The inbound marketing is a marketing strategy to bring the client to you rather than go get him as in outbound marketing from traditional marketing techniques. Thus, we must attract the attention of prospective customers by producing quality content on the site to be highly recognizable by search engines and shared on social networks. The objective is to gain the potential customer‘s attention. Also referred as earned customers, a contrario to paid customers by advertising, paid search, etc.
Compared to other marketing approaches currently in vogue such as content marketing or social media marketing, inbound marketing encompasses the entire marketing-sales process from first contact with a visitor to the brand purchase. It thus includes content production, sharing on social networks, SEO, but also email marketing, analytical monitoring, etc.
The methodology of the inbound marketing can be summarized in three steps:
- To find directly by its leads, and generate visitors to the site through the combined use of:
- Writing quality articles on the blog
- optimizing keywords for search engines
- mixed use of Social Networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, DailyMotion, SlideShare …
- Convert prospects into customers by:
- Call-to-Action;
- creation of landing pages: specific home pages;
- cultivation of contacts, nurturing: contacts or prospects (called leads) are used so they will grow and prosper at a defined rate;
- automation and control of interactive actions (or marketing automation).
- Analyze of the marketing process to improve the offer through:
- integrated traffic measurement; reports on prospecting and converted customers;
- metrics in real time on the ROI (Return on Investment);
- dashboards.
The inbound marketing enables companies to create a true relationship with his prospects. Based on a personal and non-intrusive marketing, inbound marketing helps to break down the boundaries between a company, a brand and its audience. A company must be where its prospects are, it must understand its expectations and problems and respond to them individually.
This relationship relies heavily on creating a value-added content. Via the blog, community management, writing white book, etc a company can inform the user about its industry, show him that he is an expert and, more, create a strong universe around its brand. Universe at which the prospect will want to belong. Social media obviously play a significant role in such a strategy. On the one hand because they allow the dissemination and curation of content but also because they undeniably close a company of its prospects.
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