Once you’ve looked through the different inbound marketing examples, consider the kinds of content that would be most relevant to your audience and brand. Are you thinking about creating a blog? Should you be posting more on social media? What about making videos?
As you develop your new inbound marketing plan, these marketing strategies can help you get started:
Know your target market
Shape the right brand identity
Create a blog
Start guest blogging
Get creative with your content
Optimise for SEO
Post on social media
Collaborate with influencers
Interact with your audience
Create powerful e-mail campaigns
Use digital tools
Offer free value
1. KNOW YOUR TARGET MARKET
Remember that inbound marketing, unlike outbound marketing, doesn’t involve shouting out your message to as many people as possible. On the contrary, it’s about attracting high quality traffic - users who are actually interested in your particular niche and who have the potential to convert.
That’s why the first step in mastering inbound marketing is conducting market research. Take the time to define and understand your target market - their interests, hobbies and professions, as well their demographic and geographic information. You can gather this data using website analytics and other marketing integrations.
Then, use this information to create buyer personas, fictional representations of your customers that you can use as a reference throughout your marketing strategy. With an in-depth understanding of your potential customers, you’ll be closer to marketing to them in a way they’ll find interesting and enjoyable, rather than spammy or intrusive.
2. SHAPE THE RIGHT BRAND IDENTITY
Think about it: a business that markets to tech-savvy twenty-somethings will have a very different brand identity than a business that sells to retirees - even if they offer similar products.
To attract and retain the attention of your target market, build a brand that resonates with your potential customers. Every aspect of your inbound marketing efforts - from your blog content to your e-mail newsletters to your social media branding - should use language, images, and color palettes that are relevant and relatable for your audience. This will show your audience that your brand addresses their particular needs, and they’ll form a stronger connection with your business as a result.
3. CREATE A BLOG
Content marketing forms the core of a powerful inbound marketing strategy. And while it encompasses a wide array of content types, blogging is its heart and soul.
Creating a blog is one of the best ways to attract new visitors to your website. In order to get found by prospective customers, you’ll need to post informative content that speaks to their needs and answers their questions. A high-quality blog also establishes your brand’s credibility and expertise, building trust among your target audience.
In other words, you can’t go wrong with a blog. Keep in mind that longer, in-depth, and actionable content produces stronger results than that which merely skims the surface.
4. START GUEST BLOGGING
In addition to publishing great blog posts on your own site, try to publish guest posts on other popular blogs. Guest blogging is a powerful way to promote your website, as it helps you capture the attention of new members of your target audience who might otherwise never have heard of your business.
Begin your guest posting efforts by reaching out to other blogs within your niche. Some of them provide special pages, usually entitled “Write for Us,” “Become a Contributor,” or “Editorial Guidelines,” that provide information for guest writers on how to proceed. If you don’t see these pages, e-mail the company to ask about guest blogging opportunities and share some of your article ideas. You can also reach out to the writers directly over LinkedIn or Twitter.
To maximize the effectiveness of this strategy, be sure to write guest posts on a consistent basis. You should also link to your website or blog in the author bio, as well as in the body of the post itself. This will create backlinks, which play an important role in boosting your website’s SEO.
5. GET CREATIVE WITH YOUR CONTENT
While blogging is a great practice, it isn’t the only content marketing method you’ll want to include in your inbound marketing strategy. You should also branch out into other forms of content, such as e-Books, podcasts, videos, webinars, and more.
6. OPTIMISE FOR SEO
The ultimate goal of improving your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is to boost your content’s performance on search engines.
You can think of SEO and content marketing as two sides of the same inbound marketing coin. While content marketing is about creating well-written, informative, and engaging content, SEO is about making sure that content actually gets found on Google. If your content ranks 1, 2, or 3 in the Google search results, it’s far more likely to be read than if it ranks 50 or 100.
To improve your SEO, be sure to:
Conduct keyword research to place high volume keywords within your content.
Use long-tail keywords to target a relevant audience within your niche.
Include internal links between your blog posts and website pages.
Find opportunities to place backlinks on external web pages that lead to your own site.
7. POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media platforms are also an essential inbound marketing tool for drawing organic traffic to your brand. Start by thinking about which platforms your audience is using. Are they perusing pictures on Pinterest, swiping through Instagram Stories, or sending out tweets? Focus your efforts on creating posts on the social media platforms where your audience is most active.
Whichever platforms you choose, make sure to draw users to your brand by forming personal connections with potential customers. Post content relevant to their interests and needs, and engage with them in the comments section.
8. COLLABORATE WITH INFLUENCERS
Another inbound marketing strategy on social media is to take advantage of influencer marketing. Influencers are people who have built a strong reputation and following on social media, typically centered around a particular niche. If their niche aligns with your product or service, their followers are likely the same people you want to be targeting with your brand.
To take advantage of the large following of these social media stars, build relationships with influencers relevant to your business goals. To get the ball rolling, reach out to them directly on social media platforms or agencies like Pin-Pin Media to avoid working with influencers with accounts full of fake followers and/or likes. Talk to them about how they can benefit from a collaboration - whether it’s free publicity, a complimentary gift, cash or another reward. This will help you expand your reach, add credibility to your brand, and stimulate interest in your product.
9. INTERACT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
Inbound marketing means engaging with users as much as possible. In addition to responding to user comments on social media, you should find other opportunities for conversation. For example, you can implement a live chat on your website that you can use to answer customer questions or provide guidance, or ask for customer feedback via surveys and polls.
Consistently interacting with customers will make your brand feel accessible, trustworthy, and personal. Furthermore, your audience will appreciate you for listening to their concerns and giving them the opportunity to share their thoughts.
10. CREATE POWERFUL E-MAIL CAMPAIGNS
With the help of e-mail marketing tools, you can send out targeted emails that provide each customer with specific content tailored to their needs.
The most effective e-mail marketing offers genuine value, either in the form of expert information, actionable advice, or free content. In particular, e-mail newsletters are an effective inbound marketing tool because they educate and inform while driving traffic to your website or blog. Other examples of quality email content include free eBook downloads and special offers like discounts or coupon codes.
11. USE DIGITAL TOOLS
As you begin to attract more customers, the process of segmentation and targeting becomes increasingly complex. For that reason, it’s important to take advantage of marketing automation tools to gather and sort your customer data.
12. OFFER FREE VALUE
A common theme in inbound marketing is that offering free value goes a long way. Between informative blog posts, downloadable e-Books and whitepapers, and free online courses and webinars, thorough and detailed content marketing attracts customers to your brand by promising value from the very beginning.
You can take this idea a step further by offering a one-month free trial, as well as a free consultation to potential clients. Show your leads that you genuinely care about their well-being, not just that you’re trying to push a sale. They’ll be pleased to have connected with a trustworthy, likable brand.
Was this information helpful?
Leave us a comment. We love hearing from our readers.
Коментарі