Definition of Inbound Marketing
The number of new websites being uploaded each and every day is growing at a rather alarming rate. Just when you think you have the market cornered, 10 new sites come along looking to knock you off the top spot. Great marketing is the key to getting targeted leads to your site and getting them to return over and over again. If you fail in doing this, those leads will get sucked in somewhere else, even if the competition does not have a product or service that is as good as yours. It’s all about developing a solid inbound marketing strategy to ensure that those leads find you and come knocking on your virtual doors.
Funnel Process
To get a better idea of how inbound marketing works, it helps to imagine the process as a funnel of sorts. That process all begins with the creation of quality content that helps find prospects and then lures them in with valuable information. There are all kinds of ways to get that information out there, with blogs, landing pages, social media, video, and more all playing a part in getting people interested in what you have to offer.
The content that you offer basically falls into three different categories that occupy a spot in the aforementioned funnel. The better or more enticing the content you deliver, the further down the funnel the leads and prospects will find themselves, which means putting them closer to the act of making a purchase.
At the top of the funnel you will find marketing content such as e-books, videos, checklists and guides. These are great little marketing tools in their own right, but they may not necessarily be enough to make your leads immediately reach into their wallets. In the middle of the funnel come things like brochures, FAQ’s, catalogs, free samples and the like, all of which give a more detailed description of what it is that you have to offer. These tend to be very enticing and will form a nice percentage of where your sales come from. If you find a lot of people stuck in that part of the funnel, you can choose to slide them further down by offering discounts, free trials and demos. These are often far too tempting for people to resist, which is why so many choose to purchase after reaching this part of the funnel.
Even when the sale has been made and the money is in your coffers, your inbound marketing efforts are not yet over. Your marketing efforts likely showed off the benefits of using your company, and those are words that have to be backed up to the hilt. If you can manage that, the buyer will return for more. Part of your marketing efforts should include re-marketing, much of which can be automated, just as a reminder that you would love the customer to return again. Keeping in contact and putting each customer back into different parts of the funnel can help make that happen.
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