In a world of information overload it can feel like a true battle to make your message stand out to your target market. Let’s face it, they are in taking millions of messages a day. Every time they drive down the street, look at their phone, or step inside a store they are pummeled with an overwhelming amount of marketing messages and tactics. So, the million dollar question: How can your marketing efforts stand out from the rest? How can you ensure that your messages do not just get lost in a sea of strategized promotions?

Inbound Marketing is a framework to guide your marketing strategy in the right direction. The core idea of this approach is to create the content that your target market is searching for. Instead of pushing loud messages out to people and throwing your products and services in their faces, let them find you. I know that you are thinking this sounds too good to be true and the market just does not work that way. However, as you change your frame of thinking about how you approach marketing, you will see that inbound marketing does exactly that, draws customers inbound.

Inbound marketing focuses on content sharing through channels such as blogs, social media and search engines. The digital age is long upon us and this is how we embrace it. These messages should be crafted in a way that is relevant and helpful for the customer, not interruptive and irritating. What we have to understand, is that people have become information seekers. To weed through the overload of messages, they search directly for answers to the problems they are having and therein lies opportunity for you. Be that answer to their problem.

1. Attract

By identifying who exactly are the right kinds of people that you want to attract to your products and services, you can put yourself in their shoes and understand what problems they might be facing. Why do they care about your website? How is it relevant or helpful for them? What information are they searching for? Creating content using keywords that answer those questions first, will be a great kickoff to attracting the right kind of traffic.

2. Convert

Once you have someone at your website your goal as a marketer is not the hard sell right then and there. The goal here is contact information. This enables you to start to develop a relationship with this person and gives you a direct line for future messages. In order to successfully retrieve those coveted email addresses, you have to offer something back to the customer: a free sample, a promotion, a download, etc. Calls to action here are going to encourage the user to make that first step and engage with your company.

3. Close

Once your visitors turn to leads, it is now time to work on turning them to actual customers. Pushy promotional messaging is not what we are talking about here. Nurturing the customer relationship is key. Continue to focus on sending your leads messages that are helpful and relevant for them to maintain that positive relationship. Eventually, when they are ready, your lead can turn into a customer because they realize that you have been solving their problems one by one.

4. Delight

The last step is to continue to be a delight. Treat these customer relationships like you do a friend by staying in touch and continuing to offer content that will enhance their life. Do not get lost in the noise, but stand out in the sea with social monitoring and smart texts. This last step is what helps customers develop loyalty and ultimately, both you and the customer are better off.