To better understand how inbound marketing works, let’s first talk about how outbound marketing is outdated. We are in a time of information, where consumers go to the web to get their answers, look to friends on social media for advice and reviews, and are sick all of the interruptive advertisements always trying to steal their attention. We have become so good at blocking these distractions out as consumers. Why would you have your company pay for these same marketing tactics? Introducing Inbound Marketing: marketing tactics that revolve around earning people’s trust, interactive communication and providing value, entertainment and education. You are sought out for knowledge and entertainment instead of paying to be sought out. In recent years, there has been a shift in consumer behavior. Think about it:
- Are you on the “Do Not Call” list?
- Do you unsubscribe from emails filling up your inbox?
- Do you click pop-ups?
- Do you open junk mail?
- Do you stay on the same channel during commercials?
We are a new type of consumer! We are indifferent to and sometimes annoyed by the same marketing tactics that once caught our attention. Inbound marketing involves no tricks. Inbound marketing is something your grandmother would be proud of at any level. You are providing quality content, answers to people’s questions and they are making the conscious decision to buy your brand because of the value that you provided them in initial searches. At Fat Guy Media, inbound marketing is what we do. Here are a few things that make inbound marketing such a success.
How Inbound Marketing Works: Quality Content
The most important element of a successful inbound marketing strategy is having quality content. Your goal in inbound marketing is to gain your audience’s interest and to establish yourself as an expert in your industry, and there’s no better way to demonstrate your knowledge than by providing helpful, educational content. Instead of forcefully and intrusively pushing your product on consumers with pop-up ads, creating and sharing quality content helps your company gain the trust and interest of your target market, which will drive repeat traffic to your site. Some of the best forms of content marketing include:
- White Papers
- EBooks
- Podcasts
- Blogs/Vlogs
- Infographics
When you cultivate interesting, useful and educational content through these kinds of posts and blast them across social media, you increase the value of each post. Putting these types of posts across social media also increases your potential for interaction (interaction is huge in inbound marketing). You want your posts to be engaging for your consumers; you want to initiate and facilitate questions and interactions. Break down this rigid structure surrounding your company culture. Even if your company has a shirt-pressed, no nonsense mentality, you want to inject the friendly, human side of business. Create a social media atmosphere of fun and excitement packed with information that people are looking for.
How Inbound Marketing Works: SEO
We’ve talked about it in our past blogs: SEO is crucial! New search engine algorithms take into account pay-per-click SEO campaigns, but are more concerned about providing the searcher with the absolute best results. These search engines are helping you if you are willing to put in the work. In order to improve your search engine ranking without putting a lot or any money into a campaign, you need to provide fresh, quality content that is useful for those who may be looking at your site. Optimize your content by providing links back to your other useful content.
How Inbound Marketing Works: Converting Visitors to Leads
So now that your website is getting traffic, how do you convert these visitors into something tangible for your business? The best way is to get these visitors’ contact information, but they aren’t just going to give you this information willy-nilly. At Fat Guy Media, we turn our visitors into leads by applying a Call-to-Action. The type of call to action we are talking about here is a graphic that has an offer, bringing your client to a landing page.
The type of image shown above entices the visitor to take that extra step for a little more information. Once the link is clicked, the visitor is sent to a landing page. Now we are cooking with gas! The landing page is where the call-to-action offer is satisfied, and where the visitor submits their information, such as name, email address, type of business, number of employees, etc. This information is sent to your sales team. It’s time to turn these leads to customers. Inbound Marketing is the present and future of successful marketing. Stop interrupting your current and potential customers with your old-school marketing methods, and provide value and information that they want and need instead. Inbound marketing works, and at Fat Guy Media, we’re inbound experts. If you’d like to schedule a consultation or have any further questions please feel free to contact us at 516-535-5353 or e-mail us at sales@fatguymedia.com.