The Ins and Outs of Inbound Marketing
The concept of “marketing” encompasses a variety of functions, from market research to conceiving product ideas and communicating a corporation’s brand promise. Your marketing strategy is also expected to support sales and revenue goals by generating and nurturing leads. One method of doing this is inbound marketing.
Inbound marketing encompasses the efforts of attracting suspects and prospects to your product and service through the notion of “if you build it, they will come.” Content marketing, through developing blog posts, white papers and social media, is one of the most common forms of inbound marketing. Simply providing a website with information of value to your audience is a form of inbound marketing.
What’s in It for You?
There are many benefits to a company that employs an inbound marketing strategy. First, inbound marketing costs can be considerably lower than other forms of lead generation, and can achieve more positive results. One reason for this higher success rate is the fact that the individuals responding to your inbound marketing efforts are “self-selecting.” Responders to your inbound campaigns are seeking the exact type of information that you are providing and, thus, may be more likely to convert to customers. They are seeking the type of solution that your product or service provides.
Another benefit of inbound marketing is that your target audience is much broader. When you execute an outbound marketing campaign, you are constrained by the size of your marketing list. With an inbound marketing campaign, no one can dictate the extent of the reach of your message — especially in these days of 24×7 social media and viral sharing.
In addition, when a prospective customer decides to interact with you or your content, they feel more empowered and in control of their own time and attention. They may be more likely to respond to future communications that enable you to nurture the relationship.
Achieving Results
Marketing is an inexact science. Results vary from one campaign to another, which is why marketers are such avid testers and creative thinkers. Because the motivation of any prospect to engage with your content is uncertain, the results that you achieve depend greatly on how well you follow up and continue the dialogue with each individual responder. Your ability to personalize future content, offers and communications may determine your ongoing success in nurturing and converting any prospect.
Getting Started
To get started with inbound marketing, it is best to develop a marketing strategy, complete with brand and product messaging. A digital marketing agency, which provides marketing services in advertising, PR, website design and event management, can speed this process and augment your team with needed resources.
To be successful with inbound messaging, it is critical to define your communications and content strategy, and develop a process for lead nurturing. It is necessary to have the appropriate resources and processes in place to stay on top of your campaigns and follow-up.
Supporting Inbound Marketing With Marketing Automation
To support your inbound marketing processes and people, deploying the right lead nurturing and marketing automation tools, such as HubSpot marketing automation, will contribute to your efforts. Providing your team with marketing automation tools will help you measure your efforts against established goals. You will be able to monitor and track your suspects, prospects and leads as you nurture them, and determine what initiatives are best at turning more prospects into leads. Marketing automation will also help you drive more traffic and ensure that your target customers are the ones engaging with your content.
Conclusion
Inbound marketing should be a part of every marketing strategy. However, it is imperative that you take the time to establish the messaging and plan required to execute your strategy. In addition, be sure to get the right team on board and give them marketing automation tools and the support of a marketing agency they need to be successful.
