Webguruz

Marketing is an essential tool for the success of any business. Traditional marketing strategies included buying advertisements on radio or television, print ads, buying email lists, cold calling, sponsoring a booth, etc. These techniques push the message OUT to a target audience in order to generate a lead. Hence these are known as outbound marketing strategies. The advent of the internet has introduced the concept of INBOUND marketing strategies. Inbound marketing focuses on the creation of quality content in order to attract people IN (towards your business and brand) However, inbound techniques will not replace outbound strategies. Both these strategies should be used in conjunction for effective marketing.

Inbound marketing is a marketing technique to convert strangers into customers and promoters of your business.Traditional marketing techniques are losing popularity
Statistics show that almost 90% people have unsubscribed from the email lists, 68% of TV viewers prefer to view recorded programs where they prefer to skip advertisements. Average click through rate on display ads is 0.2%. The way modern day consumers shop has changed drastically and businesses need to adapt in order to cope with the changing trend.

Most consumers are not interested in annoying marketing methods adopted by businesses. Hence, one could look at engaging the customers meaningfully in order to generate and retain interest through an inbound experience.

Present valuable content which attracts attention of consumers
Consumers face a plethora of content whether on television or on websites. You should aim at creating content that attracts, educates, inspires and entertains your audience.

It is beneficial to use the website as a Hub

This implies creating content in order to address an individual consumer rather than making a public announcement.

Invest in developer resources for a good impact
Using free tools help in converting web traffic into highly engaged leads.

Optimize the site for action
It is essential to design a site so that the user is able to get relevant information easily when he lands there.

Use visuals
In order that your content stands out, it is a good idea to create content using visuals.

Hire the right people
You should invest in people who are tech savvy, highly analytical, have a good reach on the web and are experienced enough to create good content.
Various inbound marketing software are available in the market. These enable you to simplify your efforts by automating content creation, distribution, lead capture and management and measuring ROI.

Some popular inbound marketing tools are:

Since the last decade, inbound marketing has been one of the most effective online marketing methods. The objective of inbound marketing is to Attract, Convert, Close and Delight customers. This enables the Company get visitors, leads, customers and promoters.

The single most important means for successful inbound marketing is presentation of valuable Content to users. The content should be created and aligned to fulfill the requirements of the users. This enables the business to achieve its objective.In order to convert strangers to promoters, marketing has to attract, convert, close and delight.

Step 1: Attract
The main focus is to entice individuals who can become potential buyers. This warrants focused marketing which begins with quality content creation.
Attracting buyers is achieved by:

• Blogging
• Active promotion on Social Media
• Usage of relevant keywords
• Optimization of webpages

Step 2: Conversion to leads
In order to convert your potential buyers to leads you need to obtain their contact details. Prospective buyers will be willing to exchange this information for valuable content which could be content e-books, whitepapers, webinars, blog posts, etc.
For effective exchange of information tools required are:

• Call to Action (CTA)
• Landing Pages
• Contact Tracking

Step 3: Close
In The next step is closing the leads and converting them into customers. Techniques used for this purpose are:

• Lead Scoring
• Email
• Marketing Automation
• Closed-Loop reporting

Step 4: Delight
In Once the customer has made a purchase, the next target is to establish brand loyalty. In order to achieve this, the business needs to engage with the customer. This is done through highly targeted, CTA, social media, marketing automation and email.
The benefit of delighting customers is multifold. The business gets loyal customers. It is also able to get new customers when the existing customers share their experience with them

Want Inbound Marketing Of Your Website

1.SEO
SEO can be defined as optimizing a website’s content and structure such that it receives a high ranking on SERPs (Search Engine Research Pages). If a business has a high quality website and content optimized for SEO, Google is able to identify and index the content such that it is available free of cost for people searching the web. SEO is vital to the success of the business. If it can’t be found on the net, then it will not be able to get business.

Search Engine Optimization is an important technique for generating leads. There are two types of SEO techniques namely on-page and off page.

For on-page SEO the focus areas are:

• URL of the page
• Title of the page
• The header tags
• Image alt tags
• Body copy

Keywords should be placed in these key areas in order to communicate the message of the page to the search engine.

For developing off-page SEO strategy

This is concerned with developing inbound links to the website and landing pages. The greater number of inbound links indicates a high-value content.

2.PPC
PPC or pay per click is an important inbound strategy. It is a paid search which is relevant to inbound marketing since search ads appear when a user is actively searching for something.

3.Content Marketing
Fresh and useful content is critical for conversion of leads. Content created should stand out so as to catch the attention of the audience. A good content aims to educate, motivate and inspire the audience. For effective content management, the following are the basic steps to be followed:

• Creation of blog
• Creation of guides, e-books, other downloadable content
• Collecting customer testimonials
• Creating a content calendar in order ensure publishing fresh content regularly

4.Video
Video content has a great impact on its audience. It is especially effective when used on YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, etc.

5.Email Marketing
Inaccurate application of Email marketing can lead to negative repercussions on the business. Hence it should be used in a manner to attract and nurture buyers. Ideally, Email marketing is started once a customer has shown interest and exchanged his Email address. The business then sends targeted, emails in order to build a meaningful relationship.

6.Social Media
In order to ensure that the content reaches the relevant audience, it is necessary to promote it extensively on social media. There are a number of social media sites available. The content should be posted on sites where it will reach the relevant audience.

7.Design of Landing Pages
Another important factor is the landing page of the website. After CTA, the lead will reach the landing page of the website. Due attention should be given to designing it. The landing page if designed appropriately ensures that the lead stage on it. Factors to be considered while designing a landing page are:

• Landing page should be focused on its purpose.
• Landing page should be relevant to the keyword being searched.
• Landing pages should be designed using videos, images, etc, so as to keep the user engaged.

Inbound Marketing is basically creating web pages that are easy to navigate and blogs with quality content. These blogs contain relevant keywords which maximize SEO and attract visitors. Inbound marketing focuses on the buyer. It has a more human touch. If a business puts its customer first and designs the strategy with a human touch, it will be on the road to success.