Inbound Marketing
An evaluation of Barratt Homes & JD Sports inbound marketing strategy
COMPANY: BARRATT HOMES
APPROACH
BARRATT’S HAS A HIGH-RANKING SEO ON GOOGLE FOR COMPETITIVE KEYWORDS. SHOWING THAT THEY HAVE PUT SOME AMOUNT OF EFFORT INTO SEO RANKINGS.
THEY HAVE 2 WEBSITES. 1 DESIGNED FOR PURELY THE CONSUMER AND 1 CATERS ADDITIONALLY FOR INVESTORS, LAND INFORMATION ETC.
BARRATTS HAS AN AVERAGE SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING POSTING CONTENT ON AVERAGE AROUND EVERY 2–3 DAYS.
STENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
+ STRONG SEO RANKING FOR TOP KEY WORDS
+ EACH AREA OF THE BUYERS JOURNEY IS COVERED IN THE NAVIGATIONAL BAR OF THE WEBSITE
+ GOOD VISUALS
- YOU HAVE TO GO IN DEPTH IN THE WEBSITE TO FIND CONTENT
- NO SOCIAL LINKS
AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT
· BARRATTS NEEDS TO FEATURE MORE INFORMATIVE CONTENT ON THE HOMPAGE OF THE WEBSITE OR AN EASY TO USE LINK AS IT IS TOO DIFFICULT TO FIND.
· ADD LINKS TO SOCIAL ON THE WEBSITE TO FURTHER BUILD BRAND AWARENESS AND CONSUMER RELATIONSHIPS.
SUMMARY
THE WEBSITE SCORES HIGH ON SEO FOR COMPETITIVE KEYWORDS. THE CONTENT IS SIMPLE AND HELPFUL — WHEN YOU FIND IT. THERE NEEDS TO MORE CONTENT AIMED AT THE EARLY STAGE OF THE BUYERS JOURNEY. THERE ALSO NEEDS TO BE SOCIAL LINKS. SCORE 3/5
COMPANY: JD SPORTS
APPROACH
THE INBOUND MARKETING IS NOT PROMINENT ON THE HOMEPAGE OF THE WEBSITE AND THERE ARE VERY FEW PIECES OF INFORMATION TAILORED TOWARDS HELPING CUSTOMERS THROUGH THE BUYERS JOURNEY.
THE WEBSITE PERFORMS STRONGLY ON SEO FOR SOME KEYWORDS BUT IS BELOW ITS COMPETITORS FOR OTHERS.
JD SPORTS HAS A STRONG SOCIAL FOLLWING IN COMPARISON TO ITS COMPETITORS AND POSTS MULTIPLE TIMES DAILY.
STENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
+ THE MAIN WEBSITE HAS A LINK TO CUSTOMER REVIEWS ON GOOGLE WITH A 4 STAR RATING.
- NO LINKS TO SOCIAL SITES
+ THE WEBSITE HAS A PAGE SPECIFICALLY FOR THEIR BLOG.
+ THE BLOG PAGE HAS TWITTER ARTICLES AND HASHTAGS.
+ WITHIN THE TWITTER BLOG THE COMPANY USES INFLUENCERS TO MARKET PRODUCTS.
AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT
· SOCIAL LINKS NEED TO BE ADDED SO CUSTOMERS CAN EASILY ACCESS.
· THE TWITTER HASHTAG AND THE INFLUENCERS ‘@’S NEED TO BE HYPER-LINKED TO ALLOW CUSTOMERS TO CONNECT DIRECTLY TO SOCIAL.
· THE BLOG NEEDS TO BE MORE PROMINENT ON THE WEBSITE.
· MORE EFFORT COULD BE PUT INTO SEO FOR CERTAIN KEY WORDS.
SUMMARY
THE WEBSITE COULD BENEFIT FROM INBOUND FEATURES INCLUDED A LANDING PAGE BLOG ARTICLE, LINKS TO SOCIALS INCLUDING HASHTAGS AND INFLUENCERS. THE CONTENT IN THE BLOG IS REALLY GOOD AND COULD ENGAGE THEIR AUDIENCES BETTER IF EMPASIS WAS PUT ON IT. SCORE 4/5
OVERALL SUMMARY
BOTH WEBSITES ARE WELL DESIGNED AND EASY TO USE WITH GREAT VISUALS THROUGHOUT. THEY BOTH HAVE GOOD INFORMATIVE CONTENT WITHIN THE WEBSITE BUT NEITHER BRING THE INFORMATION FORWARD INTO THE LANDING PAGE NOR CREATE A FEATURE OF IT.
BARRATT HOMES DOES NOT HAVE A LARGE SOCIAL FOLLOWING AND DO NOT PUT OUT MUCH CONTENT WHEREAS IN COMPARISON JD SPORTS HAVE A LARGE FOLLOWING AND WILL BENEFIT COMMERCIALLY AS A RESULT. BARRATTS HAS A HIGH SEO RANKING AND DOMINATES THE FIRST PAGE ON GOOGLE IN COMPARISON TO JD SPORTS WHERE IT SOMETIMES PERFORMS WELL AND SOMETIMES DOESN’T.
IN TERMS OF INBOUND MARKETING JD SPORTS HAS DEVELOPED THEIR EFFORT MORESO THAN BARRATTS AS SHOWN BY THE STRONG SOCIAL FOLLOWING AND THE FREQUENCY OF THEIR CONTENT THAT THEY PUT OUT.
