Inbound Marketing is a marketing strategy where you attract potential customers by offering them something of value and then nurturing them so that they convert into actual customers.
Rather than all marketing activities leading to direct sales, Inbound Marketing is largely about providing potential and existing customers with content such as newsletters, blog articles, ebooks, brochures or product samples.
By being useful, relevant and accessible, you make yourself more attractive to the customer, which can lead to the customer seeking you out. In other words, pull, not push.
Why Inbound Marketing?
Inbound Marketing is not an either/or activity. Although most companies are good at marketing their own brand and products, marketing is often characterized by branding without a "call to action" or product ads with an exclusive focus on sales.
With Inbound Marketing, you start with a softer "call to action", such as "Ask us about...", "Download brochure" or "Sign up for our newsletter". These are activities you can do in parallel with other campaigns and marketing, and which will give potential customers an opportunity to show interest without too much commitment. You can then nurture warm leads until they convert to paying customers.
A softer sale with the help of Inbound Marketing results in satisfied customers.
When is it right to use Inbound Marketing?
Inbound Marketing is particularly relevant if you sell a service that requires a lot of customer involvement. Costly investments or complex services often require a certain amount of time for the customer to mature, in which case you can use Inbound Marketing to influence and guide the potential customer during this critical phase. Perhaps the customer needs to sleep on the matter before making a decision, and with Inbound Marketing you can be sure that they haven't forgotten you the next morning.
Inbound Marketing can also be a good strategy for converting those who may take longer to decide before purchasing simpler services and products. There are always a number of potential customers who drop out during the sales process, and often a much larger proportion than those who actually end up buying something from you. If you use Inbound Marketing, you have active communication (or dialog) with potential customers throughout the sales process, which means that you are not forgotten and at the same time can influence the customer during the process towards a sale. In this way, you can effectively increase conversion in your digital channels and possibly also create additional sales.
If you sell expensive or complex products within B2B, we recommend that you read about personal follow-up as a marketing strategy with Account Based Marketing (ABM).
How to get started with Inbound Marketing
The Inbound Marketing method is developed based on the customer journey. A natural first step is therefore to map this, if it has not already been done. The method covers several phases with a toolbox that leaves room for creativity, but there are some typical recurring themes.
Inbound Marketing consists of 4 phases:
- Attract
To convince someone, you need an audience. Focusing on things like SEO, advertising and word of mouth will help you attract potential customers. You may prefer to drive traffic to your own website, but your social media profile may also be relevant.
Objectives: Collect clicks, find prospects and invite them to your website. - Convert
You've caught someone's attention! What to do next? In order to guide customers further down the funnel, you need some information so that you can communicate with them. Signing up for a newsletter, collecting an email address via downloads or a contact form will be typical activities that secure you the necessary information.
Goals: Get opt-ins and turn visitors into leads. - Make the sale
You now know exactly who you're talking to and it's time to close the sale. This can be as "simple" as making a phone call or sending an email in the hope that the customer is ready to buy. With the right consents in place, you can also target sales-triggering marketing via Facebook or Google, for example.
Objective: Get sales and turn leads into customers. - Enthusiasm
Do you stop talking to the customer after a sale? Then you need to step up your game, because these are your future ambassadors. And don't forget that repeat purchases are often easier than convincing a completely new customer. Follow up the customer with relevant information related to the purchase, invite them to take a survey and inspire them to make their next purchase. If the customer is delighted, they will often tell others about you and the good experience they have had with your brand.
Objective: Turn a customer into an ambassador (and encourage repeat purchases).
If you want to read more about Inbound Marketing, we recommend this article from HubSpot.