YourTarget CEO Sabrina Princigalli was recently interviewed by Andrew Lippett, director, partner, and trustee of Business of Smart Things (BOST) as part of the Digital Effects Interviews series.
The agenda for the interview focused on the role of inbound marketing and understanding its timelines, return on investment (ROI), and overall benefits for companies.
BOST and YourTarget are currently working together in a strategic partnership, the name of which is YourBOST, to offer clients a combination of digital and inbound marketing services and high level business expertise to transform their marketing and sales strategies.
Watch the full interview on YouTube below:
The interview yielded fascinating insights into the expanding world of inbound marketing from both parties. Today, we thought we’d share some highlights with you.
Interview highlights
Andrew: Digital marketing, inbound marketing and all of the very intelligent digital activity that’s going on, is that relevant to the public sector as well as the private sector?
Sabrina: Yes, for sure. Usually we use this methodology for everybody because we have to think that we always talk to people and we have to find the right buyer persona, in both the public but also in the private sector –
Andrew: So by “buyer persona” you mean the targeted client, the targeted customer base or the targeted person the service is being provided to right?
Sabrina: Yes, exactly. I’ll give you this amazing example. A few years ago I was with a local client, and I asked him to give me the buyer persona, and he said: “Sabrina, my target is from one year to 99 years old”, and this was really wrong because the buyer persona needs to have a clear age, a clear demographic and identity.
And from this example I started to understand that people need to know more about inbound. Today we try to explain to our clients that it’s not enough to just say “we use a website”. You have to be clear. Who is your buyer persona? Who can buy your services or your product? It’s the most important thing both with public and private companies.
I think it’s more critical now to know who you’re selling to because of the nature of the algorithms and how the digital methodology works. I’ve got another question. In your mind, what can business development do for an enterprise? What’s your experience?
I’ll give you an example. I know that here in the UK at the moment the TUI commercials, the travel company, are quite large. You know, everyone wants to go on vacation. So I can understand they increased their revenue in the period that they used inbound marketing by 106%, that’s just remarkable, that’s nothing you can see in a legacy marketing/selling approach. What’s happening with your clients and the way it’s working for you?
Most of our clients, when they ask to work with us, they start because they need to do lead generation – all companies need to do lead generation – but they can’t understand that without the right brand awareness and plan, the lead generation will be wrong. With inbound marketing you can work at your brand awareness at your visibility, you can have more website traffic and then you can work at your qualified lead generation, and you will receive the right qualified leads.
Andrew: Talk to me about the duration, what is the life cycle?
Sabrina: When I started YourTarget, I decided to delete all my CRM. I needed to understand if inbound could be the right solution for everybody. I started with my team to put some content on the website, to realize a social media calendar with the right content and content plan, and I started to receive the first leads after around 6 months. That’s because I chose to use only organic leads. Today, when we meet companies we suggest to balance organic with paid ads, as it’s easier and faster. It depends which kind of industry. If we talk about the lifestyle industry, maybe it’s easier to get relevant results. If we talk about the technical industry, where people are, also today, very traditional, it takes more time because we have to explain a lot to convince the buyer persona that the company is the right solution.
Andrew: Traditionally in the minds of many, your website is your identity, it’s your badge, it’s like your view into who you are as a company. But in fact, if I were to look at your website now, it’s like a labyrinth really. I wind my way around this universe, but that reveals the reality about what company websites need to do – that the website now is an engine.
It’s not simply a flag identifying location, it’s much more. Are you finding that that is understood or that people are not aware of that in your client base?
Sabrina: Today, the website can not only be a simple page. Today it needs to help the company. But especially today people don’t have the time to read. So we need to help people understand what we can offer. Therefore I decided to launch a redo of our website. I know our website is like a big book at the moment, we have a lot of blog posts, and that can be positive but also it can be negative for people who don’t have enough time. So we have to balance video with content, with social media – we have to help our buyer personas and nothing else.
Andrew: Who are you seeing picking up the most, obviously we see that the large corporations have capitalized already on this, but what sectors and what parts of the world are the quickest at adopting this new paradigm in the digital world?
Sabrina: For sure the US. What I’m trying to do is to bring our capacity to the Middle East, because I’m very sure the Middle East needs a big digital transformation. I’m sure that with the right training and information, the small, medium, and large companies will be very happy using the inbound methodology.
Andrew: My last question, how and do you provide that kind of understanding for business leaders? It seems to me that the sector itself of content marketing and digital marketing and digital marketing fully understand the value of what they have, but there’s a disconnect between understanding and educating – possibly your future clients.
So do you offer that? Is there a need in the market for that?
Sabrina: We find companies every day that need our help. Sometimes the problem is the budget. I can not understand why some companies spend a lot for nothing. I know that understanding inbound marketing is not easy because it takes some time. When you use traditional marketing you use the TV, maybe some wall advertising, you see something – but you receive results. With inbound it takes some time. You can plan a lot with inbound, but the problem is always the budget. Always. What I’m trying to do is to find the right way to meet the client, to help them and convince them, maybe for the first six months, that inbound can be the right solution.
I’ll also share this information: Before, we were only an inbound agency. Our core business aws only inbound marketing. But today we see, especially in the middle east, that companies need a global strategy. We try to help the companies with global strategy. We involve inbound, traditional marketing, we use video, we use PR, we use paid ads just to help not only the marketing side but also on the sales side. We give the company the right package, it will receive leads and then the client needs to close the leads – we can not.
Andrew: I’m privileged to know, because we’re working together, the details of your proposals you put together. It’s comprehensive, complete, you are actually authoring a lot of the content that goes into the success of the proposal.
It’s a lot of effort and you have a lot of capacity right now as YourTarget, and I see the size of the customers, and the focus on the niche – SMEs – and capitalizing on this.
So, look, what would you say to companies – one thing – that want to benefit from the digital effect, from digital business development?
Sabrina: Right now, we’re living in a very complicated time of our lives and when I meet a new company, a new entrepreneur, I don’t like to start talking about digital. I like to give my experience and suggestions.
What I can say today is that it’s wrong to work alone and to lose time and money without having the right knowledge. It’s better to be helped by an agency, from specific people, because today all companies need to have a clear digital transformation and need to be involved with the world and in the right time.
Inbound as the future of marketing
The future of marketing is inbound, a sentiment that Sabrina Princigalli firmly believes.
Companies must work to transform their digital strategies to align with a new type of consumer, one that is more informed and empowered than ever before, which means providing them with valuable content and an integrated brand experience is more essential than ever before.
YourTarget is working to expand its inbound marketing initiatives in the Middle East, helping companies leverage digital transformation and market their businesses in a way that aligns with shifts in consumer behavior and technology. To succeed in today’s digital world, companies must ensure their marketing strategies aren’t falling behind. This is true across industries.
As sectors like healthcare and travel and tourism are increasingly digitized the world over, inbound is the right strategy to ensure an online presence that attracts and engages an audience to the highest possible level. But you don’t have to do it all by yourself.
Working with an inbound marketing agency that specializes in developing strategies for your market segment is a time-efficient and cost-effective way to ensure you get the results you need in today’s competitive business landscape. Together, YourTarget and BOST can help you develop fully-fledged inbound marketing strategies that align with the ever-developing technology and business market.
Take your marketing and sales to the next level
Did today’s interview and what these experts had to say about the subject pique your interest? If you’re a small-medium sized business operating in the Middle East (or anywhere else, for that matter!) it might be time to bring in the professionals. Working with people specialized in inbound marketing and digital business development can help give your company the edge it needs to thrive in today’s market.
Want to know more about how YourBOST can help grow your business with integrated marketing and AI & digital business consultancy? Book a consultation today to speak to the team.
