In today’s competitive business world, every business must give a lot of effort into marketing to be successful. A marketing strategy should add value to customers’ lives and empower them to reach their goals.
This is the essence of Inbound marketing. For decades, it has been driving traffic to websites and increasing conversion rates. However, one of the significant issues small businesses or startups encounter is the limitation of funds and proper resources.
If you feel inbound marketing is too unwieldy and expensive, then keep on reading.
4 Stages of Inbound Marketing
Like every marketing strategy, inbound marketing can be divided into four key stages:
- Stage 1 – Attract: In this stage, the focus is drawn on drawing strangers’ attention toward your brand. Deep market research and relevant content can ensure the success of this stage.
- Stage 2 – Convert: When you become a trusted advisor, strangers become your regular visitor. Now it is time to convert them into leads.
- Stage 3 – Close: Leads become customers through the strategic use of content marketing tools.
- Stage 4 – Delight: In the last stage of marketing, you reward your customers for buying from you. This creates a positive image about your brand, which leads them to become a promoter of your brand.
Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing
Amid the digital marketing revolution, one must not confuse inbound marketing with outbound marketing. Although both the marketing methodologies share the same aim of acquiring new customers, they are worlds apart.
Outbound tactics proactively reach out to target customers to gauge their interest. For instance, paid social media campaigns, door-to-door advertisement, pop-up digital advertisement, and cold calling are some of the popular outbound marketing tools. Yet, the disruptive nature of outbound tactics is often frowned upon.
On the contrary, inbound marketing aims to bring the customer to the brand through well-thought content that resonates with their lives. Thus, it has evolved to be one of the most preferred and effective modes of marketing over the years.
What Makes Inbound Marketing So Effective?
In simpler words, the ‘Attraction Power” of inbound marketing makes it so effective. Unlike the traditional marketing method, i.e. direct advertisement, inbound marketing focuses on highlighting the reasons that make people come to you through compelling content.
This content may include helpful blogs, perhaps attention-grabbing social media posts, or even persuasive website landing pages. These are some cost-effective tools of inbound marketing a startup owner can consider.
Alternatively, they can opt for companies that provide services like digital startup marketing by HypeLife brands. They have dedicated experts and resources for creating the best startup marketing campaigns. So, if you cannot invest the time and effort required to create inbound marketing strategies, a startup digital marketing agency can help.
Top 5 Inbound Marketing Strategies to Drive Growth
1. Know Your Customer Well
In inbound marketing, success depends on how well the marketer knows its target audience. The deep knowledge of potential customers’ preferences helps innovate with marketing campaigns. In turn, it drives traffic to your website. It also plays a key role in building lasting relationships with them.
So, it is essential to have an ideal customer profile (ICP) with the following information for a compelling marketing strategy.
| B2C | B2B |
| Pain points & challenges | Industry |
| Desires & aspirations | Company size |
| Goals | Location |
| Preferred mode of communication | Budget |
| Skillsets | Company vision |
| Level of experience | Valuation |
While a survey remains a popular choice, the easiest way to gain customer insight is using Facebook. If your brand has a Facebook page, then go to the people section under the insight button. This will show you all the details about your fans, followers, engagement rate, and your brand’s reach.
2. Value-Driven Content
The soul of the best startup marketing campaigns is content. It could be:
- Blogs
- Social media posts
- E-books
- Newsletters
- CTAs and landing pages
- Whitepapers
Whatever the content may be, it must be engaging, thought-provoking, and persuasive. To ensure it resonates with the target customer, the choice of topic should be relevant to them. This is where the information gathered through ICP can help.
Use proper keywords, images, infographics, infographics, and data to keep your customers hooked to your blog. Running text often makes readers distracted. Remember, it is a slow process. Consistency and patience are key. Often it may take months for markets to see exponential traffic growth from blogging.
3. Optimize Your Website With SEO
Every startup and marketer must have an SEO-optimized website. A properly SEO-optimized website can help you improve your position on the Search Engine Ranking Page. It is a robust tool to drive traffic and boost brand awareness.
Today, if a customer comes to know about your brand, the first thing they look for is a website. But if that seems inconvenient and confusing to navigate, they tend to exist within the first few seconds.
Therefore, it should be sleek, user-friendly, and easy to navigate. Also, the website must be mobile-friendly because over 80% of users surf the internet from mobile devices in 2022.
4. Engage With Potential Consumers On Social Media
Real people run social media. Behind every like and share, there are real humans. So, it is one of the most popular mediums of engagement. Ask people questions, take their suggestions, go on live streams, talk to them, not like a marketer, but like a fellow user. It is a great way to induce interest in your brand without seeming too sales-y.
Alternatively, paid ads on social media platforms are also an excellent way to reach out to many people. It is much more cost-effective than other modes of marketing.
5. Outsource From Startup Marketing Companies
Inbound marketing can seem tiresome and complex. So, if you are a beginner and need help navigating the world of inbound marketing, you may consider outsourcing from a top marketing agency for startups.
These startup marketing firms can help you create quality backlinks and earn digital referrals. They are professionals and come with extensive knowledge about the market needs. They abide by Google’s regulations and perform ethical, white hat link building practices. Thus, you can rest assured of the success of your inbound marketing campaigns.
Key Takeaway
There are hundreds of ways to use inbound marketing to grow your business. These 5 are merely the start. It puts the customer at the heart of the strategy. With carefully crafted content that adds value and offers more significant insights, you can influence the purchase decision of your potential customer in your favor.
Remember, your efforts should provide people with a delightful experience. This can convert them into loyal customers and promoters of your brand.