Inbound Marketing: The Strategy to Attract Prospective Leads

On average, how many advertisements do you think you receive or see throughout the course of a single day? I'm sure the answer is too many to count, and you dislike most of them. In our present day, we in fact see countless advertisements for products and services in the form of emails, texts, and direct marketing that most usually just ignore by quickly throwing them into the trash or opting-out. That method of mass marketing is known as outbound marketing which can be both very ineffective, and time-consuming. On the contrary, inbound marketing is a far more efficient and beneficial strategy for marketers to utilize. Stay tuned to learn more about how exactly inbound marketing works, how to use it, and why you should implement it into your set of strategies!

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing is a very useful strategy for marketers and businesses as a whole! Inbound Marketing can be best described as a relationship-focused approach to marketing that fuels the growth of an organization by attracting customers through the creation of valuable and intriguing content, as well as experiences that are tailored to them. This methodology is centered around attracting customers, forming connections, and playing the role of an advisor in helping prospective customers solve problems they may have. Inbound marketing is unlike many traditional marketing methods as the center of interest lies in gaining an individual's attention rather than "buying it" through the creation and offering of engaging, and value providing the content. The main overarching difference of this strategy is that it puts an emphasis on targeting individuals that are greater prospective leads as your content is able to provide value for them, or they have already shown interest in your company or industry. Thus, if these prospective leads show interest in your content, they are much more likely to become interested in your company's products.

Benefits of Implementing Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is a strategy that can be very beneficial for firms. This methodology is centered around the idea of marketing to much more qualified leads. Content that is tailored to individuals at every stage of the buyer journey allows firms to align their content with the products or services they offer. This means that those who arrive on your site to visit your content are there seeking helpful and meaningful content to help them out, and are much more likely to develop an interest in your products. This strategy is much more efficient than traditional methods such as outbound marketing, as firms are able to optimize marketing budgets, as well as their time and efforts. Additionally, firms are able to attract users in an organic and authentic manner by providing meaningful content for prospective customers. In doing so, firms are able to form a meaningful, long-lasting relationship with these individuals by assisting them in solving a problem or guiding them through the buyer journey. Inbound marketing allows firms to target prospects at all three stages of the buyer's journey by providing content that can serve as a valuable resource for those who may simply be understanding an issue they have, considering their options to solve it, or deciding on a solution and where they will seek it from. Lastly, inbound marketing is a strategy that is measurable which is crucial for firms to be able to monitor the success of this strategy and refine the company's goals or strategies accordingly. Firms are able to measure the success of their efforts by monitoring how their content is performing, where their revenue is coming from, and if there is a link between the published content and the company's sales.

The Process of Implementing Inbound Marketing

Just as it is crucial for firms to understand what inbound marketing is, and what it entails, it is just as crucial to be aware of how to do it well! The inbound marketing strategy can be implemented well through a framework composed of three stages: Attract, Engage, and Delight.

• Attract: This stage focuses on drawing in individuals that are much more likely to become leads and prospective customers through valuable content and conversations. This focus will assist in the process of becoming trusted advisors with whom these individuals will want to engage with. Firms can implement an attracting strategy by creating and publishing content such as content offers, blog articles, as well as social media posts. Examples of specific content that can be of value to prospective customers include guides on how to properly use your products, the benefits of your products, customer testimonials, and information on the type of challenges your products or service can solve.
• Engage: Now that you know how to attract the right type of users to your site, the next stage focuses on keeping visitors engaged! During this stage, it is important to interact with leads in a way that promotes the formation of long-term relationships and keeps them wanting to continue to interact with you, and your content. Great forms of engaging customers include utilizing targeted email marketing, live chats, and conversational bots. Focusing on the manner in which interactions with customers are done out is a great form of promoting engagement. Furthermore, ensuring that you are solution selling, rather than product selling will result in value creation for your customers, and there will be mutual benefits for both the customer and firm.
• Delight: This final stage of the inbound methodology focuses on ensuring that your customers are content, satisfied, and feel your support even after they have made a purchase. This stage is crucial in promoting the development of returning customers and creating authentic, meaningful relationships. Social media listening is a way in which firms can delight customers. This involves responding to customer's questions, comments, or experiences on a firm's social media profiles. During this process, it is important to respond with information that is helpful, supportive, and encouraging to display your appreciation and support for your customers. Additionally, the implementation of chatbots and surveys is a form of assisting, supporting, and obtaining feedback from customers in order to delight them. It is key to acknowledge that this final stage of the inbound marketing process involves supporting customers regardless of the situation as these customers can become brand advocates, and can become returning customers.

Inbound Marketing Done Right!

So far, we have covered what the inbound marketing methodology entails and how to utilize it effectively. It is important to note that it in fact has provided a competitive edge for certain companies, and has provided many great benefits. Below are some examples of companies that have used inbound marketing to their advantage:

• Monster Energy: The beloved Monster Energy company has done a great job of using inbound marketing as an approach to the company's marketing efforts. A quick look at the company's home page reveals its large utilization of content, specifically blogging to attract a specific "persona" or type of customer. Monster has been able to very clearly create a customer persona that describes exactly what type of folks are their customers. Additionally, the company has focused on creating a lot of entertaining content that provides value for those customers that have an interest in extreme sports. As a result, Monster has been able to attract customers, rather than simply try to sell them on a product by being able to effectively create value-adding content, and have their target market clearly identified.

• Cisco: Cisco Systems is another great example of a company that used inbound marketing to reach prospective leads, and attract customers, rather than using traditional outbound marketing tactics. Cisco developed a series of videos that were published on the firm's website and social media pages in which the ways in which students, entrepreneurs, and other types of users were using their technology to work on their goals. Additionally, the firm developed a blog in which articles were regularly published that focused on technology, and more importantly the ability and value that Cisco's products and services can provide in terms of problem-solving. By implementing this strategy, Cisco was able to attract much more qualified leads through valuable content that served as a way of service-selling their products and services as the content conveyed the ability the products and services had to solve the customer's issues.

Conclusion

Inbound marketing can be a great strategy for firms of any size to implement as a way to optimize their time, efforts, and budgets. Through the use of inbound marketing, firms are able to attract higher qualified leads, as well as building relationships with their customers by gaining their attention rather than buying it, and assisting them throughout the buyer's journey. If you are looking for more information regarding the inbound marketing methodology, head on over to HubSpot!