Inbound marketing uses many types of pull marketing to promote brand awareness and attract new business, including content marketing, blogs, events, search engine optimization (SEO), social media, and more. It connects customers with useful content through organic means, such as search engines and sharing links with friends.
Inbound marketing was coined by marketing guru Seth Godin to define a new kind of marketing: one in which customers come to you (inbound) rather than your message being sent out to them (outbound).
Inbound marketing tactics include content development and social media, while outbound marketing approaches include pay-per-click and display advertising.
Below are the 10 Steps to a Successful Inbound Marketing Campaign-
- Know your customer. Inbound marketing begins by always putting your customer first. Don’t make the common mistake of thinking they’re just like you.
- Integrate Analytics. You can turn on analytics on your site and check what your customers doing; page views, keywords, time spent on pages, and other metrics will provide insights into their behavior, wants, and needs.
- SEO optimization: If people can't find you in search, all the marketing in the world won't help. For this optimize your website properly. If required take help from a professional SEO services company. Else take the time to learn about SEO, and then select the right title tags, URLs, and meta descriptions.
- Blogging: A part of your inbound marketing strategy should include content development, as blogs are one of the simplest ways to attract a following. If you're using a popular content management system (CMS) like WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla, the functionality is already available, and adding a blog page is simple. If you have a custom website, your designer can add a blog as a subdirectory or subdomain.
- Social media engagement: In the online world, engagement and interaction are key. If you want to make friends, you must both give and receive. Ensure proper social media management. Identify valuable information or products that you think will benefit your clientele first, and then start taking part in some of the biggest social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and Instagram.
- Give freebies: To increase your customer base, you need to be willing to give away some of your goods. Offer whitepapers, e-books, measurement calculators, or anything else of interest that can bring customers to your site.
- Test different formats: Try different formats and channels. Check what your customers prefer the most. Explainer videos and infographics are two other forms of communication to consider. Give them what they want in the format that they want.
- Call to action: After they’ve reached out to you for information, product, or services, tell them what you want them to do. Order today, call for more information, subscribe to the blog. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
- Set goals and monitor regularly: Set clear goals and monitor their performance regularly to determine which inbound marketing tactics provide the best return on investment. This can be achieved through Google Analytics, social media tools such as Facebook insights, or Twitter mentions.
Takeaway-
Inbound marketing can put customers in the driver’s seat, connecting you with people who are genuinely interested in what you have to say. Aside from conversions and customer retention, inbound marketing can also do wonders for social media shares, brand awareness, and search engine optimization efforts. Inbound marketing will also help you to build high quality backlinks.
A robust inbound marketing program allows customers to contact your business at any time, which means that you can generate qualified leads for much less money than traditional marketing. The empowered buyer can access all the information they need to make a buying decision at any time, at any place. Inbound marketing is really the key to earning visibility in an ever-changing online world.