I recently introduced you to my ideal monthly inbound marketing plan. If you want to get the fastest results with the maximum amount of help and support, it's definitely the way to go – hands down. If you do that plan, you'll have qualified sales leads, shorter sales cycles, and increased revenue in no time.
However, there is an issue with that plan that I'd like to address – it can be too much of an investment in time and money for a small company.
Companies that are less than $1-2M in annual revenue per year will probably look at that plan and think, "There is no way I can put that much into it." Of course, it depends on your gross profit margin and how much of that you're willing to invest to grow your business, but in general, the ideal plan is best suited for companies that can afford to invest about $150K+ in marketing per year.
If you're small, can you still do inbound marketing? The answer is definitely yes. Now, it stands to reason that if you can't hire someone to do everything for you, you either have to do less or be willing to make sacrifices to do some of the work yourself.
You may not be moving forward as fast as you want, but at least you'll be getting started and making progress. That's the most important thing! And, if set up correctly, even starting slow can help you improve the sales process enough to start getting some high quality leads trickling in.
2 Smaller Inbound Marketing Plan Options
A couple of clients were asking me what a crawl / walk / run program would look like, and I thought that was a great way to categorize it.
The Crawl and Walk plans both include some level of do-it-yourself work. Since most people aren't inbound marketing specialists, it's going to be critical to get training, consulting, and guidance along the way if you have to do some of this work yourself. I've seen too often how doing it wrong can bring a company to its knees, and I don't want that to happen to you!
Depending on how much you can invest, some of the elements listed below, such as creating a content offer, may take a while to complete. Again, the most important thing to remember is that even if you can only put in 5 hours per month, at least you're making some progress.
The hours in these two example plans reflect the hours provided by a professional inbound marketer. You or your team will be expected to also invest time. You should talk with your specialist to determine how you want to effectively manage your available resources. Each company will be unique in how they approach these types of plans.
There is no hard and fast rule here.
Crawl Plan
| Marketing Activity | Monthly Hours |
|
Blogging (1 per week) Combined do-it-yourself and professional service including strategy, writing, SEO, formatting and design, scheduling and publishing. |
8 |
|
Email Marketing (2 per month) Combined do-it-yourself and professional service including strategy, writing, SEO, formatting and design, scheduling and publishing. |
3 |
|
Social Media Do-it-yourself. Includes an out-of-the-box process and some training and consulting. You should plan on dedicating 15-30 minutes per day. |
0 |
|
Content Offer Content offer creation can take between 25-100 hours depending on what your creating. Combined do-it-yourself with professional service including strategy, writing, SEO, formatting and design, landing page, thank you page, automated email response, scheduling and publishing. |
5 |
|
Inbound Marketing Training, Consulting and Maintenance (5 hours per month) Combined do-it-yourself with professional service including website strategy, updates and maintenance, lead management strategies, automated lead nurturing work flows, and more. |
5 |
|
Reporting and Strategy Includes a monthly review of all marketing activities, key performance metrics, and strategy development. |
3 |
|
Total Monthly Hours Investment |
24 |
Walk Plan
| Marketing Activity | Monthly Hours |
|
Blogging (1 per week) Combined do-it-yourself and professional service including strategy, writing, SEO, formatting and design, scheduling and publishing. |
8 |
|
Email Marketing (1 per week) Combined do-it-yourself and professional service including strategy, writing, SEO, formatting and design, scheduling and publishing. |
4 |
|
Social Media (15 minutes per day) Combined do-it-yourself and professional service. Includes daily social media posting between 2-5 posts per day. You should plan on dedicating 15-30 minutes per day. |
7.5 |
|
Content Offer Content offer creation can take between 25-100 hours depending on what your creating. Combined do-it-yourself with professional service including strategy, writing, SEO, formatting and design, landing page, thank you page, automated email response, scheduling and publishing. |
8 |
|
Inbound Marketing Training, Consulting and Maintenance (10 hours per month) Combined do-it-yourself with professional service including website strategy, updates and maintenance, lead management strategies, automated lead nurturing workflows, and more. |
10 |
|
Reporting and Strategy Includes a monthly review of all marketing activities, key performance metrics, and strategy development. |
3 |
|
Total Monthly Hours Investment |
40.5 |
Want to see what the Run plan looks like? Click here.
In general, if you were to purchase an inbound marketing expert to help you, these plans would range between $3000 - $5000 per month.
Don't give up! Even if these smaller plans still feel like they're too much for you, call your inbound marketing specialist. He or she can help you develop a plan that's right for you. If you keep the long term goals in mind, you'll feel good about the progress you're making if you stick with it.
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