Inbound Marketing is Inbound

Like it or not, things change. And that includes marketing. With communication taking leaps and bounds every day, it’s only natural for marketing to be progressing in sync.

Follow the slides below to see why this shift is happening and how you can stay in front of the changing times.

Traditional marketing runs under the assumption that we have to interrupt audiences to get them to listen and that our product is good enough to sell its self.

Inbound marketing believes that you can attract people without shouting. The key is to offer something they actually can use now and show them the benefit you can bring. Gain their trust first.

Large email purchases and cold calls have left a bad taste in so manys’ mouths. The new focus is on gaining trust and showing respect of people’s time, money, and space.

Notice the difference? The left side is very company focused while the right side is more customer focused. This shift boils down to the focus of who is put in the place of honor.

In order to strategically and effectively lead customers through your funnel, you have to look at the entire Buyer’s Journey. This illustration shows the Buyer’s side and view of their problem, your solution, and the product. Understanding the steps they have to take in order to make a purchase will allow you to better build a structure that will grease the sides of your funnel and keep them moving in the direction you desire.

The above illustration is your side of the buyer’s journey (the marketer’s side). This shows the extra steps that must be made in order to keep the interests, answer the questions, and guide the customer. Your goal is not only to gain customers, but to create promoters.

We all know that WOM (Word of Mouth) marketing is the most effective, but we often forget that our customers are the ones who hold the most power over this form of marketing. Guide them all the way to the promotion stage!

Here is the heart (get it) of Inbound Marketing. The goal is to marry your content (the subject matter, the promotion, the white pages etc.) with the context (the needs, questions, concerns, fears, and platforms of your customer). Knowing what your customer will be thinking at each step and giving them the info they need when they need it, will keep them comfortable on the path you are leading them down.

Here’s your content checklist. Make sure that everything you produce includes all of these elements. This will ensure that you are successfully marrying your content with the context and guiding your audience through the buyer’s journey.

Time to give it a try! Make sure you have a way to record your results for later analyzation, but have fun with it! Marketing takes practice and only works if you try different things to see what works best for your audience.

You’ve got this! Let us know how it works!

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 Sources: Hubspot