In a few words, an inbound marketing strategy allows you to increase web traffic, generate leads, sell and retain your customers, more efficiently than with other marketing systems. In reality, it is not an isolated tool, but a methodology that, indicates the Digital Marketing Institute, combines in different steps, various online marketing techniques such as content marketing in its broadest sense, SEO, social networks, emailing and of course analytics, all under the umbrella of a marketing automation system.
What is the password? Change the unidirectional conversation typical of outbound marketing, for an invitation to continuous dialogue. And an interruptive communication by publishing really useful content for each type of user at each moment of their purchase journey. This will help us to attract contacts and for them to travel through the different phases, going from being unknown, to clients willing to recommend us.
The Three Keys To Success
Do you think your company can improve with this type of strategy? Here are the basic steps:
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Buyer Persona Creation
The buyer person is a fictitious representation of our ideal client.
Creating different models and answering a series of questions about how our clients behave will help us understand them better. This information will facilitate the creation of actions and content that meet your needs and help us achieve our goals.
It is basic not to limit ourselves to our own perceptions. We must speak with the commercial department and also with the clients themselves through in-depth interviews.
Depending on the product or service that we are offering and whether it is B2B or B2C actions, the questions may vary, but in general it is important not to limit ourselves to sociodemographic information. What will be most useful to us is to focus on the aspects of their mindset that lead them to action on our offer and help us generate opportunities.
In addition, since inbound marketing accompanies people throughout the entire purchase process, it is important to determine their concerns, needs and reactions when they discover that they have a need or problem, when they are investigating alternative solutions and when they are in the purchase decision and action.
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Content Marketing
Once the buyer persona is known, we can start creating web content that adds value and helps our clients.
Depending on the life cycle in which they are, the content that will be of interest to them and that will help us move it to the next phase will be different. In the discovery phase, the user understands that they have a problem or a need and starts looking for solutions. The most suitable content can be general articles, white papers or educational content. When you are in the consideration phase, you know your problem and possible solutions, but you are not sure which one to choose and therefore it is effective to create comparisons, expert guides or do webinars. In the decision phase is the time to provide just the solution you are looking for. Free demos and trials will be very effective.
This phase includes, apart from the preparation of the content itself, keyword hunting or keyword detection and SEO.
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Automated Actions
Marketing automation, or marketing automation, makes it easy for us to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time. In this way we can qualify the contacts and make them advance to our next objective. It also allows you to control and measure the results.
There are many marketing software options, although the basic operation and its components are usually the same: a central marketing database where all the data of prospects and interactions with them is stored, an engine for the creation and management of processes and an analysis system to measure and improve.
One of the simplest and most powerful ways of providing content is email, which allows us to nurture our contacts and build relationships of trust.
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Analysis
Inbound marketing is a digital methodology that allows us a deep knowledge and analysis of the results at all times, which should help us to learn from our clients, correct and improve. The objectives that we set for ourselves must be measurable, specific, achievable, relevant and fixed in time.
Basis For Implementing The Strategy
By aligning the content, we publish with the interests and needs of customers, we will naturally attract qualified web traffic to our site. There we will be able to inform you, convince you, close you and satisfy you for an extended period of time.
For contacts to reach our content, SEO plays a fundamental role. First of all, an adequate, research of topics and keywords. Next, the creation of the contents following recommendations of natural positioning. And finally, carrying out all the necessary actions both on our site and outside of it (link building). It is important to be aware of and follow the latest SEO trends.
Now that we have attracted the right audience to our field, it is time to work to convert them into potential customers. The way to approach this is very simple: to receive something from the client, we must give him something in return that compensates him. To convert visitors into leads, we must collect contact information that allows us to communicate with them… and most people will not easily give it to us. Therefore, we must offer something really valuable and with a powerful call to action.
We Already Have A Lead!
We have a contact to communicate with. The challenge now is to be a client, it’s nurturing time. A person who pays for a product or service. Depending on the product or service we offer, the maturation and closing period may be very different, but in any case, we will use our CRM and all the communication channels available to us to qualify the contacts and guide them towards the next objective. This step is fundamental because it is when we will see the reward for all the work done… although it is not the end of the journey!
After the sale is not the time to relax. The inbound marketing process has far from reached the end of its path. It is time to improve the relationship with customers to such an extent that they continue to buy and even become promoters of our brand. Having them carry out surveys and studies will be very useful to us, and in general we must continue to use social networks, email marketing and other channels so as not to lose contact.
How Will Inbound Marketing Help My Business Grow?
In view of all of the above, a properly developed strategy will bear the following fruits:
- Growth of web traffic, with the opportunities that this entails.
- Transformation of visitors into leads and customers, improving ratios and accelerating processes.
- Saving time and effort, thanks to the use of automated marketing systems.
- Optimized investment in communication. Inbound marketing provides us with the necessary data to make the best decisions and maximize the return on each euro invested in campaigns.
