Inbound is on the Upbound
Inbound marketing is here, and it is only going to grow.
What is inbound marketing?
Inbound Marketing is the focus of on creating content that drives the consumer to you!
vs.
Traditionalist Outbound Marketing is like PPC, TV commercials, Magazine ads billboards, etc.
With today's technology, there are many new ways to advertise to people. (Cell phones, social media, apps) The reason that inbound marketing is on the rise is that a lot of this newer technology has ways to avoid ads. Mainly through paying for them. The majority of people do pay for these subscriptions services to avoid ads.
Netflix- The end of traditional TV ads for $8.99 a month.
Spotify-Listen to almost every artist for $9.99 without ads. That is less than what a CD used to cost.
Game apps- You can have ruined your high score by ads constantly popping up OR pay a few dollars to not have any ads.
Hubspot is an inbound marketing, and sales platform. Their Methodology on how to create value for your company with inbound marketing includes 4 phases. Attract, Convert, Close, and Delight.
I'll get back to that in a second. But first, I would like to introduce you to La Croix.
La Croix makes sparkling water with a wide range of flavors. Sparkling water consumption has increased 58 percent between 2010 and 2014, and La Croix is the fastest growing unsweetened brand of sparkling water, sales have more than doubled in the last two years. (Vox) Within the past couple of years, they have also become an internet sensation using primarily inbound marketing. Web sites that are influencers like BuzzFeed, HuffPost, and bloggers about which flavor is the best.
So let's break it down using Hubspot Methodology on what La Croix is doing right.
Attract
- To attract visitors to your site/content, there are a couple of ways to do so. SEO, blogging, social media. La Croix specializes in using blogging and social media. For example, La Croix uses social media app Instagram to post fancy pictures of people drinking La Croix at a Hollywood party. They use their website blog to post recipes of drinks for people to share.
Convert
- Converting is about turning strangers to visitors by using call of actions, Landing pages, and forms. How La Croix does this their website front page is bright and inviting. Everything that you can click on has an opportunity/Call of Action for you to share.
Close
- Closing is about closing the deal. Turning visitors into customers. La Croix recipes blog encourages people to purchase and try La Croix. La Croix with its many flavors has also brought a level of scarcity to their product; by making some flavors difficult to find. This scarcity encourages people to seek out La Croix everywhere they go. The recent health food trend is something La Croix has used to turn visitors into customers. Being zero calories with no added sugar, La Croix has used this social movement to educate their visitors on the health benefits of being a customer.
Delight
- This final phase of Hubspot methodology is my favorite. It is when the customer gets so excited about a product they promote it themselves. La Croix has benefited from this the most. One there website they have current La Croix hashtags that are being used. La Croix will share the pictures that customers post to their social media, making the customer excited that a big brand like La Croix will share their post.
Inbound marketing has a low cost of customer acquisition with a high lifetime value is valued even more. In La Croix case they simply post pictures on Instagram and social media, recipe ideas on their blog, and sponsors events. These are marketing tricks that take more time than they do money. For La Croix, it's paying off if you see how much their customers share and embrace their product.
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