Inbound marketing is one of the most effective ways to convert prospects into loyal customers.
What is Inbound Marketing?
Content marketing is a process that draws prospects to your business by creating valuable content that answers their questions and creates personalized digital interactions. It’s one of the most effective ways to convert prospects into loyal customers. Where traditional outbound marketing interrupts and disturbs, inbound marketing connects and delights.
Table of Contents
What’s the Difference Between…
Elements of a Successful Inbound Marketing Strategy
Types of Content To Use in Inbound Marketing
Inbound Marketing Processes
5 Principles of Inbound Marketing
Examples of Inbound Marketing
Inbound Marketing Tools
2 Visual Guides to Inbound Marketing
What’s the Difference Between…
Inbound marketing leverages many different technologies to provide solutions and create strong relationships. With so many digital tools available, brands now have many ways to connect with their audiences. Take a look at how this methodology compares to other types of marketing:
…Inbound and Outbound Marketing?
Marketing strategies that use traditional methods present marketing material to people who may or not be interested in the offers. They may not be familiar with the brand or its offerings, so they may not be ready for a purchase decision. Outbound marketing techniques like cold calling actively interrupt people to ask them if they’re looking for a particular product or service but don’t necessarily offer anything in return.
Inbound marketing takes a more customer-friendly approach. Rather than disturbing people in their daily routine, inbound marketing efforts help brands be found by people who are already interested in learning about them. Marketers can transform their brands into valuable resources and trusted thought leaders through blog posts, landing pages, social media, and other inbound strategies.
…Inbound and Content Marketing?
Big-picture inbound marketing is a broad term that encompasses many different activities, including lead generation, content creation, and social media management; content marketing is an activity that involves creating content that a target audience finds valuable. It establishes relationships based on trust and expertise by providing helpful information. Content marketing is a highly effective way of attracting inbound prospects, so the two concepts are similar.
Inbound and Digital Marketing?
“Inbound” means any marketing that draws people to your business by using online channels such as social media, email, and websites. “Digital marketing” includes marketing that uses digital technologies such as mobile apps, websites, and social media platforms.
Therefore, sending cold emails would be a form of digital marketing, but not inbound marketing. However, an email newsletter for which customers proactively sign up would be digital and inbound marketing.
…Inbound and Online Marketing?
Internet marketing is a subset of digital media marketing. Most forms of digital marketing would fall under online marketing because they involve communicating with customers over the Internet. However, some forms of digital marketing do not require a connection to the web. Digital billboards, smartphone applications, and text messages may use digital technology, but they don’t necessarily involve the Internet. In contrast, almost all inbound marketing strategies utilize the Internet, but few exceptions maybe.
Elements of a Successful Inbound Marketing Strategy
Depending on the needs and goals, marketers may choose to combine several different types of marketing tactics. For example, B2-B marketing often uses long-form content like white papers and case studies, whereas B2C marketing uses short-form content like tweets and Facebook posts. Because they’re highly flexible and easy to implement, inbound marketing strategies are highly scalable.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Optimizing a website’s content and structure to rank organically on significant search engines like Google and BING. The higher a webpage appears on a search engine results page (SERP), the more likely people are to click on it. The top three positions on any given SERP get the majority of clicks.
Content Marketing
Content forms the backbone of any effective inbound marketing campaign. People aren’t likely to spend much time on your site without engaging content. Inbound marketers research to discover what their potential customers are searching for online. It might be information about an industry, a trend, product, or service.
Content marketing is highly beneficial to brands because it helps to improve their search engine ranking. Content deemed high quality by Google often becomes a rich snippet – a SERP feature that is enticing to searchers.
Email Marketing
Traditional marketers used physical mail and email to send mass communications to people who might be interested in their offerings. Instead of sending out emails, inbound email marketing sends out content that people want. Instead of sending out emails hoping that they will convert prospects into customers, inbound email marketing aims to draw customers to its website with helpful content. Marketers often use segmented lists to target their offers to specific groups of people who have shown an interest in them.
Social Media Marketing
Brands with a solid social media presence forge strong relationships with their customers. A social media page is often the first place prospects connect with brands. Inbound marketers use social channels to distribute content and engage in conversations with customers. Ultimately, the goal is to use social media to attract users to the brand’s website.
Influencer Marketing
Many customers dislike traditional advertising because they don’t want to be sold to, but they’re willing to be marketed. Consumers have shown a preference for discovering new products from online personalities they trust. According to a recent survey, most consumers prefer to interact with smaller-scale social media influencers rather than larger-scale celebrities.
One of the largest B2B IT solutions companies in North America needed a sustained lead generation engine. 
B2B companies with long sales cycles need leads and lots of them.
Types of Content To Use in Inbound Marketing
Without solid content, an inbound marketing strategy would not be so effective. Brands that distribute several different types of content across multiple platforms can reach their target audiences wherever they happen to be on the Internet.
Blog Posts
Blogs are one form of content marketing that can be extremely useful for customers looking for information. Search-optimized websites help brands to rank highly on search engine results pages (SERPs) and capture top-of-funnel traffic. A blog can address customer pain points by directing them to other relevant content pieces that either lead them to make a purchase or contact someone who can help them.
Today, blogs and other forms of content should be optimized for mobile devices because search providers like Google use mobile versions of webpages for ranking. Pages that load fast and offer simple user interfaces are more likely to place highly in SERPs.
Landing Pages
Since inbound marketing focuses on attracting visitors to your site, landing pages are essential for an effective inbounds strategy. Landing pages should not just be optimized for search engines; they should also be optimized for the brand’s sales funnel. Each landing page should serve a particular purpose, and it should link to other relevant pieces of information through strategic linking strategies.
Engaging calls to action can drive site visitors further down the funnel. For example, many marketers combine pay-per-click (PPC) ads with optimized landing pages. If an organic ad appears on a SERP, it should lead to an informative landing page that provides the user with more information about the topic.
Case Studies
Customers today want proof of an offer’s value before parting with their hard-earned cash. B2C customers also should ensure that they spend their budgets wisely, but they don’t necessarily need to worry about risks. Case studies provide brands with a way to demonstrate the value of their offerings in a tangible way.
Stories are enjoyable for people, and a good case study is just that: an exciting story. Case studies provide an engaging platform to learn about brands. Quotes and anecdotes from satisfied customers help prospects understand why they should choose your brand. Case studies are valuable types of gated content for which prospects will exchange their email addresses.
Infographics
Infographics are a visual way of presenting information that helps readers understand complex concepts quickly. Whether or not you think that 65% of people learn visually, there’s nothing wrong with using graphics to convey important information. Infographics are three times more likely than other types of content to be shared by users.
Not all infographics need to be whimsical, either. B2B brands often use infographics to convey data engagingly without departing from their typical brand tone and voice.
Add these images to your content marketing strategy if you want to be different from the rest and attract more readers!
Creative content writing is both a science and an art form.
Inbound Marketing Processes
Marketers worldwide have developed their processes for attracting and converting new customers. Take a look at some of the most popular methods:
The Marketing Flywheel
This concept was first coined by Rand Fishkin in his post on the Moz Blog in 2013. It uses the engineering principle – a revolving device used to store power – as a metaphor for attracting customers. A flywheel requires significant effort to start moving, but it takes less energy to keep moving once it’s going.
So, how is inbound marketing like a flywheel?
With this model, the first interactions between your business and potential customers are like the first spin on the wheel. It takes a lot of hard work to get the first few marketing conversions, but it gets easier to convert prospects over the long term as you ramp up your marketing efforts. An example of creating a new landing page would be creating an entirely new page for a specific product or service. It can take up until three months for the page’s ranking to improve on the first page of search results. Once it does, however, more and more prospects will be likely to find it. Here is a list of sentences that contain paraphrases of the input text.
Inbound Marketing Funnels
There are two widely accepted inbound marketing funnels:
- Customer LifecycleAttract: Blogs, keyword targeting, and social media outreach capture the attention of strangers and get them interested in learning more.
- Convert: Tools like optimized landing pages, calls to action, and contact forms encourage site visitors to take a conversion action, such as signing up for a newsletter or contacting a sales representative.
- Close: Utilizing CRM tools, personalized email, and deeper levels of interaction, brands help prospects solve their problems and ultimately become customers.
- Delight: Once leads become customers, marketers engage them with surveys, social media interactions, and similar follow-up activities to keep them happy and coming back for more.
Standard Marketing Funnel:
- Awareness: At this early lead generation stage, research-based marketing campaigns spread brand awareness through social media, blogs, events, and traditional advertising.
- Interest: Brands connect with leads who express interest by providing relevant content through targeted emails, webinars, and landing pages.
- Consideration: Marketers nurture leads by offering details about products and services, free trials, and case studies.
- Purchase: Personalized content, sales demos, and phone conversations help close leads and convert them into customers.
Learn how to set up your content marketing funnel to generate leads and help your sales.
5 Principles of Inbound Marketing
It’s easy to remember the basic principles of inbound marketing, as described:
Standardize:
Brands should create scalable marketing systems and processes that adapt to different marketing situations. Different customers want to hear different information, but the brand story should remain consistent.
Conceptualize/Contextualize:
A brand should have a consistent message to deliver, but it must be organized in parallel to each customer’s journey. Each stage of the sales funnel should be tailored to each prospect’s needs.
Optimize:
Inbound marketing is scientific. As marketers, we should establish baseline measurements of our campaigns and look for opportunities where we can improve our strategy.
Personalize:
Brands need to build relationships with their customers. Collecting relevant data from prospects helps marketers craft personalized, engaging customer experiences.
Empathize:
Data-driven inbound marketing strategies are highly effective, but they’re even more effective when they consider the human nature of prospects and customers. Understanding customer pain points is the most important thing you need to do when trying to win their business.
How can your business leverage the inbound methodology for growth? Discover the steps and benefits.
Examples of Inbound Marketing
As a concept, inbound marketing includes many unique tactics. Here are two examples that highlight the core principles noted above:
Example 1. Ebooks
If they’ve read a few blogs on its website, consider them. They have expressed interest in the brand’s services by browsing the site and viewing various pages. What’s next?
An eBook is a perfect opportunity to position the brand as a proper authority in the space. Ebooks can go into greater detail than other types of content, and they can provide immediate value to the readers. Plus, they can be used as gated content to obtain the reader’s email address. If a visitor reads a blog post, they may click on a call-to-action button at the bottom of the post, enter their email address, and download an eBook that will get them one step closer to purchasing something from the business.
Example 2. Infographics
Prospective customers seek out general information about an industry or subject at the beginning of the marketing funnel. They might not be interested in downloading the eBook or giving up their email address at this stage.
Infographics are effective at this stage of the sales funnel because they can provide tons of helpful information in a brief time frame. Also, they tend to be high-quality, which makes them easier to remember.
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