Do you like advertisements popping up in the middle of your favourite YouTube videos? We assume you don’t. Of course, no one likes to get interrupted by irrelevant commercials or an inbox filled with sales emails from anonymous brands.

The updated customers decide for themselves whether they want to be advertised. In addition, they’re well aware of what to buy and who to buy from. That’s why the majority of modern brands are embracing inbound marketing strategies.

Let’s get an in-depth insight into the credentials of inbound marketing below. 

What is Inbound Marketing, and What’s its Purpose? 

Inbound marketing focuses mainly on generating meaningful advertisement content instead of intruding on mundane stuff. While the aim is to provide solutions to their struggles, the idea is not to send irrelevant commercials.

Buyers usually make decisions based on emotions, so inbound marketing makes the most of emotional appeal. If you can successfully create valuable conversions, you are more likely to attract consumers who can buy from you. 

Understanding Inbound Marketing with an Example 

For instance, you’re running a painting company. Would you rather annoy 10,000 homeowners with junk emails or focus on the 100 end-users who just Googled “How much does painting on a single wall cost”? That’s exactly how inbound marketing works. All you need to do is target consumers looking out for you.

Before we go ahead with the details of this marketing technique, we must determine how it’s different from outbound marketing. 

Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing: What’s Better in 2023? 

Outbound marketing is more seller-centric, in which brands prioritise highlighting their qualities. The focus is mainly on the products and services, not how they can benefit the consumer.

On the other hand, inbound marketing is buyer-centric and prioritises the budget and preferences of the consumers. In simple words, the inbound bends more towards the purpose of a brand and its services. 

Outbound marketing is traditional and involves sending the same advertising message to the masses. Email lists, pop-ups, billboards and cold calling are examples of outbound marketing. Woefully, it barely attracts consumers and mostly seeks ways to block them.

The most apparent difference between the two is that inbound marketing is patient, active and unaggressive, unlike outbound marketing. It never forces a consumer to buy its products and concentrates more on the buyer’s struggles and solutions. 

Top Benefits of Inbound Marketing

With the buyer-centric approach, inbound marketing brings many benefits to your table. Although the approach is limited, it’s much more valuable to your business in the long haul. Let’s have a look at them below. 

• Inbound Marketing chooses Sustainability over Luxury

Besides being highly expensive in this digital age, mass marketing techniques are ineffective and riskier. It’s like shooting an arrow in the dark, expecting it to hit the target. However, by focusing on the prime consumers of your products, you save on cash and bring higher ROI to the business. Content, forms, and nurturing emails will always be available to those seeking solutions on websites through search engines.

• Inbound Marketing brings Credibility and Trustworthiness

Do you know around 85% of customers opt for online research before making up their minds about purchasing?  By creating valuable and customer-centric content, you’re generating an entry ticket to your website gateway. When you’re targeting a specific consumer class, the level of trustworthiness gets to another level. The consumer psyche loves that you understand their problems and connect with them. Luckily, inbound marketing helps you achieve just that. 

• Inbound Marketing Attracts Quality Traffic and Leads

Inbound marketing isn’t confined to enticingly creating brand awareness but to generating organic traffic. With an intended and selected approach, you’ll grab leads who’re more than interested in the solutions you provide. By constantly engaging with end-users via social media and emails, you are staying in the limelight in a way that’s not disruptive.

• Inbound Marketing Grants Immediate Results 

Are you working on the billboard design for weeks that’s unreliable enough to bring direct leads to your store? It sounds like a wasted endeavour.

Let’s assume you’re running a cleaning service company, and someone who wants to get their home sanitised will search for you. The results lead them to your content about the significance of cleanliness. The definitive content made them trust your store as a reliable and safe place to purchase. That’s the magic of inbound techniques, promising a prompt arrival of loyal consumers. 

• Inbound Marketing is Long-lasting

Not only does inbound marketing bring immediate results, but it also works in the long haul. By this, we mean to say that it’s not an occasional relationship but an enduring one as long as you’re serving them righteously.

After providing valuable content that potential customers long for, you’ve already made your way to trustworthiness. To help you with this, SEO and email marketing are great for reminding the subscribers of your existence.

4 Stages of Creating an Incredible Inbound Marketing Strategy

While there are many ways to execute inbound marketing tactics, you can only put some eggs in the same basket. To reach the desired results, you must have a strategy in place. In this regard, the following four stages will come in handy. 

• Attract- Bringing Visitors to your Business Profile

The first step includes attracting the right audience and generating traffic to your website. You can easily pull this off using promotional tactics like discounts, scarcity, and budget-friendliness. However, you must ensure the high quality of your product and services. After all, that’s what keeps the consumers coming back to you. 

During the attraction phase, the goal is to light up a spark and emerge with creative ideas to turn those digital eyes into customers. In a nutshell, it’s about appealing to potential leads and acknowledging your offerings and how they can solve their problems. 

• Convert – Implementing your Tactics  

What will you do with users interested in your business and services? Of course, you’ll encourage them to find out more about you. But how? The next step is to nurture the lead by implementing the principles we covered above: promotional codes and emotional appeal. 

With that said, converting is all about getting your visitor’s info. Also, it sets boundaries with all the viable reasons why they should purchase from you. With the right strategy at the right time, you can quickly convert a fresh lead into a sales-qualified lead and prepare them for the next phase.

• Close – Turning the Right Audience into Walk-in Customers

The entire point of associating with leads is so you can communicate and convince them to purchase from you. Since a single channel needs to be more versatile, you must approach them on different social platforms. That’s what the closing stage is all about.

In this scenario, emails are among the most potent ways of reaching out to leads in 2022. When visitors subscribe to your email list, they aspire to hear from you. A pro tip is to identify their pain points and create content accordingly.

• Delight – Happy Customers lead to Happier Profitability 

The purpose of any marketing strategy isn’t only restricted to attracting potential customers. But, it’s more about keeping them satisfied with your services for promotional purposes. The more you delight your customers, the merrier it’ll be for the positive image of your brand. 

They’ll do you a favour by leaving positive reviews and spreading word-of-mouth on social platforms. The prime purpose of this stage is to make room for more visitors. Live events and webinars have engaged new prospects with updated news and the latest features.

Once a lead becomes a customer, they’ll become a brand ambassador of your brand. So, serve everyone honestly and wisely! 

Best Inbound Marketing Tools that You Can’t Miss!

Modern audiences desire an emotional bond with the brands they support and associate with. They don’t want to be alone in their struggles and are gently enticed rather than receiving annoying ads. And that’s where the importance of the right marketing tools steps in. 

Here’s a rundown of all the incredible inbound marketing tools you can use to gain 2X by your business investment.  

• HubSpot
• Ahrefs
• Optinmonster
• Google Analytics
• Typeform
• Unbounce
• Answer the Public
• MailChimp
• Hootsuite
• Asana

Even if you’re a complete beginner, these tools won’t let you down in front of the audience. However, you must understand the context and method of each of the above-mentioned tools before the implementation. 

Inbound Marketing: A Profitable Investment for your Business!

Maybe you still need to realise it, but if you exist online, you’re most probably already practising inbound marketing. However, the approach is different and somewhat flawed. That’s why it’s time to back off from throwing promotional messages at everyone, hoping you will find a lead.  And let them decide for themselves. Fortunately, you can conquer this by focusing on long-lasting relationships and a favourable brand reputation. 

Find out how Zoom Digital can help you attract, convert, and delight your customers by developing a lasting online relationship with them.