You may be familiar with the concept of content marketing – attracting and engaging potential customers with online material that proves your expertise as a brand but does not directly sell to the customer. Well there’s a new marketing buzz word in town, which is very closely related: inbound marketing.
In the good old Mad Men days, brands were taken to the customer via outbound marketing activities such as TV, Radio & newspaper advertising, mailshots, and other outward facing methods. With inbound marketing, the emphasis is not on going out and finding the customers but encouraging the customers to come and find you.
One of the most effective inbound marketing strategies is Search Engine Optimization, largely because search engines account for up to two thirds of all website traffic. SEO helps your brand secure a high search ranking, which encourages customers to come to your website.
Once you have the customer at your website you need them to find it engaging, appealing and easy to use, so that they become frequent visitors, and eventually customers. This is where your content marketing strategy kicks in, as you publish blogs and posts on your website that are designed to engage and impress your customers, building their trust in your brand. The posting of regular new content also has an impact on SEO, as search engines prioritise new and updated content over older content, win-win!
Your social media accounts can also form part of an inbound strategy, as they allow you to engage with your potential customers through conversations and shareable posts. Social media is thought to be the modern day equivalent of ‘word of mouth’ marketing, in that customers are more likely to engage with brands that they see their friends and followers engaging with.
Inbound marketing can help you build brand trust and loyalty by capturing potential customers’ attention and building their engagement to result in repeat custom. For SMEs and Micro-Businesses without the advertising budgets of larger firms, inbound marketing presents a real opportunity to compete with the big boys! Just don’t tell Don Draper…