The Importance of Inbound Marketing [Using Content to Power Your Business]

Don't step out of bounds!

We all want to find the right prospects for our services, so why would you market to just anyone? More often than not, time and money are wasted on efforts that were destined for failure. Why market a car to someone without a license? With inbound marketing, it doesn't have to be this way! It's time to start focusing your resources on individuals or entities that actually fit your target market.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound Marketing involves creating and delivering meaningful content to specific targets that fit buyer persona criteria. This criterion is a way of understanding our target market or ideal customer base and is developed through relevant data or behavioral analysis.

Our goal isn't to buy an audiences attention, but to earn it! Transitioning our brand so that we are viewed as a content creators helps prove that we can deliver personalized value. To achieve this, we need to be develop and create an understanding of potential contacts so that we can develop relationships and deliver personalized meaningful products and services. To guide this process, we can reference the inbound methodology.

Attract

• Draw in the right audience for your business through tailored content

Engage

• Analyze audience problems that lead to the discovery of your content
• How to continue improvement of solutions and user experience
• Prove commitment to communicate, educate and act as a guide for these leads

Delight

• Achievement of becoming a trusted and reliable resource

What Tools Support Inbound Marketing?

So how can we even get started? It's easy to talk about a strategy, but implementation can seem like an uphill battle. The use of content through content marketing strategy can help us fuel the inbound marketing process.

Content Marketing

Content marketing helps guide us through the inbound marketing process, and should be thought of as a tool that builds relationships, empowers customers, and educates potential leads. Using content helps build trust, while proving that our brand is the right guide, educator and deliverer of products and services.

Providing consumers with content is a better way to attract and retain customers, and ultimately develop lasting personalized relationships. Producing content works to move people through the stages of the inbound marketing methodology.

It is important to be mindful, and create organization when it comes to the content you plan to put out! Developing a long term content plan can help ensure that you are optimizing your strategy, while only using fresh and relevant content.

Inbound vs. Content Marketing

Understanding the relationship of inbound and content marketing is vital to a great inbound marketing strategy.

It is important to understand that these two strategies should be used in tandem to support one another. Specifically, content marketing works to support the inbound marketing strategy.

Content Marketing to support Inbound Marketing

We should view inbound marketing as the overall discipline, and content marketing as as strategy to help us achieve our inbound marketing goals. There are many ways to achieve a successful inbound strategy; content should be one of the main techniques implemented.

Take the Leap and Get Started!

Perhaps you are thinking that you current business model is perfectly sufficient. So what are the incentives of switching to an inbound strategy?

• Reduced overhead costs- Eliminates excessively broad marketing efforts, and focuses on relevant buyer personas
• Creates meaningful and relevant inbound traffic- Prospects find your content because its relevant to them, causing increased levels of engagement
• Generates higher returns- Relevent leads and traffic lead to increased conversion rates, and more completed goals
• Increase of brand testimonial and advocacy- Having intimate consumer relations will increase loyalty and lead to referal

Elevate Your Business

Great Learning Academy offers a free beginner certification course to usher you into the world of inbound marketing. This is a great way to get started! This course serves as an intro to content marketing strategy, along with concepts and tools that you can utilize!

You can also utilize Hubspot's comprehensive inbound marketing course to get a industry recognized certification. This course offers everything from the fundamentals of Inbound Marketing strategy, to long term content planning, different promotional techniques, creating pages and social media promotions, and much more!

Now is the time to gain the valuable skills needed for successful inbound marketing. Become an expert and elevate your marketing abilities today!

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