Inbound marketing is a methodology based on attracting your target customers by accompanying them from the time they first come into contact with your brand until they become loyal customers.
The inbound marketing methodology is based on a series of non-intrusive techniques which help brands to do the following:
It is necessary to emphasize that non-invasive techniques are key. It is about inviting the client to come to you instead of impinging on their daily lives with aggressive advertising.
What is inbound marketing?
The definition of inbound marketing is creating campaigns, content, or even experiences specifically tailored to your audience or the audience that you would like to attract. This way, they engage with your brand and choose to give you their attention.
To better understand inbound marketing, it is important to know the five fundamentals, which are traffic attraction, conversion, marketing automation, loyalty, and analysis.
The first step is to attract users to your brand's website. However, instead of seeking to generate visits in a massive way, focus on bringing quality users to your site. These would be people who match your ideal client profile or buyer persona.
This can be achieved through a variety of techniques, such as:
Once you have attracted visitors to your website, you need to convert them into leads so that they continue receiving information from you.
To convert potential customers, the classic strategy is to provide them with valuable content in exchange for leaving their data in a form. But there are many other options, such as offering test demonstrations, meetings, or interacting with them through a phone call or chat. The objective will always be to get their data and add their information to your database.
This pillar of inbound marketing is based on systematizing the process by which you communicate with your leads until they become customers. For this, you can use techniques such as:
Once you have converted a lead into a consumer, you need to focus on keeping them engaged and loyal. This can be done through a variety of strategies, such as offering loyalty rewards and creating a strong online community.
Designing an effective loyalty strategy is very beneficial for your company since maintaining a client is much less expensive than acquiring a new client from scratch.
No inbound marketing strategy is complete if you do not have a plan to measure and analyze the results. For this, you will have to carefully define the KPIs (key performance indicators), and the most relevant metrics to assess whether your strategy is succeeding.
It is also necessary to establish periodic controls to analyze the results and adjust previously established actions if needed. This will improve your inbound strategy.
Inbound marketing is a strategy crafted to foster growth, development, and the creation of marketing assets. Once the initial push is made to plan and implement your strategy, it becomes self-propelling, progressively simplifying your tasks and making your work smoother.
Content marketing is the foundation of any inbound marketing strategy. It can attract visitors to your website, educate them about your products or services, and build trust.
One of the best ways to use content to attract traffic is through SEO (search engine optimization). When your website ranks higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), you’ll get more organic traffic, meaning that people actively looking for what you have to offer will find you. The most important pillar is having a website with a blog where you post informative content that responds to your potential customer's needs.
How can this be accomplished? By combining SEO with inbound and implementing these three fundamental pillars of SEO:
SEO strategies are long-term, but they can effectively attract high-quality traffic to your website. By following the tips above, you can witness results within a few months.
Audiovisual content is a great way to engage your audience and generate leads. YouTube and podcasting are two popular formats that you can use to reach a wider audience.
The different channels can interrelate and provide feedback to each other. For example, you can promote your podcasts on your YouTube channel by sharing clips, and use your YouTube videos to promote your podcasts.
In addition to attracting traffic and building brand awareness, content can also be used to convert visitors into leads.
How can you achieve this? By offering downloadable content or content that requires visitors to subscribe in exchange for access. This way, anonymous traffic interested in what you offer will have to leave you their data and become leads (contacts potentially interested in your products or services to whom you can send marketing communications).
Below are some examples of content that can be used to convert visitors into leads.
When creating content to convert visitors into leads, it is essential to:
In the context of inbound marketing, a database typically contains information about leads, such as their name, email address, company, and other contact information.
A database allows you to track your leads from when they first interact with your website or content to when they become customers. This information can be used to identify which marketing channels are most effective at generating leads and to track the progress of your leads through the sales funnel.
By collecting and organizing data about your leads in a database, you can create a valuable asset that can be used to improve your inbound marketing results.
Whether through social media strategies or by using the forms on your site, define which channels people can use to reach you and become part of your database over time.
There may be passive channels, such as a landing page that accumulates visits from Google and generates leads. Others, like a blog or social networks, may require more regular updates. Getting started will require effort, but the channels will grow and become increasingly influential.
A lead rarely arrives at your doorstep fully primed for the final sale; this is where lead nurturing strategies take center stage. Lead nurturing provides potential customers with valuable content and marketing messages over time to move them closer to becoming actual customers. This is done by understanding the buyer’s journey and providing content relevant to their needs at each stage of the funnel.
A powerful marketing automation tool can be the secret to your success if you have a vast database. With the help of this tool, you can create an ecosystem that will do the work for you and guide leads through the conversion funnel.
Your brand's presence on social media platforms serves as a channel for developing a lively community centered around your identity. Your inbound strategy should include creating social media platforms related to your buyer persona. To choose the best platforms for your brand, find out where your target audience likes to spend time online.
Once you've chosen the right platforms for your brand, there are different strategies you can use to increase your number of followers such as contests and promotions or the use of social ads. As with other channels, you will build up a base of users who are interested in your brand and have a good chance of converting.
When your content truly resonates with your audience, it makes a positive impression. Over time, this fosters brand recognition and develops a connection beyond straightforward business dealings.
As your brand positioning strengthens, this resource will evolve into sustained customer loyalty and referrals. This improvement will undoubtedly result in increased revenue in the future.
Inbound marketing is based on accompanying users throughout the process from when they meet you until they become loyal customers. Therefore, it is important to know in detail how this process works and which strategies are the most appropriate for each stage.
The conversion funnel is an essential tool in this process. It is a graphic representation of the different stages of the consumer's journey. Its funnel shape is due to the number of users decreasing in each stage. If we want to achieve X conversions, the number of users we have to attract to the website will have to be greater than X.
Within the conversion funnel we can distinguish three main stages:
TOFU (top of the funnel or first contact). In this phase, users have just detected they have a need which they are attempting to address. In this phase, it's good to have content that responds broadly to the diverse needs of different users, such as ebooks, infographics, or tutorials. You can also use display advertising, video campaigns on social networks, and native advertising.
MOFU (middle of the funnel or when the user is evaluating different options). After their initial investigation, the user considers different options that could potentially satisfy their need. Here, it is necessary to offer content with a higher degree of specialization, such as interviews with experts, detailed guides, testimonials, or videos that show your product. Among the most appropriate advertising strategies are email marketing, social ads, and retargeting.
BOFU (bottom of the funnel or closing the sale). Here, the user is practically ready to convert. To encourage them, you can offer free trials, launch offers, and specialized services. SEM and social ads can be helpful here.
The benefits of inbound marketing speak for themselves. According to the study, “The Results of Inbound Marketing,” this methodology enables you to:
However, numbers are not everything. It is also necessary to bear in mind that inbound marketing is a long-term investment that multiplies the assets of your company. With inbound marketing, you can achieve the following results.
We hope all this information has been helpful to organize your ideas and know a little more about inbound marketing and how we do it at Cyberclick. If you want to continue learning, we recommend you take a look at the following for more information.
Don't forget the most important step, which is starting your own inbound marketing strategy! If you are looking for ways to attract new customers and retain them long term, we would love to help you with that goal and to be part of your team. We can help you attract visitors to your website, accompany them throughout the conversion process, and automate the communication process to make your life much easier.
