Inbound marketing is the marketing wave of the future, and it will hold a place of eminence right alongside traditional marketing before long. The thing is, any organization that’s been using content marketing and SEO has been employing a few of the tools of inbound marketing, so there's a good chance you already know what it’s all about. But just in case, today’s discussion will be a primer about inbound marketing.
A good digital marketing strategy is a multi-channeled, multi-lever investment.
Outbound marketing, which is sometimes called interruptive marketing, entails all the traditional marketing tactics you’re familiar with: television ads, email advertisements, cold calls from telemarketers, mobile ads that pop up when you're browsing, and all the other types of marketing that seek to solicit new business by advertising directly to potential consumers. Inbound marketing, therefore, is the opposite of that and instead allows potential customers to find your business.
The currency of inbound marketing is high-quality, shareable, relevant, interesting, and educational content. The tools of inbound marketing include search engine optimization, buyer personas, content marketing, blogging, whitepapers, social media, and both live events and cyber events.
Within the realm of inbound, the idea is to create great content, distribute it widely through many channels, and to let the right customers find it when they're looking for it. In fact, part of the appeal of inbound marketing is that you can provide potential customers with great information at the exact moment they need it, and this is going to help build relationships and trust.
Content marketing can pull in potential clients so they'll understand
your products and services and want to buy them.
Inbound marketing isn't a direct sales booster, but rather a tool that will foster relationships, build trust, and generate more traffic, more leads, and more potential customers. These days, when customers contact your sales reps, they're typically 65 to 90 percent of the way through their buying journey already, but the relationship with your company started long before that.
For example, let’s say a person starts researching bat boxes online after seeing them on TV and finds a whitepaper. Two weeks later, that customer calls the company that wrote it to place an order for a bat box. While the customer was near the decision stage upon first contact with the sales rep, the relationship with the company started long before that with the whitepaper, and eventually turned that visitor into a lead and converted that lead into a customer.
Quality content is king in inbound marketing, so getting started isn't about having the biggest budget or the highest paid marketers on board, but rather about creating awesome content. To start, it’s integral that you identify and understand your audience (that’s where buyer personas come in), because you can’t write content that will resonate with them otherwise.
Once you know your target audience, you can come up with some ideas for some great content that will solve their problems, answer their questions, teach them something, make them laugh, make them think, or just put a smile on their faces. When your content is ready, decide how to distribute it, and create a calendar to make sure you continue creating great content regularly and often.
Inbound marketing seems to be the latest buzzword in the world of marketing, but don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s just a fad. Inbound is effective, but the trick is that you have to stick with it because the positive results aren't always as easy to spot as with outbound marketing. Success with inbound is more subtle, but in the end, it will increase your traffic, your leads, and eventually your sales.
Understanding terminology and applying what you learn to your business can prove confusing. If you need professional guidance and support, download our eBook: The Ultimate Guide to Hiring an Inbound Marketing Agency. It will help you decide if an inbound marketing agency is right for your company.
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