One of the best and most organic ways of attracting new customers is through an inbound marketing strategy. Instead of pushing your brand through direct advertising for lead generation, inbound marketing focuses on drawing customers to you through strong content and other creative ways. This type of marketing is key in developing a well-rounded marketing strategy and establishing your brand as a trustworthy source.
What Does Inbound Marketing Mean?
Inbound marketing draws visitors and potential customers in rather than pushing a brand, product or service outwardly in the hope of generating leads or sales.
In terms of digital marketing, this means using a combination of marketing channels – most commonly content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media – to attract people’s attention in creative ways. By using earned and owned media, an inbound marketing campaign can increase reach and drive quality traffic, engagement, and eventually conversions.
The Difference Between Inbound and Outbound Marketing
The key to understanding the differences between inbound and outbound marketing is in the name. Inbound marketing focuses on attracting potential customers, whereas outbound marketing is about promoting a business offering outwardly. Inbound marketing aims to gain attention, whereas outbound usually involves acquiring it.
Inbound Marketing
Owned Media – Businesses own media channels such as their website, blog, social media profiles, product landing pages, and YouTube channels. They decide what to publish, how to publish it, and when to publish it.
Earned Media – Includes coverage on news sites often acquired by digital PR, as well as mentions on social media, the use of a campaign hashtag, and conversations on forums and blogs. Earned media is less under your control, but it should be a reward for all the effort you put into your inbound marketing campaign. This type of media often stems from outside sources who notice your success.
Outbound Marketing
Paid Media – Outbound marketing often involves paid media—like newspapers, radio, and TV ads. It also includes PPC and display advertising. Social media promotion, such as Facebook ads, are also a form of paid media. It’s worth keeping in mind that social media ads are an excellent way to amplify the results from inbound campaigns.
Benefits of an Inbound Marketing Strategy
The key to meeting your digital marketing objectives is attracting your target customers by reaching the right audiences in the right places. Rather than spending money attracting traffic from people who will never convert, this is the alternative.
By using inbound marketing, you are able to provide potential customers with information they are seeking in a creative and engaging way to establish yourself as a trustworthy source. Using inbound marketing as a way to present your brand as a trustworthy and useful resource, you can ensure users come to you when they’re ready to make a purchase.
What To Consider In an Inbound Marketing Strategy
Measuring Success
Figuring out how to measure the impact of inbound marketing in a way that is easy to understand and shows concrete return on investment is a challenge. The best way to start is by setting clear objectives from day one. It might be difficult to directly link leads to your campaign, but other metrics like downloads, video views, or added social media followers are worth paying attention to. Everyone’s expectations can be better managed when you measure progress with accuracy and transparency.
Length of Strategy
You don’t achieve success with inbound marketing overnight. Getting it off the ground can be labor-intensive – you might need content creators, designers, developers, outreach specialists, social media marketers, and a campaign manager. Having said that, if you invest time and effort into the right evergreen campaign, you’ll have something that will continue to provide value for years to come.
Examples of Inbound Strategies You Can Try
The best way to use an inbound strategy is to focus on content creation and the creation of resources to help educate your audience and establish your brand as an expert source.
– Create a content hub on your website that showcases videos, blogs, case studies, webinars, white papers, and product information.
– Include user generated content and social media marketing campaigns, such as photo and video competitions.
– Incorporate content pieces created in partnership with related businesses to increase digital PR and promotional opportunities.
– Establish a consistent and informative blog on your website to increase organic rankings and provide helpful resources to your users.
The Takeaway
The main takeaway is that inbound marketing is a key part of any marketing strategy. While advertising and direct marketing are important, inbound marketing has a longer lasting impact and can establish trust in your business which can lead to more sales.
Additionally the main facet of these strategies is content. Be sure that you are creating evergreen content that serves to inform and engage your users. Doing so will allow you the opportunity to engage more people and eventually lead to higher search engine rankings and leads.