Beetle Plastics, founded in the 1950s, designs and manufactures custom fiberglass pipe, large diameter fiberglass ductwork, fiberglass tanks, fiberglass vessels, other equipment and services relating to fiberglass products.

Beetle Plastics is a subsidiary of Midwest Towers, Inc., a world-class manufacturer of evaporative water cooling towers. Beetle Plastics' operations include its headquarters and plant facilities in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and a nationwide network of sales and representative offices.

As a part of Midwest Towers, it was content for many years supplying the components for cooling tower projects sold by the parent company. President Larry Brown knew the firm needed to branch out and find more direct customers for Beetle Plastics. So when he read an article in Composites magazine about inbound marketing, he was confident that he now had a method to help him do just that.

In early July 2012, Beetle signed up for HubSpot and hired Top Line Results to guide their inbound marketing efforts. The initial goal was simple—work with Beetle professionals assisting them to translate their fiberglass expertise in to web content that would attract high-quality prospects and help to convert them into happy customers.

Our plan was simple, we focused on three keys things:

1. Optimize the web site for long tail keywords
2. Create calls to action and landing pages for existing content to drive conversions
3. Create new content targeting ideal prospects

During the first 30 days of the project we developed keyword sets based on end products, vertical markets, and specific solutions. By using this format, we were able to speak very directly to site visitors. Previously Beetle Plastics, as well as all of their competitors, were using high level, general keywords like:

• fiberglass pipe
• fiberglass tanks 

The end results was that there was significant competition for these keywords as well as no differentiation in the searches. A search for 'fiberglass tanks' would yield results for small tank for animals all the way up to large industrial tanks. By narrowing the keyword focus, we were sure that the quality and quantity of traffic would increase.

Our new keyword sets came out as:

• large diameter fiberglass pipe for waste water
• fiberglass storage tanks for HCL storage

Next, we took existing content bundled it up as valuable downloads and created calls to action, landing pages, and thank you pages. However we were still facing two major obstacles with respect to quantifiable results. Number one, the site was generating a low level of visits and number two, it was not producing any leads.

Potential leads were visiting the site, but very few were converting. This was primarily due to a lack of conversion opportunities. For example, potential customers only were given the option to ‘contact us' or ‘request a quote.' Using existing content, we created an engineering catalog targeting top of the funnel visitors looking for information on using custom fiberglass as a building material.

Finally, we embarked on a multi-faceted, aggressive content creation campaign. The campaign was tailored to address the needs of a variety of vertical industries and a large line of custom solutions. We developed technical stories relating to chemicals and fiberglass resins. Most importantly, we wanted to incorporate the benefits of Beetle’s end products and how fiberglass construction materials and custom products solve difficult industrial problems like chemical handling and storage harsh environments.

The intent was to position Beetle Plastics in the composites fabrication world as a thought leader and progressive thinking company. Content ranged from regular blog posts to case studies to whitepapers.

Our goals for the marketing projects were to:

• Significantly increase traffic from the <10 visits per day starting point
• Drive leads from ideal target prospects
• Increase the credibility of Beetle Plastics and assist in driving leads through the buying process
• Contribute to a significant increase in sales

After almost one year the results are clear:

 

Credibility can be tough to measure, but in August of 2012 Beetle Plastics landed a very large project from a South American firm and using HubSpot we were able to see how often the engineers and decision makers from this company were using and interacting with the web site.  "Our salespeople closed the business but our web site was certainly a huge help in building our case and enhancing our credibility with the customer and in winning the business" says Mr. Brown.

Beetle Plastics' use of inbound marketing is steadily expanding their reach into end users of fiberglass products and, more importantly, engineering and design firms that design, specify, and oversee construction materials purchase and large construction projects. "We are opening doors for our engineers and team of experts that traditional sales approaches would not open. By focusing on the builders' needs and solutions they are looking for, we are more often seen as the experts in our field and are being sought out as the expert. Our solution-based content is very attractive to our target engineer prospect and our website and the inbound marketing methodology give us the tools to be there when they are looking online" says Mr. Brown.

Was the investment worth it?  

"We grew Beetle Plastics by over 20% since we started our inbound marketing project and we feel like we are just getting started," states Mr. Brown.

You already know you should be offering content marketing services to your clients, as well as heavily producing your own ebooks, guides and blogs. Content marketing increases brand awareness, generates new leads and nurtures those leads into customers. But something we have not quite figured out yet is how to gauge its effectiveness. Wouldn't it be smart to measure the type, frequency and interactivity of our content to measure its effectiveness as a function of outcomes and to keep ourselves on track for achieving performance goals? We think so.

Here, we discuss several content marketing KPIs you should be measuring to do just that. 

Output KPIs

Let's keep track of how often we publish content, our authorship (a new key for Google), and what kind of content we publish on a regular basis. Consider these content marketing KPIs:

• Number of blog posts published (per month)
• Number of distinct authors (per month)
• Number of guest bloggers (per month)
• Number of syndicated blog posts (per month)
• Number of blog comments (by us - per month)
• Number of social media posts (per month)
• Number of downloads published (ebooks/whitepapers) per quarter
• Number of videos published (per quarter)
• Number of webinars hosted (per quarter)
• Number of press releases (per month)

Interactive KPIs

Now let's measure how good (and conversation-inspiring) our content really is, as indicated by searches, views, likes, shares, comments and links:

• Blog post views (per month)
• Blog subscriptions (per month)
• Blog post comments (other than ours - per month)
• Blog post inbound links (per month)
• Blog post visits from organic search (per month)
• Social media shares (other than ours - per month)
• Social media likes (per month)
• Social media +1s (per month)
• Social media comments (per month)

Conversion KPIs

Finally, let's specifically measure the impact of our content marketing on lead generation (and ultimately on revenue generation):

• Leads from blog post CTAs (per month)
• Leads from blog post links (per month)
• Leads from blog page CTAs (per month)
• Leads from social media posts (not ads - per month)
• Leads from press releases (per month)
• Leads from all downloads (per month)
• Leads from webinars (per month)
• Number of lead nurturing downloads (per month)
• Conversion rates on all types of landing pages (blog CTAs, social media, etc.)
• Number of customers whose first touch was content (per month)
• Number of customers whose last touch (before purchase) was content
• Revenue sourced from all content marketing activities (per month)

How to Measure Content Marketing KPIs

Some of these are straightforward to measure if you have marketing automation in place or even basic blogging tools, such as Wordpress plug-ins. Others will require some digging, for example isolating the number of customers whose first or last touch was content. Some tools are better than others for putting this data together, and in a future post, we will examine specific methods for tracking these metrics. Ideally, every digital marketing department should have one or more data analysts whose mission (and passion) is figuring out how to glean KPIs from all of the marketing big data you collect.

For now, I would recommend starting with measuring your own output. How often do you blog and create offers for lead generation? Staying accountable for regular production and publication is one of the bastions of inbound marketing success. Tracking those efforts keeps you moving forward and lets your management team know that you are spending those content marketing dollars consistently and following your plan. Measuring the interactivity of your content and some of the conversion KPIs will give them at least some idea of how effective your content marketing program is becoming and help to justify your budget.

With over 30 years of business and marketing experience, John loves to blog about ideas and trends that challenge inbound marketers and sales and marketing executives. John has a unique way of blending truth with sarcasm and passion with wit. You can connect with John via Twitter, LinkedIn or Google Plus.

Wolf Paving, an asphalt paving and manufacturing company located in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, has seen the real benefits of committing to an inbound marketing plan. What has success looked like for Wolf Paving? Here's a quick overview:

• 44% increase in the number of calls for quotes compared to the same time last year
• 92% increase in online quote requests compared to the same time last year
• Improved search rankings for terms - “Milwaukee Paving Companies” & “Madison Paving Companies”
• Increased media coverage
• Recognition from peers and industry trade publications

With the help of Stream Creative, Wolf Paving has been successfully practicing inbound marketing for over 2 years - blogging weekly, developing case studies, creating eBooks, landing pages, calls-to-action, etc.

If you take a look at the graphs below, you'll see the consistent growth that Wolf Paving has had. Organic traffic has increased by 172% since 2011 and online requests for quotes has increased by 140%.

Looking to make an even bigger impact this year during "quoting season", Stream Creative and Wolf Paving decided to add some traditional and paid media to the marketing plan.

Mary Jo Preston, Stream Creative's Senior Marketing Consultant and Media Planner/Buyer, worked with Wolf Paving and local and national media outlets to put together a very strategic plan that not only supported the existing inbound marketing plan but was also VERY targeted at Wolf Paving's market.

The results of these efforts, as outlined in the graph below, were a 44% increase in the number of phone calls received (compared to the same time frame the year before), as well as a 92% increase in the number of visitors requesting a quote online.

In addition to the increased lead volume, Wolf Paving has also been recognized as a thought leader by industry trade publications and has received media coverage from local TV stations, most recently being featured for a story on pothole repair.

When asked why the TV Station chose Wolf Paving, the station admitted that they found them via online search. When arriving at Wolf Paving's website, it looked like Wolf Paving was the right company to talk to.

Wolf Paving has received similar inquiries regarding other services, such as porous asphalt paving. A contractor contacted Wolf because, in his words, "Wolf Paving is clearly the expert on this topic."

When is outbound marketing effective?

When it's part of a bigger inbound marketing plan. The boost in visibility is most effective when you have the credibility and foundational elements in place that help convert new website visitors into potential new customers.

What outbound or paid media techniques have you found to be successful? Do you think they'd be as effective without an inbound marketing plan already in place?

About the Author: Jeff Coon is a partner and creative director at Stream Creative, a certified HubSpot partner and full service digital marketing and design firm specializing in inbound marketing, web design and development, and social media.

The other day, I posted about how I've stayed true to a helpful sales philosophy. It's not about me selling something. It's about me figuring out whether I can help someone or not. Sometimes, helping them involves them buying my solution. Sometimes, it doesn't.

Here's a bit more about my sales philosophy that I wrote in email to one of my sales reps: 

I imagine you know this, but I am a hard ass about qualifying (and disqualifying) prospects. The way I see it is that I think sales is all about helping people... who want and need my help. Therefore, I don't want to waste time trying to sell someone who I don't think I can help, or who doesn't want my help. I would rather spend that time helping someone else who wants and needs my help. So, I'm particular about who I spend time with. I would much rather rule someone out (respectfully) so that I can spend more time putting someone else in my funnel.

The only thing that a salesperson truly controls is whether they've put enough opportunities into their funnel. Best way to ensure they do that is to spend as much time doing that, and be careful to avoid wasting time with people who don't want or need their help.

Therefore, whenever I approach a sale, my goal is to answer the question, "Can I actually help this person/company or not?" I'm trying to make my own conclusion. I don't care if the answer is yes or no. It just has to be one or the other and I want to answer the question as soon as possible.

Some prospects think they can figure out whether I can help them better than I can figure it out. They're wrong. They have no clue how I help people no matter how much they've read about me, my company or my product. I am much better at quickly figuring out if I can help someone because I've done this 1,000s of times. I've diagnosed company's sales and marketing practices 1,000s of times. I've seen it all. I can diagnose it quickly with a series of questions.

This philosophy can be really hard for a salesperson to embrace.  Salespeople are afraid of disqualifying prospects. Salespeople are afraid to ask tough questions to figure out whether a prospect really needs, wants and can take advantage of their product. Salespeople can make sales by giving unqualified pitches.

But, as a salesperson, I know that I won't convince someone to buy my product unless they need it and want it. I can get lucky and pitch the right person. But, more often than not, salespeople who give unqualified pitches are not going to close the deal. As a market gets more competitive or they have less demand, these salespeople will really struggle.

How do you qualify or disqualify a prospect? How much time are you spending making unqualified pitches and chasing prospects who don't want your help? How much of that time could you be spending talking to more people who do want and need your help?

We've been HubSpot partners for over three years now and have on boarded over 40 customers as well as consulted with a few dozen others. But something happened today that has never happened to me before—I got a rousing round of applause from a client.   

We recently were retained to help a regulatory consulting company re-design their website and launch them on a full blown inbound marketing campaign. The owner knew she needed a new website and she knew she needed outside help to get it done. The company culture feared change, feared online marketing, feared competition, and had no idea of how to take the steps needed to overcome these fears and build a website that attracted prospects using valuable content.

This company knew they needed to change, but needed a framework to work by and a nudge in the right direction. So when the owner was referred to me and we hit it off she hired us and we started down this road of inbound marketing. Many of you already moving on that path would recognize what we did as a straight forward, basic plan.

That is what it looked like to me. What it looked like to them was totally different.

Here is what the employees of this company saw:

• An opportunity to share their expertise to the world
• Proof that management was progressive and concerned about the future
• An outlet for creativity in a pretty un-creative world - telecom regulation
• New sales opportunities in a stagnant market
• A new enthusiasm for the expertise they have
• A new appreciation for how much they help their clients and how important they are to them
• A new energy to find ways to add more value and be even better at what they do

This company came to understand how they can translate what they do every day into content and how that content is used to attract new prospects and they are excited about it! They see that buying is changing and they need to change to meet the expectations of new prospects.

In short, a simple website re-design turned into a new sales and marketing strategy. This project created a new energy and enthusiasm for the business, their customers, their market place, and their jobs. They were thrilled to be moving ahead and excited about the opportunities this new website and the thinking that goes with it will bring.

So when I was asked to attend a meeting this morning to review the project with the team I expected to meet with 5 or 6 key people. Instead I met with the entire company and walked them through the site and answered their questions.

And at the end of the meeting they gave me a round of applause for helping them change.

Remember, it's not just a new website, it's a new way of thinking. 

In the early days of website analytics, businesses measured page hits, site visits and unique visitors. And while most companies still do, these basic metrics fail to show how inbound marketing contributes to the organization’s bottom line. Because marketers are now being held accountable for proving return on investment (ROI) for their efforts, new ways to reach data-driven decisions must be developed. However, significant gaps between desire and execution still exist.

The 2012 BRITE-NYAMA Marketing in Transition Study revealed several common challenges marketers face in the collection of and reporting on the data necessary to effectively prove ROI within their organizations. According to the study, 51 percent of survey participants stated a lack of sharing customer data within their organizations as a barrier to effectively measuring their marketing ROI. About 65 percent of respondents said comparing the effectiveness of marketing across different digital media is a “major challenge" for their businesses. To help you get started measuring your marketing efforts, here are five tips:

Step 1: Define What Marketing ROI Means for Your Organization

Before you can effectively measure success, you must define what your key performance metrics will be, and agree upon the definition of “success.” The definition of success is not only unique to an organization, but often to each stakeholder, as well. For example, content marketing managers will be interested in the number of blog posts and downloads published, while your CMO will be interested in cost-per-lead and number of new leads at each phase of the sales funnel. For examples of additional digital marketing KPIs, check out John McTigue’s blog post, Top 10 Inbound Marketing KPIs – The View From the Top.

Step 2: Set Realistic and Measurable Goals

Once your KPIs are defined and agreed upon, the next step is to establish appropriate metrics. This may be a bit tricky, especially when you are first starting out. Chances are good you will need to make adjustments to your goals as you dig deeper into the data over time. Whether your goals were too aggressive or too conservative, be willing to adjust accordingly. At this point, you may also consider establishing guidelines for how the data will be presented. As a general rule, keep things simple. At a quick glance, your C-level executives should be able to tell if the goal was met or not. If using a spreadsheet, consider a simple color coding system—perhaps green if the goal was met and red if it was missed.

Step 3: Gather the Right Data Needed

As previously mentioned, one of the primary concerns of marketers who participated in the study was the lack of sharing customer data within their organizations. If you are like most organizations and data is collected and managed in multiple databases, establish a system for collecting the data needed from each department. First and foremost, work with your sales and IT departments to create a closed-loop process through your marketing automation platform. This integration will provide you with timely feedback from sales on the impact of your various activities in driving revenue.  

Step 4: Monitor Your Goals Frequently

Don’t wait until the end of the month to evaluate your performance. Rather, monitor your KPIs on a weekly, if not daily, basis. For example, at Kuno, if we notice our number of new leads is below target at any point during the month, we have a plan in place to publish and promote new content (among other tactics).

Step 5: Use Your Data to Make Better Decisions

The days of “this just feels right” are long gone and collecting simple data just doesn’t cut it. Successful marketers understand the importance of using data to make decisions and justify budget requests to their bosses.

Please share your tips for showing marketing success in the comments section below!

Shannon Fuldauer, a senior consultant at Kuno Creative, has a B2B and B2C eCommerce Marketing background including roles as Vice President of Marketing & Sales Support, and subsequently Vice President of Public Relations & SEO Services, for CareerBoard.com. She has expertise in digital marketing and advanced email communications.

I was reading some of my old blog posts today and stumbled across this one called, "Networking Isn't About Favors." In it, I talked about my sales philosophy,

[At some point in my sales process] most of my prospects ask me "how they can hire me". Meaning: they are already sold. It's just a matter of fitting the right solution to solve their lead generation problems. In order to do this, I interview them about their business, discover their goals and budget, and then make a budget and goal appropriate recommendation. Then they say "yes" or "no". Most of the ones that get that far, say "yes". I usually rule most of the "no's" out before we get to a recommendation. As a result, I don't waste my time or my prospect's time if there isn't a good fit. And I help a lot of people along the way, creating a lot of good will - that always results in more opportunities for me and my clients."

That was written in October 2007, the month before I joined HubSpot. For those that don't know, before I joined HubSpot, I sold online and email marketing services for events and small business owners. But, when I joined HubSpot, I applied this same sales philosophy to selling HubSpot's software. I've had the opportunity to train 10s of salespeople directly, impact the way other teams at HubSpot sell, and help 100s of agencies realize how they can sell in the same way. The other day, I was in a meeting with Brad Coffey and he told me that a vendor asked him a sales question. When he laughed and said, "That's a great question.", they said "We learned from your agency sales training." The funny thing is that they are neither a partner or an agency. 

It feels pretty good to reflect and realize that I've stayed true to this philosophy and have compelled so many other people to follow along. Together, we're doing a lot of good, helping a lot of people now. Thanks to those who taught me and those who helped spread the messages along the way. You know who you are.

By now, most marketers and business professionals understand the importance of blogging. Two of the biggest obstacles we've seen that prevent business owners from blogging more frequently are: lack of time and fear of writing.

Here are a couple of simple strategies and tools that let companies tap into the collective expertise within their organization, which can help build a blogging team and create efficiencies in the blogging process. These are also great strategies to help prevent writer's block and burnout.

Our first tip is to leverage an app called Dragon Dictation. In their own words, "Dragon Dictation is an easy-to-use voice recognition application that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text content for everything from email messages to blog posts on your iPad™, iPhone™ or iPod touch™."

It’s up to five times faster than typing on the keyboard!

Dragon Dictation features include:

• Voice-to-text transcriptions that may be sent as SMS, email, or pasted into any application using the clipboard
• Submit text to social networking applications – Twitter and Facebook
• Convenient editing feature that provides a list of suggested words
• Voice-driven correction interface

At Stream Creative, we use this app. In fact, the outline of this blog post was created on my commute using Dragon Dictation. After dictating the outline, I emailed the draft to myself and cleaned it up for posting. It's a great way to make the most of travel/commute time (just make sure your focus is still on driving!).

We've found Dragon Dictation to be very accurate. You do need to speak a bit slower than normal. It works best if you only speak 2-3 sentences at a time and then pause to let the app render the results. Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think!

The second tip is to arrange brief meetings or phone calls with your internal experts (e.g. sales team, customer service reps, etc.). Keep the meetings short (max of 30 minutes). Develop a list of questions that you can send to the person being interviewed ahead of time.

Use your laptop or smartphone to record the interview session. Be sure to get their permission before recording the session. We use GarageBand on our MacBook Pro. We've found that these simple conversations can provide plenty of great content for blog posts. The people being interviewed are happy (and flattered) to share their knowledge. 

On the flip side, asking those same professionals to write a blog post for the company blog would've created some mixed feelings. Let's face it, no one wants more things added to their already full plates. By using the techniques outlined in this article, we're getting the same information but via a method that doesn't create friction.

What tools, tips or strategies do you use in your blogging efforts? What have you found to be a successful for getting others to contribute to your blog?

About the Author: Jeff Coon is a partner and creative director of Stream Creative, a certified HubSpot partner and full service digital marketing and design firm specializing in inbound marketing, web design and development, and social media.

One of the topics I discuss in my book Sales Shift – how inbound marketing has turned sales upside down making it more difficult and more lucrative at the same time has to do with the difference between a “prospect” and a “market". Marketers traditionally speak and think in terms of their market and their product positioning. Sales professionals, on the other hand, are a little more focused on their prospects' challenges and the positioning statements that are related to those challenges. As inbound marketers have generated leads and salespeople have started selling to those leads over the past five years, marketers and salespeople have had trouble coming up with the right way to talk about the differences between a "market" and a "prospect".  Pete Caputa (@pc4media) and Mike Volpe (@mvolpe) discussed some of these differences in recent blog posts.

• Mike's: Don't Assume Your Prospects Know Your Positioning
• Pete's: Don't Assume Your Prospects Care About Your Positioning

First of all, let’s talk about the difference between the two and let’s use my business as an example. I've created an ebook called "Tips for Selling to Inbound Leads". A variety of people complete the form on the landing page and download that content. In my case, these are  sales people, marketers, sales administrators and even other sales consultants like me. All of these people are in my market, but none of them are viable prospects for me. That said, I still see value in calling these people. Unfortunately, most salespeople do not. Most salespeople don't know how to identify if any of these leads could lead to an opportunity somehow. What most salespeople will say if asked is, "these leads suck". If marketing is asked, they'll often say something like, "These lazy salespeople will only call the leads that say, 'Please call me. I am interested in buying your product.' Usually, both salespeople and marketers get frustrated.

What SalesPeople Should Do

Did the lead really “suck”? In my case, when sales people or marketing people download my content, it is usually indicative of a problem that exists in their company, or atleast a topic that interests them or someone they know. The lead may not be the right person inside that account who would make or even influence the decision to hire me.  But that shouldn’t stop me picking up the phone. Here are two approaches I've taken that have worked well for me:

1. When evaluating the quality of a given lead, salespeople must focus less on the “whom” and put more focus on the “why”. If people are visiting your site, reading your content and then downloading your offers, aren’t these all evidence that their COMPANY is a good prospect?  Consider using that as a clue and just call the decision maker.  I have done this personally several times and had some great results; sales person downloads my e-book on "lead conversion" and I call the Sales VP and say: “Did you know that a bunch of your salespeople have been downloading my e-book on lead conversion?”
2. The other approach that I take is: I will call the lead even though I know they aren't the decision maker. During that call, I try to learn more about their and their company's goals and challenges. This conversation sometimes leads to great things such as turning that influencer into a champion; getting an internal referral; getting a referral to another company, or just making a new networking contact.

Often times, I make these calls in parallel.

How Marketing Can Help

I have spoken and written several times about sales people becoming more involved in content creation. They should. But, marketing can help generate higher quality leads too, with just a bit of help from sales. Too often, marketers create content in a vacuum, without much feedback from sales. When writing your content, you need to think less about the end user and more about the decision maker and their evaluating process. Don't be afraid to lean on your sales team for guidance. Here's a few tips:

1. The title of your offer needs to appeal to the desired prospect. In my case “How VP’s of Sales can Improve Lead Conversion” is a more prospect-appropriate title than one that appeals to sales people. So, although my e-book that was titled “tips for selling to inbound leads” was one of the most downloaded pieces of content, I might have benefited more if I had fewer downloads by the right people.
2. The buyer persona should be the decision maker. Most Inbound marketers do a great job understanding the psyche of the buyer and then attempting to create content based on that. The problem I see is that too many of those personas are based on “end users” (a larger group of people that is easier to reach) and not the economic decision maker (a much smaller group that is harder to reach).  Take a whiteboard and identify the decision maker in the last 20 deals and write your content to that “persona”.

As a whole, inbound marketers do a great job generating a large quantity of leads. Many of these leads aren't destined to become qualified opportunities. Some are, though. By creating content for the decision maker and a more patient sales approach, more of these leads can be turned into opportunities.

Editors note: Listen to Frank's Sales Shift webinar from April 5^th. It provides some additional guidance on selling to inbound leads. View the webinar here.

People consume online content via three screens: desktop, mobile phone and tablet. Given the proliferation of each, marketers should build their programs to accommodate all three. Consider the statistics: 

• More than 50% of mobile subscribers own a smartphone.
• 25% of Americans own a tablet, as of October 2012.
• The combined installed base of smartphones and tablets should exceed PCs globally by the end of 2013.

That said, consumers interact with each device differently, and screen dimensions play a large role in preferred content, layout and presentation. So, how can marketers ensure that their content is in the proper format—regardless of how it’s being accessed?

Google recommends responsive design, in which the site detects the device and size of screen, and then automatically sizes the content to fit. For a quick overview, check out What the Heck is Responsive Design? by John Polacek (@johnpolacek), or these examples of responsive design in action from the Disney Store, Boston Globe and more.

Another option, although less preferred, is to have a separate mobile website with its own URLs.  In the words of my PR 20/20 colleagues in Do I Need a Mobile Website, “if you aren’t debating whether to launch a mobile version of your website, you might want to start.” They recommend assessing your site analytics and overall user experience to make a case.

But, What’s Next?

As Pete Cashmore (@mashable) detailed in the Mashable Variety Show at SXSW, the number of screens people use to access information is only going to increase. Screens are going to get smaller, larger, on our bodies, etc. A few examples he shared include: 

• Smart TVs: Apple is working on a new, high-resolution TV set with its software embedded within it that could be a game-changer. For news and rumors about the iTV, read this TechRadar piece.
• Watches: Pebble created a watch that acts similar to your smartphone. The product launched in January, after the company raised $10.3 million, as a Kickstarter campaign. Apple and Samsung are supposedly working on watches as well. 
• Google Glass: This wearable screen worn on the face is designed to seamlessly integrate with day-to-day life. Watch the full explainer video from Google for all the details. 
• Flexible Screens: At CES 2013, Samsung displayed a flexible screen technology that can be folded and manipulated.

While many of these technologies are just in the prototype phases, the implications they could have on how people consume information and interact with content are profound. As we’ve seen with smartphones and tablets, this trickles down into how marketers do their jobs.

For me, innovations like these reaffirm my belief that technology and marketing are only going to become more intertwined. It’s up to us to stay abreast of the trends, evaluate implications on marketing strategy and adapt. 

What strategies are you using to succeed in the era of multiple screens? What tech innovations have you seen that that could disrupt how people communicate? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

About the Author: Tracy Lewis is an inbound marketing consultant with PR 20/20, a certified Gold HubSpot partner and inbound marketing agency that combines content, public relations, social media and search marketing into integrated campaigns. She is also the community manager for Marketing Agency Insider, the hub for agency news, information and resources.

Image Source: IntelFreePress