Inbound Marketing is a methodology that consists on attracting customers, before they are even ready to convert by creating a valuable and personalized content experience. Inbound Marketing forms connections in order to convert customers, keep the ones you already have and promote your business.
Traditional or Outbound Marketing techniques are not very effective. People no longer want marketing interruptions or companies pushing content, while not providing a good customer experience. Besides, it is more expensive and most of it considered SPAM.
Inbound Marketing, in the other hand, is all about delivering solutions and opportunities. It is all about empowering potential clients, providing a better experience with what people really want and most importantly, it is all about creating conversations with valuable content.
The four stages of Inbound Marketing are:
ATTRACT
Attraction is the first step. As a business you want to attract users who can potentially become customers, these users are known as buyer personas. Attracting your buyer personas require an Inbound Marketing strategy where you can not only draw them to your business, but convert them into the next step.
How can you attract your buyer persona? By optimizing your website, blogging, following an editorial strategy, SEO, content creation and being active on social media.
CONVERT
Once you have attracted your buyer personas, the next step is all about converting them into leads. This requires lead nurturing, and for that you will need to obtain the contact information of your users who visited your website in order to offer them “something of value” (workshops, courses, webinars, e-books, blog posts, etc.)
How will you make this exchange of information effective? With CTAs (Calls-to-Action), landing pages, contact tracking information, database and forms.
CLOSE
This is all about closing the leads you’ve attracted and turning them into customers.
Show them exactly how they can benefit from your product or service; at this point you must convince them to do business with you.
How can you do that? Lead scoring, Email marketing, CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) and marketing automation.
DELIGHT
In order to establish brand loyalty, you have to show your customers you still care about them after they’ve made a purchase. You do this by continue engaging with them online. By delighting your customer, you create greater sales opportunities.
How do you do it? With targeted CTAs, interaction in social media and great customer service, email marketing campaigns and marketing automation, follow up calls and emails, surveys, and social listening.
Incorporating an Inbound Marketing strategy into your overall marketing strategy is truly beneficial. You will start seeing results in brand exposure, higher quality leads, improved customer experience, and you will be able to simplify marketing efforts.
Are you ready to start? Contact us today!
