What is Inbound Marketing?
The short answer: Inbound Marketing is a modern approach to attracting client interest through a focus on educating the consumer with content instead of overloading. Think of it as quality over quantity. In this post, we explain the basics.
Imagine you have a company that sells a very specific product or service that you want to market. You're confronted with a choice: either you are going to spend a lot of money on marketing to the world as a whole, or you're being very strategic in approaching only those consumers who have a plausible interest in your product. The latter option is the essence of Inbound Marketing and here's how it works.
Most modern consumers do their research online and the do it well. To that end, your product needs to be "findable" on search engines via SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). The better your website, the better your ranking.
Once there, your clients will learn about who you are and what you have to offer them. Thanks to Inbound, you can say good-bye to:
- buying email lists
- constantly buying ads
- cold calling
In a nutshell, Inbound marketing is Marketing with a magnet, not a sledge hammer.
With inbound marketing, you are pulling clients towards you with things that are genuinely useful to them and provide them with the information they need. From the first click on, you are building a trusting relationship with them and make sure that you're found by qualified leads. By understanding what content pulls your buyers through the sales funnel, you can then use that context to personalize your marketing campaign.
The truth is that consumers buy differently today than they did 10 years ago.
Yesterday's Marketing consisted of
- Under-informed buyers
- Cold Calls
- Interruptive Advertising
Today's Marketing consists of
- Well-informed buyers
- Savvy search engine users
- Thought leadership through educating and empowering consumers
Inbound Marketing is relationship building at its best. Today's marketing is more about getting to know your leads over time so you can better personalize your message and offers to their needs. The more we know about their needs, the better we can serve them at every stage of the buyer's journey from first point of contact to deal closing to retention.