You’ve heard the term Inbound Marketing but what is it exactly? What does it involve? How does it differ from Outbound Marketing techniques?
It helps to think of inbound marketing as a magnet, one that attracts the right kind of customer to your business. The way it does this, is primarily through sharing valuable content your prospective customers. By doing this, it personally engages with them and encourages interaction between them and your business. It is a great lead generation strategy that is easily measured and builds brand credibility.
This differs from outbound marketing techniques – think billboards, flyers and brochures. This type of marketing simply displays a message to a mass audience, typically in the form of advertisements, It usually provides information solely about the business offering. Communication with prospects is one way and there is no direct way of measuring results or targeting the right people.
How to get started with inbound marketing for lead generation
As we mentioned, inbound marketing attempts to attract customers primarily through sharing content they will find valuable and engaging.
It sounds simple however, how do you know what kind of content they will find valuable?
How should the information be presented so that it will be well received?
How should you share it? Through which medium?
When is the best time of the day or week to share?
The only way you will know the answers to any of these questions is by knowing as much about your customers as possible – all their demographical information, as well as insights into their buying journey for your business offering.
Know and define your target market
In one of our previous blog posts, we talked about the importance of defining your target market; by knowing who your high-value customers are and creating a customer profile of your target market based on them. These are the customers you currently have that provide your company with the most revenue for the smallest amount of effort.
Having a customer profile of your target market will provide you with the information you need to create personalised and valuable content that will draw customers to your company. For example, you could share a whitepaper that addresses a common pain point along their buying journey. In doing so, you have given them something they find useful and as such, this builds brand credibility and highlights your company as a leader in your industry. By knowing the demographical information of your target market, you would also know how to share that whitepaper so that it has a higher chance of being viewed by your prospects.
Collecting data on your high-value customers
Data and information go a long way these days and will give your company a competitive edge. This is where having a good Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is so important as it will collect all the information you need on your current high-value customers. Through your CRM, you’ll be able to collect important data that will provide insights on your current and therefore, potential customers’, which will make creating valuable content much easier.
If you are a business starting out and do not have any current customers to model your target market on, it is important to do as much research as possible about your prospective customers to ensure the success of your inbound marketing campaign.
Once you have enough information, you’ll be able to start creating and sharing valuable content to your prospective customers! And the more content you share, the more customers will be drawn to your company. All you will have to do is follow up on all the leads!
Inbound marketing is one of the best lead generation strategies used today by businesses of all sizes. By sharing content that is personalised for your target market; engages with them and is information they will find valuable, your business will attract more prospects and also, entice your current customers to stay loyal to your company.
To find out more about inbound marketing and lead generation, please contact us.
