For years companies have spent time, energy and budget on trying to find their customers using a range of sales and marketing techniques such as cold-calling and direct mail not to mention advertising in print, on radio and TV and the occasional appearance at trade shows and conferences. These traditional methods are known as ‘outbound marketing’.
But imagine a world where the customer finds you – now surely that is something worth investing in. Better still it’s something you can do right now – inbound marketing is marketing focused on getting found by your customers!
Being in the right place at the right time and publishing the right content can make your marketing both relevant and helpful to your customers. When you spend time and money on creating content aimed at your target customer, your investment will pay off with business prospects not only finding your company but your appeal will keep them coming back for more.
Tips for Inbound Marketing Success
Try swapping a traditional marketing method for…
- Swap TV ads for YouTube video clips
- Swap print ads for a blog on your website that your target audience can subscribe to
- Swap cold calling for useful content and answers to your consumers’ questions
Know Your Audience
It’s important to recognise that your customers and prospects go through stages when they deal with your company and each of these stages requires a different marketing approach. Understand the lifecycle of your marketing to meet your audience needs. Personalisation is also key – and once you learn more about your target market, you will be better placed to personalise your content to meet their needs.
Publishing and Analytics
Your publishing goes hand in hand with your analytics tools, helping you to know what your target market is searching for and you responding by producing the correct content for your market at the right time. Also remember that inbound marketing is all about people being able to find you on whatever channel they choose to interact with you on – so for example, this could be your business blog or maybe even a YouTube video.
If you create great content that meets the needs of your audience and share it far and wide you will be on the right path to inbound marketing success.
