Inbound Marketing is a digital marketing technique that is perhaps the most tangible and effective form of marketing today. Inbound marketing is used to promote a business or organisation to help customers find you. It is the process of presenting educational content that addresses questions for which your prospects/potential customers are searching for and to help them make informed purchase decisions. Inbound brings together various types of tools such as blogs, SEO, eNewsletters and eBooks into one effective and highly measurable online marketing strategy.

Once you begin to organically attract new visitors to your website, the goal is then to convert those visitors into leads by gathering their contact information and then nurturing these leads by providing them with valuable and tailored content. Download the lead generation guide to understand the process in more detail and read our Simple Lead Generation blog.

Advantages of the inbound method:

• Increase in web traffic
• Increase in sales leads through the web
• Very high measurability of all online marketing activities
• Easier to analyse and track conversion rates
• Excellent for B2B or B2C marketing
• Increases your sales closing rate

Whether you are a small or large business and are thinking about using the inbound method as your strategic business direction, Fit 4 Market can help you get started with the strategy, planning and executing the implementation of marketing activities which directly align with the inbound philosophy. Check out the lead generation tips, tricks and ideas for more details.

What companies most benefit from Inbound Marketing?

After you have asked the question “What is Inbound Marketing?” most people then want to understand if it is for them. So, what types of companies benefit most from Inbound Marketing? You can also read F4M’s blog on the Key statistics of inbound marketing to find out how much the inbound strategy can help your business.

The review of “The Path to 2020” clearly demonstrates that most marketers recognise online methods should or could be a more productive outlet for many business types.

There are many facts and figures which explain the impact of inbound marketing on industrial manufacturing companies, or mining companies or food service companies, or indeed consumer products manufacturers, however, what is provided below is based on categories with specific buying characteristics. These could be B2B or B2C as it depends less on the product or industry and more on how people buy in that category.

Here are the top five characteristics of businesses that could enjoy attractive benefits from inbound marketing:

1. Buying is a considered purchase
2. Already spending big money on lead generation
3. Customers are loyal
4. Meaningful and demonstrable point of difference
5. Lack of geographic sales boundaries

Inbound Marketing Results

Inbound marketing combines content marketing, marketing automation, email marketing, SEO and more to provide a complete marketing system for your business. It can be used to aid the marketing program or be the complete marketing program for most businesses. When combined with good marketing strategy, inbound marketing has some great results when compared to outbound marketing techniques, especially for small and medium business.

Read 9 Powerful Inbound Marketing Charts, and consider some of the results achieved with inbound marketing to give you an idea of what is possible.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a strategic online technique to attract new customers and drive sales. Content marketing may seem like a relatively new marketing technique but in fact it has been around for longer than you think. The term refers to the creation and distribution of relevant, valuable and informative content produced for your target market at different stages of the sales funnel. This may be in the form of a blog, eBook, whitepaper, video, infographic case study or podcast. If your business objective is to generate online leads, convert online traffic into customers, increase web traffic and/or increase sales, then content marketing is certainly worth the time and effort.

Outbound Marketing vs Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing (getting customers to come to you) and outbound marketing (approaching customers actively) have different approaches in reaching and attracting customers. Shifts in customer behaviour means that more and more people are opting for the internet to find answers to their queries which has significantly changed the way people buy, and, importantly changed the way people obtain information about what it is they need. Consequently, this has changed the marketing focus in order to gain more sales.

To find out which approach is best suited for marketing today, read our What is the Difference Between Inbound and Outbound Marketing blog.

The Inbound Marketing Methodology

The inbound methodology is the process of converting visitors into customers and promoters of your business. Since the digital age, the inbound marketing method is becoming an increasingly effective and successful tool for achieving business growth and building a strong online presence. This is largely due to the shift in how people are using the internet as their primary source to obtain the information they need.

Lead Generation Strategies

Lead generation is a marketing term used to acquire new customers and it plays a critical role in the sales funnel process for converting leads into customers. A ‘lead’ is defined as a potential customer who has shown an interest in the product or service your business provides.

There are many options for generating leads with one of the newest and most systematic means being the inbound marketing method. This system acquires new leads and gathers their contact information including their name and email address. The leads are tracked and strategically guided through the sales funnel until they become a valuable customer. The process drives leads from the top through the middle to the end of the funnel. This movement through the funnel is known as lead nurturing and is pivotal to the success of converting prospects into leads. Inbound marketing is one of the best ways to get more leads online for both B2B marketing and some B2C marketing.

The three stages of the funnel are:
1. Top of the funnel
2. Middle of the funnel
3. Bottom of the funnel

How Inbound Marketing works for MSPs

As a managed service provider (MSP) you know you are in a competitive position to revolutionise the way businesses, in particularly small businesses, operate day-to-day. From software maintenance, network monitoring, data backup and recovery to everything else in between. These are some key benefits you can provide to many businesses of all types and sizes. However, the adoption of this model is very slow. So how can you use these triggers to encourage businesses to who haven’t yet transitioned to the MSP business model to do so? Firstly, it is important to understand what may be the setback factors which are causing the slow adoption rate.  ….read more

The Role of Blogging for Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is a strategy that focuses on creating great content that your customers will love to read while learning all about how you can solve their issues with your product. Blogging is a great way to provide this content, as you can talk about relevant new products, how your products can help people or even the common myths about your industry – the possibilities are endless. People can then read these and start to build a picture of why they need your product while they move down the sales funnel. Blogging about topics relevant to your business and then including links to other blogs and website pages (both internal and external) will help you improve your Search Engine Optimisation too. This shows that blogging has a wide range of benefits to your business when coupled with an inbound marketing strategy.

What is remarketing and why would I use it?

Have you ever wondered if there was a way you could target your online advertising towards potential customers who have visited your website but have not been converted to a sale yet?

This is a relatively new concept called “re-marketing” (sometimes called re-targeting) which can be used to do just that. This can save you money by paying less for key search terms, and instead start tracking your potential customer’s movement through your website in order to then re-market to the same customers with advertisements in the future, even if they aren’t looking at any related products. This re-engagement of customers can lead to better conversion rates and therefore more sales.

Choosing the right marketing agency: online advertising vs Inbound Marketing

Online advertising focuses on the myriad of advertising techniques on the internet. Its goals can be brand awareness, targeting specific markets or even trying to get mass awareness through some type of viral campaign. Inbound marketing (sometimes called content marketing) focuses on getting customers to find you by providing your expertise to the customer through your website, blog posts and valuable content. Rather than advertising, you are setting up your website as a key hook to bring customers to you in the medium to long term. Using an agency that utilise an inbound marketing software tool such as Hubspot is also a great way to make sure they are fully qualified to be helping you with your inbound strategy. This agency should also have a range of other apps that they use to perform marketing miracles.

Inbound Marketing on your website

Inbound marketing can work on most websites – unless you do not have the functionality to insert call to actions. This means that it is not necessary to completely re-design a website in order to gain the benefits of inbound marketing. In fact, it can often be better to start inbound marketing on your current site, as leads can be generated instantly, without having to wait for a new site. If you are going to redesign your website, be sure to check out the 6 things you must consider before you redevelop your site.