Inbound marketing: Attract customers through relevant and useful content
How does your company create brand awareness and how do you convert curious users into real consumers? If your first thought is outbound marketing, it's time you were introduced to inbound marketing. Read on to learn how to create long-lasting relationships with potential users.
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What is inbound marketing?
Back in the day (10 years ago), it was in front of the TV, radio or newspaper that companies had the best chance of capturing the attention of potential consumers. Today, few people watch flow TV in the traditional sense and with a myriad of streaming services, we have become much more selective about where we put our attention.
We're no longer interested in bland and generic ads - we want personalized content that speaks to our interests. This is where inbound marketing comes in. Inbound marketing is a methodology that focuses on creating meaningful and long-lasting relationships with consumers through content that is valuable to the individual.
At the same time, users have become much more active and seek out information themselves as they have more trust in their own information discovery and recommendations from friends and colleagues. You can think of it this way: if your product provides value to the customer, they are more likely to share their excitement with their loved ones, which can generate even more potential leads. It's all about creating value for your customers at every step of the buying journey - because when your customers succeed, you succeed.
Inbound marketing vs. outbound marketing
With that brief introduction, inbound marketing sounds reasonable compared to outbound marketing. But how do the two strategies actually differ from each other? Let's take a look at this.
Outbound marketing
Outbound marketing is what most people would associate with traditional marketing. Here, the company always initiates the conversation with the consumer. It makes extensive use of push marketing in the sense that the company pushes the messages out to potential customers. Examples of outbound marketing include:
- TV and radio advertising
- Banner ads
- Print advertising - newspapers, flyers, brochures, catalog ads
- Outsourced telemarketing (cold calls)
However, the effectiveness of outbound marketing has declined over the past few years, partly due to users' declining interest in traditional advertising. When outbound marketing is no longer as effective, how do companies capture the user? Inbound marketing.
Inbound marketing requires a completely different approach to communication than the traditional push method used by outbound marketing. It's more about tailoring content to the individual consumer so that it appears valuable.
Outbound marketing is in many ways advertising that the audience is not necessarily interested in and can therefore be disruptive. Inbound marketing, on the other hand, is an effective way to engage a group of consumers who could potentially become a lead.
Attract prospects, convert leads and close the deal
In general, there are four steps you can follow when using inbound marketing:
Attract (attract)
In general, there are four steps you can follow when using inbound marketing
Inbound marketing is all about making your target audience aware that you exist and that you are relevant to them. The goal at this level is simply to get consumers to visit your website. You can do this by using content marketing, where you create valuable content that speaks to users' interests and positions you as a trusted advisor.
Tools to attract users include:
Blog posts are useful for positioning yourself as a credible and trustworthy source, while social media content works well for creating brand awareness among customers who don't yet know your brand. When you work with SEO and copywriting, you increase the likelihood of your website ranking higher on Google and becoming visible to your target audience.
Converter
If users have already shown interest in your business, it's time to convert them into leads. Contact information is at a premium in inbound marketing and your mission is to offer something valuable enough that they will pay with it.
You can do this by giving them insight into your company or presenting them with solutions that can solve what they are looking for.
Tools to engage users include:
- E-books
- How-to guides
- Tips and tricks
- Newsletters.
Once your users have been converted into leads, it's time to turn them into paying customers - and with their contact information you already have great insight into them. However, today's software also allows you to gain insight into user behavior on your website, which makes it possible to tailor offers and close sales through segmented and newsletters, for example.
Keep your leads warm
Once your users have made a purchase, it's important that their journey doesn't end there. The purpose of inbound marketing also involves creating an ongoing relationship - so it's a good idea to provide support and assistance for them before, during and after the purchase. Satisfied customers are the best ambassadors a company can have.
Tools to keep your leads warm include:
- Chatbots
- Surveys seeking feedback.
Contact Amplify and get a handle on your marketing strategy
Inbound marketing has become an important strategy for driving purchase interest among today's modern and selective consumers. If you're still new to this type of marketing, or if you could use a sparring partner in developing valuable content for your target audience, don't hesitate to contact us. Amplify is an ambitious and data-driven digital marketing agency that specializes in creating online success. We can help with SEO, Google Ads advertising, social media marketing and much more!
If you need help with inbound marketing or are just curious about this strategy, contact Amplify at 70 60 50 28 or info@amplify.dk.
Gain deeper insights
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