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As an intern for any organization, you can learn many things to help you along the way. Some things are vital to your success, others just pieces to the final puzzle. Here at Huify, one vital piece of success for interns and marketers both is called Inbound Marketing. This may be a recognized term for some, or you may stare at the words blankly and be at a loss for speech. To make things simple and fun, I will divulge what I, as an intern, have learned about Inbound Marketing and why I love its process.
Basic Steps
So what exactly does Inbound Marketing mean? It’s quite simple really. The basic definition of Inbound Marketing is: “advertising a company via social media, content, and web optimization in order to bring customers closer to that brand.” In other words, the process of pulling in a stranger through social media and converting them to a lifetime customer by using words and content that they want to see or use.
Voicing The Brand
Inbound Marketing takes advantage of technology and social media, implements a marketing strategy, and pulls in amazing numbers for success. I love Inbound Marketing because it gives your brand a voice of its own to speak to consumers and draw them in. This “voice” in actuality is your social media and online presence, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, company blog, or your company website. You can use these platforms to build trust with your visitors and turn them into customers by giving them what they want, when they want.
Cost-Effective
It is the most inexpensive way to promote your brand without spending tons of money on advertising. Say you write a blog post on a certain topic and your company has a how-to guide or an ebook on that topic. You can put a link to that free guide or ebook at the bottom of the post to generate traffic to your website, also known as a Call To Action. When a consumer is guided from one page to another via your own design, it gives them the opportunity to explore your company and what you have to offer. This is called a Landing Page. Most landing pages have a form for the visitor to fill out with their name and email address. This information gives your company a chance to re-invite them to your site at a later date.
Building Relationships
When you invite a visitor back to your site, you are nurturing the new relationship. Yes that’s right, I said relationship. By this point, you’ve gotten someone’s attention and they’ve come across your blog or your website. They’ve filled out a form with their basic information because they want more. Now is the time for you to nurture your newly developed relationship with the seeds of your brand. Find out what the customer’s problems are and offer solutions to those problems. After all, they visited your site for a reason: to find an answer.
Delighting The Customer
After we find the customer’s problems and solve them, it’s time to delight the customer. You’ve got them hooked by this point, so it’s time to do something that will blow their mind. Plan to release a new product or service and give a release date that you know is reasonable. To make things better, release the product or service early. This will give the customer something to get excited about. You built up the anticipation for something new and fresh, so by doing things earlier than expected, the customer will be absolutely delighted. “Under Promise, Over Deliver”
So there you have it folks. Now you have an understanding of why I enjoy Inbound Marketing. It’s simple, cost-effective, gives your brand a voice, builds relationships, and delights your customers. What better way could you market your brand than using this process? I have gained so much insight from being an intern for a company that uses Inbound Marketing and I can’t wait to see what else is in store. Cheers for now!
For more information on the Inbound process, visit Huify’s website.
