?
Correct Answer Explanation
Bingo! When you blog, whitespace is your friend. It allows the visitor to focus on the content, not the clutter.
##Class 5:Amplifying Your Content with Social Media(25 minutes)
How is social media used in the attract phase of the Inbound Methodology?
Correct Answer Explanation
Correct! Social media can help you attract some of those billions of internet users to your website and increase your exposure. Once you�ve exposed a new visitor to your site, social media can help you convert these visitors into leads by promoting your content.
Social monitoring is a great way that marketers can gather information about their buyer personas.
Correct Answer Explanation
You bet! Social monitoring is a great way to gather information on your personas. Not only can you monitor what your personas are saying about you, but you can listen for industry trends that will help you attract more visitors and grow your business.
Paul just started a new job as Director of Marketing at Fifth Season, the adventure travel company. After conducting a marketing audit, Paul finds that Fifth Season does not have an actionable social media strategy. What is the FIRST thing Paul should do to begin to developing a strategy?
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! Before you do anything, it�s important to set SMART inbound goals. Whether you�re looking to increase visitors, convert more leads, close more customers, or even make your customers happy, setting a specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely goal is the best way to drive success.
When calculating social media ROI, what four types of metrics should you pay attention to depending on your goals?
Correct Answer Explanation
Correct! There are four metrics to consider when calculating ROI and the metrics you look at will depend on your goals. If you are looking to attract visitors, you will be interested in metrics related to content consumption. If you�re trying to increase your visitors, pay attention to your social sharing metrics. If you�re striving to increase your conversion rate, you may be interested in how your social media efforts are helping to drive lead generation. And if you�re using social media as a sales tool then you�re going to be interested in tracking what content led to closing a customer and generating revenue.
In a recent survey, Fifth Season�s primary buyer persona reported that she would buy more off-site team building packages if she knew more about the people responsible for delivering the team building exercises. What should Fifth Season do?
Correct Answer Explanation
Correct! Facebook is a great place to have fun and post photos, videos and links to make your profile personal. This can help you showcase more of your brand�s personality and engage with a wider audience.

#Convert Visitors into Leads
##Class 6:Enticing Clicks with Calls-to-Action(10 minutes)

According to the Inbound Methodology, in which stage do visitors become leads?
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! The Convert stage is all about taking visitors and converting them into leads. Remember CTAs are the first of the three elements of the conversion process.
If you wanted to promote a travel consultation offer on a blog post, where should the CTA be placed?
Correct Answer Explanation
Yes! When it comes to your blog, it�s logical to place a call-to-action at the end of a blog post. You'll be putting in a lot of time into your blog post. Rather than interrupting the content, have your CTA at the bottom of the post to provide that next step.
Fill in the blank: Using the same ________ for the entire conversion process helps your visitors understand what they are going to get.
Correct Answer Explanation
Of course! Remember to use keywords that are consistent with your offer and landing page. Using the same keywords and phrasing for the entire conversion process helps your visitors understand what they are going to get as they navigate from CTA to landing page to thank you page.
The primary purpose of a call-to-action is to convert leads into customers.
Correct Answer Explanation
You got it! A CTA's purpose is to get your visitors to take a certain action. That action is getting them to a landing page and filling out a form (also known as converting a visitor into a lead).
The conversion process begins with a Landing Page.
Correct Answer Explanation
You got it! The conversion process always starts with a CTA.

##Class 7:The Anatomy of a Landing Page(10 minutes)

A landing page headline should always contain which of the following:
Correct Answer Explanation
That's right! Your landing page should be descriptive and is the gatekeeper for your offer. You should always state what the offer is in your landing page headline.
A landing page uses a form to gather information about your visitors.
Correct Answer Explanation
Yes! Forms are a key part of your landing page. On the landing page, a visitor fills out a form with their contact information and becomes a lead. By definition, all landing pages use a form to gather information. Without a form, the process of converting a website visitor into lead simply can�t happen.
An optimized landing page should contain a link to get another offer.
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! Remove distraction from your landing page. The goal of your landing page is to get the visitor to fill out a form.
You�ve been asked to create a landing page for a ten-page ebook of the �Best Beach Family Vacation Spots in Europe.� Would you place a button to download the ebook directly from the landing page?
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! The whole purpose of a landing page is to convert leads. Make sure that landing page has a form!
The form on the landing page should mirror the value of the offer.
Correct Answer Explanation
Yes! This is an absolute must! The form on the landing page should mirror the value of the offer, both in the information that you ask for in the form fields and in the length of the form. In other words, the more valuable the offer, the more information you can ask for. Ask yourself: How much is my visitor willing to share with me in order to get this offer?

##Class 8:Guiding the Next Step with Thank You Pages(10 minutes)

Thank you pages are useful for each of these reasons EXCEPT:
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! Ideally, your leads will eventually close into customers but that won't necessarily happen on your thank you page. A thank you page can help move leads further into the buyer's journey, extend your social reach, and provide additional content to a lead. All the more reason to use a thank you page rather than an inline thank you message.
True or false: A thank you page should have a navigation menu that is different from the rest of your website.
Correct Answer Explanation
Great job! You should bring back the navigation menu on a thank you page The landing page is where you should keep the focus on the offer and minimize navigational options. With a thank you page, you�ll want to give your leads every opportunity to look around after they�ve converted.
If you are sending a follow-up email, you do not need to build a thank you page.
Correct Answer Explanation
Way to go! While having a follow-up email can be helpful, you should still have a thank you page. You�d be missing out on a huge opportunity for additional engagement with the lead. Thank You pages are a great way to thank your leads for their interest in your offer and give them a little more information, which hopefully moves the leads just a little bit closer to becoming a customer.
Fill in the blank: A thank you page is a way to say thank you, deliver the offer and _____________.
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! A thank you page allows a marketer to provide additional content, move leads further into the buyer�s journey and extend their social media reach. Don't you just love thank you pages?
�Thanks! We will give you a call shortly to schedule a demo� is an effective message to place on your thank you page.
Correct Answer Explanation
You got it! It�s important to set proper expectations, so shortly isn�t quite enough. Consider adding a time-bound qualifier, like �we�ll give you a call in 2-3 business days�.

#Close Leads into Customers
##Class 9:Sending the Right Email to the Right Person(30 minutes)

In 2004, PC magazine wrote an article called, �The Death of Email.� It asks, �Has email peaked and become more useless?� Is this true?
Correct Answer Explanation
Correct! Email is growing. According to the Direct Marketing Association, 76% of marketers say they use email more than they did three years ago.
Your boss asks you to write an email to drive registration to an important webinar your company is hosting. All of these would be effective places to add the PRIMARY call-to-action, EXCEPT:
Correct Answer Explanation
You got it! Although your email signature can be a good area to place a CTA, your PRIMARY CTA should be placed within the body of your email.
Next quarter, your marketing team plans to make an effort to increase the reach of your email sends. Which of the following ideas should you remove from your list of potential ways to increase your reach?
Correct Answer Explanation
That's right! Would sending an additional email add value, not ask for it? Not really, right? Any time you write an email, ask yourself, "will this email add value to the person receiving it?"
A high click rate for your email send is a good indicator of all of the following, EXCEPT:
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! Click rate is not a good indicator of brand awareness. Simply put, click rate is a metric that will track people engaging with your emails. Remember that clicks aren't valuable just because someone clicked. It�s what lies on the other side of the click that matters.
While doing a report of this year�s email trends, you notice that, compared to last year, more of your emails are marked as spam. All of these are potential explanations, EXCEPT:
Correct Answer Explanation
You got it! Email marketing isn't decreasing in either use or effectiveness. In fact, 95% of online consumers use email, and 91% report that they check their email at least once a day.

##Class 10:The Power of Smarketing(25 minutes)

What is smarketing?
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! By definition, smarketing is the process of aligning the marketing and sales teams around common goals within a business or organization, with the goal of improving revenue. It's a key component of inbound success.
The marketing and sales funnel consists of 6 lifecycle stages. What is the correct order starting at the top of the funnel and ending at the bottom?
Correct Answer Explanation
Way to go! Top of the funnel starts with Prospect and Lead. In the middle of the funnel you have Marketing Qualified Lead and Sales Qualified Lead. The final two stages, Opportunity and Customer, are at the bottom of the funnel.
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) are contacts who have identified themselves as a good fit, highly engaged, or both. MQLs are defined by:
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! The way you define any of the lifecycle stages should meet your organization�s needs. Both marketing and sales need to agree upon the definitions.
Sales' Service Level Agreement (SLA) to marketing is dictated by the number of sales reps and their quotas. Based on the number of Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) marketing provides sales, sales can in turn identify how many follow-up attempts can be made for each MQL that is accepted as a Sales Qualified Lead(SQL).
Correct Answer Explanation
Correct! A marketing and sales SLA defines what each team will commit to accomplishing in order to support the other in reaching the shared revenue goal. The sales SLA to marketing requires the sales team to commit to a specific number of MQL follow-ups. Depending on the number of sales reps and their individual quotas, they�ll only have a certain amount of time to commit to calling and emailing MQLs.
Which of the following is NOT a step in keeping open communication?
Correct Answer Explanation
Way to go! That's right. Weekly smarketing meetings, monthly management meetings, and discussing marketing campaigns to both teams are all parts of keeping open communication. Sharing SLA data should be on a frequent basis.

##Class 11:Taking Your Sales Process Inbound(20 minutes)

Buyer personas aren't important once you get to the Close stage in the Inbound Methodology.
Correct Answer Explanation
You got it! Inbound sales transforms the way you target accounts. It all comes back to staying focused on your buyer personas. You want to make sure you are targeting the right people.
All of the following are things you can uncover as you thoroughly research your leads, EXCEPT:
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! You can determine how you can solve your lead's problem once you've connected with them. Your lead will really notice when you are trying to genuinely understand their goals and challenges through their eyes.
Your sales manager wants you to focus on explaining the value of your product or service to your prospect on your phone calls. Which of the following is the MOST effective way to accomplish this?
Correct Answer Explanation
Right - positioning statements. The positioning statement is an expression of how a given product, service, or brand fills a particular consumer need in a way that its competitors don�t. Focus on using a positioning statement when you want to create value around your phone call.
Which is NOT a guideline to follow when picking up the phone to connect with a lead?
Correct Answer Explanation
That's right! You'll always want to determine the goal of the call before getting on the phone, but your goal shouldn't be based on your own sales goal. Your goal should be to genuinely understand your prospects goals and challenges through their eyes.
When dealing with prospects over the phone, each prospect should always walk away having learned something from you - no matter the outcome of the call.
Correct Answer Explanation
Correct. To effectively transform the way you sell, know your audience and put together some information that can educate them. Have a tip, educational offer, or other content to give to the prospect. This also helps build trust and credibility.

#Delight Customers into Promoters
##Class 12:The Pillars of Delight(30 minutes)

What are the components to the Customer Delight checklist?
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! Solving the problems, providing a recommendation, and being yourself are what makes up the Customer Delight checklist. Using this checklist will help you resolve peoples' problems quickly and ultimately exceed their expectations.
Your customer is experiencing a problem with your product. What steps should you take when trying to solve a person�s problem as fast as possible?
Correct Answer Explanation
That's it! Always start with listening. To create lasting relationships and to build trust you have to listen to people; it�s the best way to learn how to provide the best, personalized experience. Then acknowledge and explore the problem more.
Which statement is true?
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! Isn't that crazy? It costs far more money to acquire a new customer than it does to retain an existing customer. Most businesses spend the majority of their money and time on acquiring customers, rather than serving their customers. As a result, customers sometimes feel left out or unappreciated.
It doesn�t matter if you're in product, marketing, sales, or customer support. It's everyone's job to build trust with people. You need to make sure you properly train your team so they understand why trust is key.
Correct Answer Explanation
Right! It's not just one person's job to delight customers. It's everyone's job to build trust.
Why should you be measuring and tracking as many of your customer's interactions as you can?
Correct Answer Explanation
Yes! You should be measuring and tracking as many of your customer's interactions as you can to build more trust, better serve customers, and to over-deliver.