What Is Inbound Marketing?

As with any business, identifying the most effective marketing technique is key to success. But for small businesses and startups, conventional marketing approaches are either way too expensive or too big to function properly.

 

So, what’s the answer? Inbound marketing!

 

Inbound marketing also known as Pull Marketing, at its core is about attracting prospects to your business rather than going out to find those prospects.

 

Whilst traditional marketing relies on email lists, cold calls, billboard advertisements and direct mail; inbound marketing uses organic search traffic, opt-in email forms and content publication for today’s businesses.

 

Be it for B2B, B2C, e-commerce, Software as a Service (SaaS) or otherwise, inbound marketing does it all.

 

If your marketing goals include generating more leads, measurable result and happy leadership, here are three steps that you should consider before implementing inbound marketing.

 

Step 1: Ensure successful inbound marketing is by first developing clear buyer personas .

(Download our free Buyer Persona Guide & Template)

The fuel that powers inbound marketing is content, and if your content does not resonate with your intended audience, chances for success will be slim.

 

Step 2: Get Sales and Leadership teams on board. Reluctance is always a hurdle when trying out new marketing strategies.

Hire an inbound agency to help fully convince that inbound is worth the investment in technology, content and people.

 

 

Step 3: Create alignment. Eliminate silos that exist between Sales and Marketing teams.

Developing a clearly defines service level agreement or SLA can help develop alignment, specifically defining marketing qualified lead and sales qualified leads.

 

Pull marketing is the best representation of inbound marketing, pulling prospects and shoppers into your website or social page. As marketers it is important to remember that today’s buyers are avid online researchers. They read reviews, conduct keyword searches and asks online social friends for suggestions. With pull marketing, you are providing an opportunity to attract the researcher wanting answers you provide.

 

Content creation is the pillar of an inbound marketing strategy, as it is the value proposal that attracts consumers. Creating remarkable content is key to content creation, as it has the very important job of pulling people from one stage of the inbound methodology to another.

 

In retrospect, inbound marketing presents a more affordable and viable marketing strategy for small businesses and startups.

 

The easier the researcher finds you the better, as the focus is on creating awareness, increasing brand visibility, generating leads and creating online content that will reside on your website.

 

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