Inbound marketing is definitely the way to go in the digital world. The entry cost to inbound marketing is getting cheaper by the hour and almost negligible. The good news is anyone with great content can start this digital marketing but you certainly need some skills and an inbound marketing strategy to be successful.
What is Inbound Marketing?
“Inbound marketing refers to marketing activities that bring visitors in, rather than marketers having to go out to get prospects’ attention. Inbound marketing earns the attention of customers, makes the company easy to be found, and draws customers to the website by producing interesting content” â according to Wikipedia.
Infographic source: eliv8group.com
Here are 21 tips to help you succeed with your inbound marketing strategy.
Attract Visitors Online
1 – Provide Value and Create Credibility by Blogging
- 77% of Internet users read blogs
- Businesses that blog get 77% more traffic than those that don’t
- 61% of US consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post
Can you see the power of blogging?
2 – Leverage Social Media for Traffic
There are 4.2 Billion monthly active users online in the top 8 social networks. Talk about the traffic potential and a pool of new customers.
3 – Take Advantage of SEO to be Discovered on the Web
Gone are the days when people look at paper-based yellow pages to find businesses. Nowadays they are more likely to use a search engine. Have your SEO set-up correctly and continuously work on it to get more leads online naturally on an ongoing basis.
4 - Use Other’s Audience to Your Advantage (In a Good way, of course)
There are plenty of influencers in any niche in today’s digital world; all you have to do is find the right influencer and a way to work with them, so you can pitch to the audience they have already built. Do you want 650% return on your investment? Influencer marketing is the way to go.
5 - Use Pay Per Click and Retargeting Ads
Retargeting can convert 70% more online visitors and increase brand searches by a whopping 1046%.
Convert Leads
6 - Use a Call-to-Action in Your Home Page
70% of businesses online do not have a call to action on the homepage of their website. Use a prominent CTA button above the fold on the home page to convert leads.
7 - Offer Valuable Content to Convert Leads
Content Marketing costs 62% less than traditional outbound marketing and can generate 3x times more leads. Create a content library that can serve you and your potential customers well, over a period of time.
8 - Increase Your Conversion through Landing Pages
56% of all website clicks are directed to a landing page and not the homepage of a website. Why? Landing pages can be targeted to a specific outcome, objective or a typical client profile.
9 - Boost Conversions through Email Opt-Ins
You will find every website attracts visitors who are not ready buy just as yet. You need to find a way to communicate to these prospects in the future to create a second impression or reminder; an opt-in or email sign up is the best way to do so.
10 – Build Credibility with Social Proof
88% of people trust reviews; customer reviews is the best way to build confidence and trust.
Close Customers
11 - Use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software for managing Leads
Each salesperson can increase their revenue by 41% when they use a CRM tool to manage their leads.
12 – Email Marketing has Sales Potential
Email marketing is the most effective form of marketing. For every $ 1 spent on email marketing, the return on average is a whopping $ 44.25!
13 - Automate Your Marketing
If emails are so effective, why not send them on auto-pilot? What is better than email marketing? Automated emails that are personalised. Business can get an increase on revenue above 10% in a time period of 6 to 9 months when they automate their marketing.
14 – Create Content Focussing on Sales
FAQs, product specifications and demo videos are all examples of sales focussed content that gives potential clients more confidence for taking sales related action.
15 - Measure Marketing ROI
Consistently track and measure content marketing efforts. Use analytics tools to see where you are getting big “bang for buck.” Remember not all inbound marketing efforts are created equal nor do they produce the same results.
Delight Fans and Followers
16 – Customer Experience Starts with Customer Support
There is a 65% chance of a customer becoming an ex-customer with one bad customer service experience. If you want to keep your customers and build brand loyalty, focus on providing an awesome customer experience from day one.
17 - Create Social Media Communities
Followers of brands in social media are 53% more loyal and can spread the brand name. These people are more likely to stick to the brand and its products for a long time. They may even overlook a bad experience or a cheaper competing product.
18 - Loyal Clients need a Reward
The cost of acquiring a new client is 5x times more than keeping an existing one. Hence, the need to reward loyal clients to keep them coming back for more. Happy clients are the best brand advocates and word-of-mouth marketers.
19 - Personalize the Experience for Better Engagement
Emails that address the customer by name rather than a generic greeting and displaying related products/services based on past history or preference can all lead to increased engagement which in turn can lead to an average 20% increase in sales.
20 - Get Feedback using Survey Tools
You can lose a client with one bad experience and it takes up to 12 positive experiences to make up for the bad one. So in order to avoid the bad experience you can always find out where you need to improve using surveys.
21 – Proactively Look for Testimonials and Reviews
Not only this helps with online reputation but it is also great for SEO. 70% of people read reviews before making a purchase decision.
Conclusion
Inbound marketing starts with great content and there is no substitute for it. It is always harder to start the car and get into the race but once the engine is in full motion you can cruise in auto pilot. Inbound marketing is no different, it is harder to get started but gets easier with experience, learning, trial and error. Good luck with your inbound marketing strategy.
Digital & Social Articles on Business 2 Community(52)
