How to build a successful inbound marketing strategy

Content marketing is different from an inbound marketing strategy.

The former simply means generating content. The latter encourages you to generate content that moves you and your business toward a specific goal.

See the difference?

If you want your content to generate results, you need an effective strategy to drive conversions, increase engagement, and funnel prospects toward a specific action or purchase. While it might sound complicated, it's easier than you think to create and execute a strategy that will produce results for your business.

Establish your marketing goals

Consult your team and create a worthy goal for your content marketing strategy.

A successful inbound marketing strategy starts with the end result: What do you hope to achieve?

Do you want to increase conversion rates? Improve sales figures? Capture more contact information? All of these are actionable, realistic goals, but they need refinement.

After you develop a broad goal, add numbers to it. Maybe you want to increase conversion rates by 30 percent or improve sales figures by $100,000. According to Psychology Today, specific goals are most effective when you can measure them. This is particularly true when it comes to your inbound marketing strategy because you'll want to quantify the results of your efforts.

Decide who will make your goal happen

Now it's time to determine who will receive your marketing messages. If you're hoping to boost sales figures, for instance, you'll want to target potential customers who are at the right stage in the buying cycle. These are consumers who are ready to make a purchasing decision.

Consider creating buyer personas for each of your marketing campaigns. Give them names and personalities so you understand more clearly what they want, what their pain points are, and why they'll buy from you.

Develop a content marketing strategy that feeds your goal

Creating content isn't enough anymore. An inbound marketing strategy requires content that feeds a particular goal. It should encourage visitors to help you reach your goal as quickly and painlessly as possible.

If you're interesting in boosting sales, for instance, create content that encourages people to buy. Show off the benefits of your products, list alternate uses for your merchandise, or offer reasons why your services are more efficient, effective, or desirable than those your competition offers.

Measure the results

Figure out how your audience responds to your inbound and content marketing strategies.

It is important to consistently refine your inbound marketing strategy. Figure out what works and discard the efforts that don't. Content marketing metrics can help you achieve this goal. You'll learn which pieces of content prove the most valuable, for instance, and which pages your prospective customers visit on your website.

Don't discount social media metrics, either. Figure out how your target market shares your content online.

A successful inbound marketing strategy doesn't involve firing off content at random. It's a tailored, personalized approach that sets up your business for success. To learn more about achieving your goals with such a strategy, get a free inbound marketing assessment.