If companies can somehow capture the attention of potential buyers when they first begin looking for certain products and services, then the rest is comparatively easy. Yet while for many buyers the first and easiest point of call is the Internet, it is exceedingly hard for marketers to make their offering stand out amidst all the online clutter and 'noise'.
Research is showing that if used correctly, inbound marketing can be one of the most efficient and effective ways of gaining that early edge. Indeed, since around 2006, inbound marketing has arguably been one of the most effective marketing methods for building and marketing businesses in the online sphere.
As opposed to relying on the traditional outbound marketing methods of buying ads, email lists, and hoping for lucky leads, inbound marketing focuses on creating quality, optimised content that attracts clients toward your company and product. It is also cheaper in the long run. According to Search Engine Journal, inbound leads cost 60% less than outbound leads. This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise when one considers the amount of waste that is associated with traditional, impression-based advertising.
The trick, however, is to find a meaningful way of aligning high quality and relevant content with your buyer's interests. If you can achieve this, and place content in front of the right audiences via the right mediums, you can then attract inbound traffic. It is more of a pull than a push, and success relies on the content and how cleverly it has been optimised for the target market in question.
When using inbound strategies, marketers often make the mistake of branding the content - and pushing a product or service into the mix too early. This turns potential clients away. In the early stages of the purchasing cycle, buyers are first and foremost looking to be informed - so keeping the content relevant and educational needs to be top of mind. In addition, marketers need to ensure that they have a thorough understanding of the target market they are trying to reach and then tailor the content accordingly.
The use of key words and SEO is absolutely critical at this stage of the marketing process, because unless the content has been optimised, it will more than likely get lost in the sprawling digital universe.
In short, the inbound strategy is all about providing compelling and targeted content to buyers - at the right moment of the purchasing cycle.
Some of the key tools include social media - using various social platforms gives you the opportunity to provide real-time customer service; SEO - you need to carefully, analytically pick keywords, optimise your pages, create content, and build links around the terms your ideal buyers are searching for; and finally, email and marketing automation - for efficient and seamless reach.
