Inbound Marketing on the other hand, is a viable alternative that flips outbound marketing completely around ... and it's less expensive and more effective.
Inbound Marketing meets your prospects at the moment they need information on a specific topic – instead of interrupting their world, you need to be there when your customers start looking for something.
Here's How Inbound Marketing Works:
- Write your compelling story - You'll need a clearly defined, compelling story – a brand story, so you can can attract your ideal customers and earn your rightful place in the market. Understanding your customer needs and persona can help to define your story as you must relate your brand to them personally.
- An effective website that works - 68% of buyers use online search tools to begin their buying process, and this % can be higher with certain types of products or services. That means your website’s first impression is crucial. Is your website creating the right impression? Are you able to provide the buyer with the information they're looking for? Can your customers clearly differentiate you from your competition? Is your website updated frequently so the information they find there is accurate? Do you have total control over your site’s content?
- Generate website traffic - The key to start generating traffic to your website with an Inbound Marketing program is that you promote the great content on your website by doing the following tactics; Search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing, pay per click (PPC) advertising, blogging and social media,
- Convert website traffic into leads - To convert traffic into leads you'll need to have special offers, e-books, white papers, events and webinars, that will attract your target audience. Instead of giving information away for free, ask visitors to fill out a short form with their contact information in exchange for the information. Visitors who identify themselves by filling out a landing page form are then treated as leads. Now the prospect has given you permission to contact them. This way, you inform your audience through Inbound Marketing – rather than interrupt them. That means your communication to them is welcome, creating a warmer lead when the time comes for the sale.
- Convert leads into customers - Though not every lead that comes through your website is ready to buy at that moment, the goal of Inbound Marketing is to convert leads into customers. To keep your brand – and product or service, top of mind as prospects move through the sales funnel, you'll need to implement a lead nurturing workflow. Leads can also be segmented by scoring them until they're ready to be called by a sales person. This data can be seamlessly integrated into most CRM’s.
- Measure - If you care about your marketing ROI (and we’re betting that you do), then you must be willing to invest in the measurement tools that help refine and perfect your Inbound Marketing. We prefer to use a powerful, integrated, Inbound Marketing automation software tool called HubSpot. With HubSpot, you can see, in real-time, how many visitors are coming to your website, where they’re coming from, exactly who’s converting into a lead and who’s converting into a customer.
Inbound Marketing is not a get rich quick scheme, it does take a little time to build, and then it will run for a long time gaining momentum, but it is the most sustainable, powerful marketing strategy around, and we highly recommend it as part of any marketing strategy.
About Terry Marketing
Terry Marketing (www.terrymarketing.com) is an Inbound Marketing Agency providing Inbound Marketing Services to small and medium sized businesses. We're focused on generating traffic, leads and sales and we're experts in the Inbound Marketing, lead generation process and how to increase website traffic, leads and website conversion rates. Terry Marketing is a Hubspot Partner, a certified HootSuite Ambassador agency, and is a certified Google Partner.
David Terry is CEO of Terry Marketing and Professor of Internet Marketing at Laurentian University. He has a deep knowledge in all aspects of Inbound Marketing, the Internet and Web technologies - as well as an understanding of the importance of how branding, marketing strategy and creative execution can impact business results. You can reach him by phone at 416.204.0255 or email at: david@terrymarketing.com or visit www.terrymarketing.com
