What is Inbound Marketing? It can go by other names like content marketing (I think it is more than that) or inbound lead generation. Fundamentally, inbound marketing is having prospects find you, convert through digital marketing into a lead, and eventually turn into a customer. Hubspot is a great source for inbound marketing content. We have worked with a number of clients on inbound marketing and found it to be a very successful sales and marketing tactic. One of our clients was able to triple their website traffic and inbound leads.
The keys to a successful inbound marketing strategy include:
Getting Them to Your Site
The core of inbound marketing is having a prospect discover you. There are several ways to do this, but the best way is to create great content. This could be a blog, a Youtube video, or a great guide. Determine the questions that a prospect is asking as they go through their buying process. It is not simply enough to create content, but you should make sure it is optimized for SEO. This is not only for your blog pages, bit also other web pages. This helps people get to your site through google search. You can also write guest blog posts that have people find you through other sites and get back to your site. Another great way for people to discover your content is through social media. Sharing through the right channel for your business can lead to new people discovering your site and content.
Turning Traffic Into Leads
Once you get people to your site, the next goal is to turn them into leads. There are several ways to make this happen. Make sure that it is easy for people to get in touch with you by not just having a form capture, but also give them the ability to email you or call on the phone. There are other ways to get information to turn them into a lead. You can have an email newsletter sign-up, white paper, complete a survey, or download another type of asset. You can typically collect details like name and company to go along with an email address.
Closing the Lead
There are many ways to proceed once you have your inbound lead. If you have the budget and large volume of leads you can use marketing automation to feed the prospect with applicable information. Even with marketing automation there often needs to be a salesperson walk the prospect across the finish line. Central to this process is having a CRM, which will help you track and qualify the inbound lead.
If you are interested in finding out how VA Partners can help you with an inbound marketing plan please contact me and we can start to explore what a program means to you.
