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The Club We Are COM was received by Crédit Agricole’s Customer Communication team to share their best inbound marketing practices with Globe-Trotter, an affinity brand already adopted by 50,000 young people in eighteen months. On the agenda: a launch on Insta, a crowdsourcing operation, a content strategy and a dose of auto marketing.
What is Inbound Marketing?
Inbound marketing is a fairly new approach that covers all aspects of communication (commercial communication, employer brand, etc.). It was conceptualized in 2006 in the USA by Briаn Hаlligаn and Dhаrmеsh Shаh, co-founders of a well-known automation marketing software. The aim of this method is to attract Internet user through helpful and relevant contents. It is designed to generate visits and qualified leads. In short, your target audience would spontaneously contact you .
The levers of inbound marketing:
- > A website with relevant content, landing pages and search engine optimization (SEO)
- > A strategic influence on social networks (community management, partnership with influencers, even retargeting via social ads – such as sponsored posts on Instagram)
- > An marketing automation software to broadcast a series of automatic emails
- > A monitoring of audiences and performance (via Google Analytics or AT Internet)
An inbound marketing plan is a two-way communication and cost-effective in the long term. It is not very expensive but it takes a long time. Thanks to search engine optimization and social networks, your (future) customers find your website and then join a relational program (example: interior design tips by email) and finally subscribe to your product (with a discount coupon in the last email).
Good to know: the inbound is opposed to outbound marketing, unidirectional communication (pushmail to a base of prospects, online advertising, etc.).
Our case study: Globe-Trotter by Crédit Agricole d’Ile-de-France
Crédit Agricole d’Ile-de-France launched Globe-Trotter a banking offer for 18 to 30 year olds in the Île-de-France region in February 2018. The challenge is to increase new customers in this segment through strategic repositioning. Globe-Trotter is for young people in Paris who want to travel or study abroad without stress; and above all who have a travelling soul (without necessarily travelling…).
Lucile Le Moullec, Communication Project Manager, and Andréa Leite, Community Manager have presented us the levers of their communication:
> Social media: the banking offer was presented by an influencer during a participative trip with his community to test all its functionalities. The « #TripChoices » campaign has won several awards since it gave the influencer a lot of freedom and used what was a new feature of Instagram: the survey. The campaign generated few online subscriptions, but many prospects later went to the 275 agencies of the Crédit Agricole network in Ile-de-France.
> Crowdsourcing: The Communication team, through its social network monitoring tool, identified the design of the « Globe-Trotter » card as an irritant for young customers. A creative challenge was launched on the Internet, via a specialized media, to collect design proposals and then get Internet users and Globe-Trotter customers to vote. The two most popular designs (Van and Black visuals) were marketed and the two designers made a very beautiful trip…!
> Brand storytelling: what could be better than to show the advantages of an offer for young people by young people? The brand entrusted AgroParisTech students with the production of content during a roadtrip dedicated to eco-responsible initiatives in Asia.
> Content creation: the Communication team developed Globe-Trotter Place, a mobile site (WordPress) to bring together the many contents already produced, add extra-bank good deals and develop the online community. 5 themes have been defined according to the persona: move, prepare for your trip, study, house, and work. Each theme has a forum, editorial coaching with marketing automation, an extra-bank solution and banking-insurance offers.
The top 10 of the best practices
- Listen to our customers, to let them have their say at every step
- Develop a relationship of trust with an influencer (even if trust does not exclude control)
- Have a good balance between entertaining and product-related posts
- Grow the business with a two-part system: 1- notoriety and then 2- retargeting of the targeted Internet users
- Stay on the lookout for the hosting of our prospects’ and customers’ data (European Union with the GDPR vs. United States without personal data protection)
- Create affinity content that is relevant to the target audience and in relation to its uses, codes and values
- Work directly with an automation marketing solution provider rather than an intermediary
- Secure copyright in crowdsourcing operations
- Create dedicated social accounts, such as a Facebook group rather than a Facebook page
- To be long-term, not short-term
