Is Inbound Marketing Still Relevant?

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing involves creating content that attracts visitors to your website and blog. With this approach, the goal is to convert site visitors into customers, since they will have found information addressing one of their problems on your site.

Various techniques are used to achieve this conversion, such as blogging, marketing automation, lead nurturing, and social media engagement. This marketing strategy relies on the integration and adoption of reporting tools that enable ROI (return on investment) tracking.

Thanks to this content marketing strategy, sales teams can collect leads (potential customers) whom they will need to contact in order to present the solution in more detail.

Inbound marketing therefore requires an effective content strategy to attract prospects to your website.

The 4 Key Steps of Inbound Marketing

Generally, the inbound marketing strategy is divided into 4 distinct steps:

➪ Increase the number of visitors: this first step involves increasing website traffic by attracting prospects with relevant content.

The goal of this step is to generate quality traffic by increasing the site’s traffic volume. Hence the importance of SEO and implementing a keyword strategy.

➪ Convert visitors into leads: To capitalize on the efforts made to attract visitors to the site, the challenge is then to convert them into leads.
The principle here is to obtain contact details from site visitors in order to get in touch with them and convert them into customers.

You need to obtain at least the visitor’s email address for this to be relevant. For example, some companies allow visitors to download a white paper or an ebook to learn more about a topic and benefit from the agency’s expertise, provided they fill out a form with their information (first name, last name, company, phone number, and email).

➪ Convert leads into customers: Using the information collected during the lead conversion phase, contact lists must be segmented based on relevant criteria. Segmentation can be done according to several criteria such as industry, age group, geographic area, etc.

Well-defined segmentation will allow you to offer personalized content to increase click-through rates and email open rates.

➪ Retain satisfied customers: The final step of inbound marketing is to retain customers so that they contribute to enhancing our company’s brand image.

In this retention process, several options can be pursued, such as marketing automation (automating various marketing processes, like sending personalized emails), social media sharing, or additional options offered by the company.

Example of Setting Up an Inbound Marketing Campaign

Setting up an inbound marketing campaign requires a specific process. OpenMedias outlines the different steps to follow, leveraging various channels and tools to make your marketing campaign a success:

. Blog: Create blog articles that address your audience’s search queries.

. CTA: Calls-to-action to encourage your readers to interact with your articles and receive content on the same topic.

. Landing page: When a site visitor clicks on a CTA, they should be directed to downloadable in-depth content in exchange for some information.

. Thank you page: The site visitor accesses this page after filling out the form. It should contain a download link for the offered content.

. Thank you email: Each person who has filled out a form will receive an automatic thank you email. This email should contain a link to other similar content and/or information pages about your services.

. Social media: By leveraging social media scheduling tools, you will be able to promote your pages and blog articles.

. Lead scoring: This scoring system allows you to prioritize the leads you should invest time in because they match your marketing and sales criteria.

. Integrated reporting tool: Using one of the existing reporting tools, you can monitor the performance of your various content (emails, articles, landing pages, etc.).

Differences Between Inbound and Outbound Marketing

Outbound marketing relies on the use of advertisements, which most internet users consider too intrusive. Outbound marketing targets everyone without distinction, the majority of whom will never become customers.

This traditional marketing approach has seen a decline in communication-related activities.

This observation has pushed companies to consider inbound marketing strategy as an alternative.
Contact OpenMedias to learn more.