Understanding the Inbound Marketing Methodology

Did you know, that according to a recent study conducted by, Gartner Information Technology Research Company (2016) , that Inbound Marketing methodologies have been found to be up to 10 times more effective in converting leads than with traditional, or outbound marketing methodologies?

Inbound marketing continues to be the most efficient business strategy for marketing businesses online in the 21st century, and applies to nearly every element of your presence online. Research like the study alluded to above tells us that inbound marketing is substantially more effective than the older methods of chasing after leads with ad buys and email lists, but what is it about the inbound marketing methodology specifically that makes it so ideal for lead conversion and ROI?

Inbound is customer-centric and data driven

Even though the inbound marketing methodology is made up of many steps and strategies, the essence of inbound marketing is really all about understanding the process from the perspective of your buyer, with the goal of attracting the right traffic your website, converting those visitors into leads, and making your customers happy!

As a business owner or marketer for a small business, you may be asking yourself how this actually looks when it comes down to marketing your business online; with that in mind, we have broken down the 4 key aspects of the Inbound Marketing funnel, the attract, convert, close, and delight stages, to help you better understand this methodology: 

Attract

This stage of the Inbound Marketing methodology is about making it easy for search engines to find your website, thus getting your brand in front of people who are looking for products and services in your industry.

-SEO: Search Engine Optimization, simply put, is how we increase traffic to our sites with various strategies so that our website is more likely to come up in a search field for our target audience.

–Good user experience: A website that is easy to navigate and has what it’s visitors are looking for is key in attracting the right traffic to your site.

Convert

Once you have attracted your visitor to your website, the conversion stage of the inbound methodology focuses on converting those visitors into leads through an exchange of information between your business and the soon-to-be lead.

-Landing page: This is basically the method used in inbound marketing to receive the contact information from customers, and in exchange for giving their contact information (either an email, or phone number), your lead will receive some type of content.

-Content: After prompting your visitor with what is known as a, ‘Call to Action’, they receive a valuable piece of content in exchange for their contact information. That content can be in the form of an eBook, a video tutorial, or a Blog post, just so long as it is educational and helpful to your target audience!

Close

This stage of the inbound marketing funnel is all about transforming those leads into valuable customers, using the research you have complied on your leads to understand what their needs are.

-Use data that is available to you: Inbound marketing gives you the tools you need to nurture your relationships with your leads so that you can transform them into happy customers.

-Sales and marketing: In order for the inbound marketing methodology to be successful, your sales and marketing teams must work together towards a common goal and support each other through the process.

Delight

Delighting your customers simply means that you don’t forget about them once a sale has closed; instead, you continue to engage and build rapport with them throughout the entirety of your relationship.

-Promote customer experience: When you always keep in mind that trust is something that needs to be earned from your customers, you are more likely to do your part in nurturing that trust.

-Use content to solve customer problems: Content leveraged in just the right way has the power to do incredible things for your customers and your business. It’s important to continuously look for new ways to recycle and repurpose your content, as well as promote it on the right social networks.

While there is certainly much more to the complete Inbound Marketing Methodology than the four stages listed above, this should at least give you a basic understanding of why this online strategy is so successful when maintained on a consistent basis.

Written by Cassie Sohn