The Vital Guide to Inbound Marketing

To talk about Inbound Marketing is to talk about “attraction marketing”, or what is equal to a powerful weapon that voluntarily attracts consumers to our company website.

Inboud Marketing is a methodology that combines different non-intrusive marketing and advertising techniques in order to accompany the customer throughout the purchase process. From the moment this concept arose, the way we approach users or clients has completely changed.

In the beginning, brands were limited to being the ones who looked for people, now it is the other way around. For this reason, more and more companies are applying Inbound Marketing , to conquer more customers, strengthen their authority before the public and, therefore, generate more sales.

A successful tool

Among the reasons why Inbound Marketing is so successful is that this tool makes it possible for any project to be sustainable; In other words, it represents a true guarantee that any investment will be capitalized in one way or another. It is worth noting that in the long run it will group all the possible techniques to achieve a good sales funnel .

The methodology used by “Attraction Marketing” aims to carry out actions that attract potential customers to our blog or website. From that attraction, a whole work of close relationship with that consumer is carried out, a work that is developed through personalized and author content.

Said content is developed in a strategic way, to “covertly” educate the public and potential clients about the segment of our company; as well as to turn it into a reference with respect to the target market, and in this way influence the purchase decision of future clients.

How to do Inbound Marketing?

The application model of Inbound Marketing to any company is very simple, in addition, it is a tool to achieve success through the web as a company. Being oriented to attracting customers through quality content, there are some steps to follow, which we present below:

Define the Client

When we create a website, the next thing would be to attract more users to the site; But before doing so, we must establish the type of person we want, that is, define the ideal client. How do we do it? It is achieved with the creation or development of our Client.

This will help us find the ideal customer; know your sociodemographic profile, until you know what you are looking for on the internet. All this data is what we call as the information distribution channels , and that we will use to create valuable content.

What do we mean by value content? Simple, value content is everything that solves something, that powerfully draws people’s attention. If, for example, we do not choose to generate something like an ebook that provides a solution, people will not download it. Hence the importance of generating content focused on that “strange audience”; so that by finding what we create for them, they discover our website, visit us and get to know what as a page we have to offer them.

What follows is to clarify our outlook regarding those future clients, keeping it clear how we are going to convert them , generating calls to action or engagement. For example, we promote an ebook, we have to do it from a Landing Pages ; so every time someone downloads it, they will leave a qualified lead , because only the one who is really interested will download it.

Study the purchase process or buyer’s journey

After we define our client, the next thing will be to start segmenting the information in another way, because we will have the valuable opportunity to reach that person in a more direct way. It is here when we start the purchase process , which is nothing more than the set of phases or leads that our buyer person considers until the moment they decide to use or buy our product / service.

Design the sales process or sales process

After designing the first two steps of Inbound Marketing, we proceed to “ close ” the sales process. This is about the steps that are taken as a company from capturing the customer’s attention to making the final transaction.

Although there are several models to implement, one of the most common is the AIDA, which is made up of four phases:

Attention : its objective is to attract the attention of the potential client, with the purpose of making the sale.

Interest : generate interest in the client by highlighting the advantages and benefits of the product or service.

Consideration of a solution : in this phase, the client has already identified the possibilities available to him, and evaluates the alternatives he needs.

Purchase decision : after going through the previous phases, the client is completely ready to finalize the transaction.

Sales funnel

After taking into consideration the previous steps, we already have the solid foundation to build Inbound Marketing based on the Sales Funnel or Marketing Funnel, based on: attract, convert, relate, sell and analyze.

To achieve success we can use email marketing, and propose for example “if you open the email I send you the information, or maybe if you download the ebook I send you something else”; and so we are working on it as we consider it.

Once we have transformed it into a client, we start to think about delight , which is the added value that we offer and that people do not expect. This is the last stage of Inbound Marketing , and it guarantees the success of everything we have been doing, because it is a sure hook; so much so that that client ends up becoming a promoter, someone who will defend our brand.

The most important thing in this process is to create brand promoters , because they will be nothing more and nothing less than our ambassadors on and off the internet.

Why Inbound Marketing?

As is common to hear, Inbound Marketing is a strategy that does not initially generate immediate results for companies, but rather one that must be worked on for a year or more to be able to see satisfactory results. But why do Inbound Marketing? We present some of the appreciations or positive aspects that answer this question:

Increase the number of leads. Inbound Marketing is positioned as the main source of attracting contacts and leads.

Increase ROI. The return on investment tends to be more positive, because the cost per lead is lower than in Outbound Marketing projects.

Greater budget availability. It allows companies, mainly small ones, to have a higher budget than if they are dedicated to promotions, advertisements, offers, which are usually more expensive.

It is a truly functional methodology . Every day more and more companies, of all sizes and budgets, are joining the practice of Inbound Marketing. All of them can’t be wrong!

Guaranteed profitability. With an investment in Inbound Marketing, we can analyze where every penny of our budget was placed.

It makes sales and marketing work easier. Both teams join their swords to create content of great value and scope. This ultimately translates into attracting new visitors, increasing conversions, feeding leads, selling a little more and building loyalty to existing customers.

It is the favorite of the search engines . The last reason to do Inbound Marketing is SEO. The more content we generate, focused on our Client, the more chances we will have of being in the first search positions.

Disadvantages of Inbound Marketing as a strategy

Among the disadvantages of this strategy we can point out the following:

It is a long-term sustainable strategy that helps you grow as a company or business.

It is not a recommended method for small businesses or those just starting out, since it can generate a greater consumption of resources than it is directed.

It becomes difficult to position itself as a company among the first Google results.

Experts say it can be difficult to create viral content that piques the interest of customers.

conclusion

It is important to remember that a website is like our home. We can wait to do some general renovations, even transform one part of the house and use another, but the truth is that that house never ceases to serve us as a home. It is not much use to do a super remodel to the house and not invite anyone to visit.

Exactly this happens with our website, it must always be the anchor in a Digital Marketing strategy; A well-designed site is great, but betting on Inbound Marketing goes beyond keeping up good looks.

So the ideal is to strive for call-to-actions content , as well as contact spaces for interaction and relationship with our target audience.