What is inbound marketing

In traditional marketing you go out and seek customers – with inbound marketing they come to you.

Sounds ideal but just how easy is it in reality?

It’s all about attracting people to your website, giving them a reason to check you out.

So what is it that will attract them like bees to a honeypot?

Having a good looking website is a start, then you need to be a prolific blogger, writing about stuff that shows you are an expert in your field and someone to be trusted.

Regular, new content is the secret to success, informative articles about you, your product or service and your staff.

Videos – an absolute must – any website today without video is rapidly losing ground to competitors and losing profile and Google ranking.

Video can take on many forms – an explainer video detailing what you do and what you offer, How to videos, testimonials, corporate events, and very importantly a call to action.

Not restricted to only your website, videos are vital for your social media, emails and news letters.

The key thing is to be providing relevant information on tap at all times. It’s just there when people (read prospective clients) need it 24/7.

The way people buy today has changed dramatically. They are far better informed and don’t rely on a salesman walking them through the pros and cons of a particular product.

They’ve already done their research on Google.  That’s the way I operate and you probably do to.

Nothing frustrates me more than to go into a store to inquire about a product only to find I know more than the salesman.

The end result is I do more research, makeup my own mind and the salesman ends up just taking my credit card.

This is where inbound marketing works.  If your website is compelling, your blogs show you to be the expert in your field, prospective customers will flock to your site, and conversion rates will soar.

Traditional marketing is losing impact.

We suffer from media overload – so many TV channels so many radio stations, we are bombarded by advertising. Even the good ads we are sceptical about. 

However, the technological age has allowed us to fight back, PVR’s allow us to record TV shows and fast forward through the ads. Social media is an early warning system revealing the shonks. 

Even our smart phones have a caller ID so we can weed out the cold callers.

And those very same smart phones allow us to find and research any product or service we require.

Lastest figures how a third of all internet access is via smart phones and that figure is growing rapidly.

Inbound marketing is non-invasive; it’s people coming to you to learn more about what you have to offer.

The skill then is to give them what they want, in a non-confronting way, give them a reason to trust you, and a reason to buy from you. But each step is in the consumers’ hands. It’s up to you to provide the perfect platform to take them from visitor to customer and ideally repeat customers.

The traditional way of attracting business is hugely expensive. For a radio or TV campaign to gain traction you need to spend tens of thousands of dollars and your ads can still get lost in the crowd. Print advertising is very expensive and it’s a shrinking market.

While radio advertising production costs are relatively cheap, producing a TV commercial can be very expensive, and then you have to pay to put a campaign to air.

Even with a generous budget you’re fighting for space among the big guys who have six and seven figure budgets.

You just have to work smarter.

Producing videos for a website is incredibly cost effective.  You only have the production cost, there are no ongoing charges and that one video can be used on social media and email – three uses for the price of one.

Prospective clients often share your videos with friends or family, spreading the word even further.

 So up scaling your inbound marketing doesn’t have to break the bank, a good quality video or videos to start then a well crafted blog.

The importance of a blog cannot be over stated.  Articles about your product or service will position you as an industry expert, someone to be trusted.

But you must write regularly, fresh new posts are not only relevant to keep your visitors informed but it will go a long way to improving SEO (search engine optimisation). That means a higher Google ranking.

Once you write the blog articles, post the link on your social media pages, and email your subscribers and contacts to help spread the word.

Inbound marketing is relatively cheap to implement but does require ongoing effort, however the rewards are there to be reaped.

The way modern consumers do their shopping has changed forever, and as such, your business must adapt in order to survive. The beauty is, the change to inbound marketing is far more cost effective and you’ll develop are much closer relationship with your customers. A win,win.

If you think we can help you give us a call at Good Innings Media