What is inbound marketing?
Take a second to think how you like to be marketed to – chances are, it’s not being pestered with products and services in which you have no real interest or connection. It’s more likely you’ll be moved to engage with – and perhaps spend money on – marketing that speaks to you, either by presenting you with valuable content or personalising the experience.
All organisations – from start-ups and small businesses to large, established companies – can make use of marketing methods that are likely to improve the quality of leads, establish rapport with buyers, improve the quality of their marketing funnels and enhance the customer journey.
So, how can this be achieved?
What is inbound marketing?
Salesforce define inbound marketing as ‘a strategic approach to creating valuable content that aligns with the needs of your target audience and inspires long-term customer relationships.’
Inbound marketing focuses on ‘drawing customers in’, providing them with relevant, high-quality content and solutions that they’re already searching for and want to consume. A fundamental aspect of any content marketing strategy, it aims to value and empower a potential customer at any stage of the buyer’s journey.
What different types of inbound marketing content are there? In order to connect with potential buyers at different points across the buying cycle, inbound marketing solutions take many different forms and span various platforms.
Popular examples of inbound marketing content creation include:
- videos
- webinars
- blog posts
- podcasts
- infographics
- social media
- search engine optimisation (SEO)
- e-books and whitepapers
- influencer outreach
- research and case studies
- emails
- apps
- landing pages and search engine results pages (SERP)
- customer relationship management (CRM)
- calls-to-action (CTAs)
- community building
- public speaking.
In terms of what metrics to use when judging the success of inbound marketing tools and strategies, marketers should prioritise website visitors and traffic, qualified leads, conversion rates, customer lifetime value (CLV), and social media reach and engagement.
What is the difference between inbound marketing and outbound marketing?
The main goal of outbound marketing is to interrupt a customer’s day in order to make them notice and engage with a brand’s product or service. Rather than bombarding potential customers with cold calls, billboards, commercials and unwanted sales emails – all of which are traditional outbound marketing techniques which can be a nuisance – inbound marketing takes a more subtle approach. In fact, it was developed in direct response to the failing effectiveness of outbound marketing tactics. It puts the customer firmly in control of deciding what, when, how and where they want to be buying products and services – as well as whether or not they want to be advertised to in the first place.
In terms of building long-term relationships with a customer base, choosing an inbound strategy will give you the edge. It builds trust, which in turn generates repeat business, and leads to a healthier bottom line. However a combination of outbound and inbound marketing, which covers all bases, is the most effective option.
What are the benefits of inbound marketing?
There are some clear advantages to using inbound marketing as part of a wider marketing strategy:
- Reduced expenses. As well as being risky and expensive, mass marketing is proving increasingly ineffective in the modern digital marketing landscape. Leaner, inbound marketing strategies have the advantages of saving money, being more focused, and generating higher return on investment (ROI) over a period of time.
- Higher trust and credibility. These days, customers are highly invested in researching product and service options before they make a commitment to part with their money. Empowering buyers to conduct their own research and arrive at an informed decision that they’ve made reduces perceived ‘risk’, increases trust, and boosts brand awareness and credibility.
- Quality traffic and lead nurturing. Outbound techniques often result in poor quality lead generation and customers lack sufficient engagement, trust and emotional investment. In contrast, inbound solutions use more targeted, informed approaches, resulting in customers who are actually interested in the solutions offered by your content – and higher conversion rates for sales teams.
- Opportunities to learn and evolve. Market and customer insights are integral to improving product and service offerings. Inbound methods – such as interacting with customers via social media and keeping abreast of themes, conversations, feedback, questions and desires – highlight points of learning and development.
How does the inbound methodology work?
The secret to any successful inbound marketing campaign is to create meaningful, lasting and positive relationships with your target market. Whether or not they find themselves ready to make a purchase at a given moment, they should always be engaged.
Understanding the momentum a business can acquire by championing first-class customer experiences is implicit in inbound marketing. Applying an inbound methodology can take three forms, as HubSpot indicate:
- Attract – using quality marketing content and conversations to draw in a target demographic, establishing a brand as a trusted advisor and source of information. This may include customer testimonials, ads, videos, blogs, social media marketing, and wider SEO and content strategy.
- Engage – aligning solutions and insights with customer goals and pain points. This may include lead flows and management, email marketing, inbound sales calls, chatbots and marketing automation.
- Delight – offering help and support to ensure customers have positive, successful buying outcomes. This may include smart content, social media listening and surveys.
Ultimately, marketers and business owners can hope to establish a ‘self-sustaining loop’, where customers have positive buying experiences, share their success with others, and new customers and buyers are then moved to engage with the brand – all serving to build momentum.
Learn the techniques to boost your inbound marketing efforts and content strategy
Gain a comprehensive, holistic understanding of how to manage a business – as well as specialist skills in marketing – with the University of Lincoln’s online MSc Management with Marketing programme.
Excel as a marketer as you explore key areas such as international marketing planning, digital marketing, global relationship marketing and applied consumer behaviour. Alongside this, you’ll develop the necessary skills and expertise to navigate organisations in competitive, changeable and fast-paced global business environments. You’ll benefit from experts who teach the latest in theory and practice, learning that has real-world, practical application, and 100%-online, flexible learning that fits around your commitments. Other topics you can choose from include project management, financial analysis, strategic planning, leadership development, and more.
