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Inbound marketing is still a relatively new concept to many companies, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less powerful. In fact, inbound marketing is viewed by many experts as being the most important form currently available. While the Internet has changed countless things, the way companies market themselves could be one of the biggest. It’s become crystal clear that inbound marketing is how the World Wide Web prefers you do business.
What Is Inbound Marketing?
In a moment, we’ll go through the five points of inbound marketing. First, though, let’s settle on a simple definition. Inbound marketing is getting customers to come to you by rewarding them for their time. Instead of putting up a billboard or running a TV ad promising a prospect that your business is worth their money, you give them something first to make your case.
1. Stranger
Until first contact, every prospect out there is a stranger to your company. They may know they have a problem, but they aren’t convinced your business is the one to solve it.
You change this with things like blogs or social media posts. If you were selling accounting software, you’d want to give these strangers free information about how to create a budget, things to stop wasting money on or advice for tax season. This earns their trust and is a smart way of proving your company knows what they’re talking about.
2. Visitor
If you do the above right, you now have a visitor. They’ve come to your website curious about what else you can do for them. This is where things like landing pages and calls-to-action kick in. These inbound marketing materials help turn them into leads.
While this step may involve free content, you’re no longer trying to educate the visitor on what their problem entails. Instead, you’re helping them understand that your company is the one to solve it for them. Case studies have become especially helpful in this regard because they show the visitor that others have been in their shoes and were better off for doing business with you.
3. Lead
Now, you should have a lead. They’re aware of what their problem is and that your company specializes in solving it. At this point, though, you still have work to do before they’re going to go ahead and spend any money with your organization.
This is where CRM (customer relationship management) tactics come into play. Most likely, you’ll have a sales team whose job it is to speak with these leads so you can begin forming a relationship and developing a better understanding for how you can help them, specifically.
4. Buyer
Finally, you have a buyer. Your inbound marketing campaign has paid off and your lead has converted into someone who will be helping your company’s bottom line. Thanks to inbound marketing, you stand a much better chance of having a satisfied customer as well. The above steps ensured you sold them on a solution that best fit their needs, instead of showing them all the available options and simply hoping they picked the best one.
5. Resource
You’re not through yet, though. Getting a new customer is great, but turning them into something more is how you can ensure future revenues down the line. With inbound marketing, you’ll use things like surveys and social monitoring software to get key information about this customer. This way, you have the data necessary for generating more leads of similar profiles in the future.
Inbound marketing is definitely here to stay. The best part about it is that it puts more money in your pocket and churns out satisfied customers too. With the above information, you’re now on your way to using this strategy to increase profits.
