Inbound marketing is a process
Inbound marketing is the process of understanding exactly what your customers need to know about your products or services and delivering it to them in a relevant and compelling way to grow your business.
So, what’s the inbound marketing process?
Posting frequent blogs, well-written articles and adding social media content helps you build a relationship with the customer.
This is the point of inbound marketing.
This helps build an organic relationship, which makes the consumer feel at ease and makes your business more trustworthy.
Inbound marketing formats
Creating brand awareness using blogs, imagery and video gives your consumers the chance to get to know more about your business and potentially (over time) convert into a sale.
The aim of inbound marketing is to attract, convert and close.
Attracting the right customer is important, you don’t want to waste time and money pitching to the wrong clientele.
So be ruthless when aiming your marketing to different audiences and destinations around the globe.
Inbound marketing software
Your website CRM system (Customer Relationship Management) will allow you to track and monitor the flow of traffic through your site.
This software gives you the ability to fine-tune the customer experience, allowing for a deeper insight into your customers’ behaviour and potentially more sales in the future!
Inbound marketing enables trust
Inbound marketing enables companies to build a level of trust among their customers that makes it easy for those customers to buy.
This is easy to say but hard to do because it almost certainly means changing the way you think and act about marketing.
It means much more than just offering product information.
It must be extended into providing best practices, case studies, success stories, thought leadership, video content etc. A more detailed website marketing approach.
Once you have delivered relevant, compelling content, you become a trusted resource.
Inbound marketing needs customer information
You need to make it your business to know your customers intimately.
That is how to provide outstanding content that’s sure to get their attention.
See it as an opportunity to educate potential buyers about your industry, possible solution choices, best practices, and the right questions to ask.
When it’s done right, buyers will initiate a conversation with you before you even know they are interested.
Inbound marketing is a continuous cycle of attracting, converting, closing and delighting your customers.
Inbound marketing strategy
Integrating an inbound marketing strategy isn’t easy, but it is vital to grow and sustain a profitable business.
This is where good quality content comes in.
Today’s internet savvy buyers are hungry for content.
Not just any content.
Valuable, relevant, high-quality content that offers solutions to their problems and helps them become successful and productive.
However, your buyers are also hit by thousands of marketing messages every day, most of which are ignored.
So how do you get your message through?
Answer – Communicate differently.
Do more than just sell products and services.
You need to provide high-quality information in an easy to understand format.
Inbound marketing doesn’t sell
The majority of business operations are set up to sell products and services.
Of course they are, everyone needs to earn a living.
The internet has changed how businesses sell. If you do not create and deliver consistently valuable information about your business and what it does, you will not be as successful as those who do.
Giving away some extra insight to the business operation, who runs it, how the products are made all add to transparency and trust.
Some would say this is sensitive information that needs to be kept hidden.
We agree, businesses need to keep their Intellectual Property safe, but that should not be a barrier to finding new and different ways to connect with your potential buyers.
That’s what inbound marketing attempts to bridge and why it seems so unnatural to many businesses.
In fact, the opposite is true.
By adopting inbound marketing principles, you build foundations at the heart of your business.
These foundations start you on your way to delivering content vital and relevant to your target market.
Therefore positioning yourself as the company they’ll turn to when the time comes to buy.
After the Sale
Keeping in touch with the customer after the sale has also changed.
Governed by the new EU regulations, customers must “opt” in when leaving details.
Basically, if they opt not to be contacted in the future, you are no longer allowed to keep their personally identifiable details.
You have a legal requirement make this very clear within your website data policy page.
You could be left with a hefty fine if you fail to do so.
However, for those who allow their information to be kept, consumer follow up can allow you to create a long-term relationship.
Giving you the opportunity to offer deals and product information through email marketing.
This is an important follow-up step in allowing your business to grow.
Inbound marketing strategy
It is sensible to create a strategy before any form of marketing is started so here are our top 5 tips for inbound marketing:
- Do your research. So you know your industry and you have an idea of who you want to market to. Have a look at who else is out there working your pitch. See what works for them and then make yours better!
- Always stay ahead. What current events can you home in on? Is there something new happening that you can blog about, or maybe a trend which you can relate to and adapt your marketing to catch those potential customers.
- Setting your goals. Set out a goal for each week. How much do you need to post? How many conversions do you want? Sales targets! They all work with each other so make a goal and smash it each week.
- Study your keywords. Make sure you keep up to date with keywords. These are very important. After all, if you don’t know what the customer is typing in, then you will fall in google rankings and your competitors will drown you.
- Keep your content fresh. Publishing the right content at the right time is key to drawing in customers. Whether it is blog content or website content, don’t allow your online presence to age.
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