September 24, 2016

The Top 5 Questions We Get Drom Clients

We love our clients. Why? Because, beyond being amazing companies with great services and products, they also ask all the right questions. Before getting involved with any marketing company, one has to be sure they have the right fit, both culturally and professionally. Here’s a list of some of our favorite questions, and why they’re so great.

1. What is Inbound Marketing?

We love answering this question because inbound marketing is what PHOS eats, breathes, and dreams of. Simply put, inbound marketing is one of the best ways to get new customers because it attracts qualified leads to your website. It’s the opposite of traditional (or “outbound”) marketing, where a company will post their ad in such a way that it interrupts the public with its message.

These “interrupting messages” could come in the form of TV commercials, pop-up ads, or billboards. Instead of interrupting, inbound marketing attracts. By having informative, helpful content on your website in the form of question-answering blogs and conversational social media posts, potential customers will be led hand-in-hand to your site.

2. How Long Will it Take to Build a Website?

Everyone has a deadline, and we are no exception. However, building a website is no quick and easy task. Websites take deliberation, design, code-writing, and content structuring to make sure they’re functioning at top quality both for purposes of inbound and aesthetics.

For this next example, let’s say you’re our client. We have a specific checklist we go through before we can even start building your website. First, we research your industry and get to know you. Secondly, we begin the branding process (establishing color schemes, logos, etc.). We then create a template for the website, and after you and the team approve that, we can finally begin building the website. When it’s all over, we review again with you, ensuring that we’re consistently keeping you in the loop so we can do an awesome job while matching your standards.

The actual website development itself is based on the website’s size, complexity, and purpose, which means that the entire process could take anywhere from a month to a few months.

3. How Can I Trust You’ll Know My Industry Without Already Specializing in It?

This is an interesting question because while we don’t specialize in any one specific industry, we specialize in the marketing industry, which is an industry that specializes in all others. In case that was confusing, I’ll break it down in simpler terms:

While specialization is helpful for many companies, it can be a double-edged sword. For example, if you’re a marketing firm and you only serve, say, trampoline manufacturers, you would be amazing at marketing for companies that have anything to do with trampolines. However, you might not be so effective for a company that offers culinary classes.

On the other hand, if you’re a marketer and you work with companies in many different industries, you have the unique ability to gain knowledge about a lot of different businesses, cultures, and products, which can help with all your other clients.

The overall goal of a marketing firm is the same from industry to industry – get noticed and find more customers, so it really doesn’t matter if the firm doesn’t specialize in a specific industry. As long as they listen to their customers, focus on delighting newcomers, and create an awesome space for growth, they can work in just about any field.

4. We’re Just Looking for a Website… Do We Need More?

Our answer to this question varies by the company, but it’s an important question to ask. Some companies that are regional with a smaller budget and specific product or service offerings might be able to get away with just a sweet website. We’ll work with you to find marketing opportunities to meet your goals.

Specifically, with PHOS, we will build the website, and then manage the marketing associated with that (for instance, blog writing, social media management, and various event marketing opportunities). Our marketing techniques ensure that the website is being used to its full potential to draw in new customers (using inbound marketing, remember?).

5. How do you Measure Success with Inbound Marketing?

Let’s cut to the chase: Businesses want KPI’s that show they’re growing. Thankfully, inbound marketing provides more of an opportunity to measure success than many other forms of marketing. By using platforms such as Google Analytics and HubSpot, we’re able to track traffic to our clients’ websites down to precisely what the user looked at.

Not only are we able to see that they accessed the homepage, but we can see that they scrolled over to the “About” page, and then read a blog. We can find the exact percentage growth of business and traffic based on the blogs we write and the links from social media. We can use call tracking, contact form submission, and revenue growth to measure our success from different campaigns as we build a customer base.

When you work with inbound marketing, you can get more data than you’ll know what to do with, but don’t worry, we’ll help you out with the deciphering.

BONUS QUESTION: Can I hang out in your office all the time?

The answer: We have tours every Tuesday and Thursday. (Just kidding, stop on by).

Compassion International Support in the PHOS Studio

We recently remodeled our office to be more stylish and productive. It’s an exciting time for PHOS, and we look forward to continual growth in the future. If you’re interested in seeing the changes over time, check out our Facebook page, which has several videos, photos, and posts about what we’ve done.

Finally, we’re here to answer any questions you might have, from questions on product offers to speculations on the next season of Stranger Things. Just email us at!


Mitchel Sinon

As a marketing assistant, Mitchel works in all forms of marketing, from writing to SEO to social media and more. Mitchel thrives by building relationships with coworkers and clients while applying his marketing acumen to further growth with PHOS.