Developing an Great Inbound Marketing Strategy

Maybe you’ve been dragging your feet on getting started with an inbound marketing campaign. Maybe you’ve forayed into the world of inbound, but you’re struggling to make it work. Whatever the case may be, one thing is clear: You need some help.

Don’t worry — we’ve all been there. After decades of practicing outbound marketing tactics, it’s only natural for “noobs” to hit a few obstacles and snags along the way. The good news is that our experts have blazed the trail ahead of you. We’ve charted out all of the bumpy roads and weeded out all of the time-wasting tactics so that you can focus on a clear path that will lead your customers directly to you.

How is this possible? After years of practice and experience, we’ve discovered exactly what it takes to connect with your target audience and point them in the direction of your company. In this two-part series, we will take a look at what goes into great inbound marketing, as well as sharing some of the secrets to inbound success so that you can start growing your business and achieving your goals today. Let’s get started!

Inbound 101: A Crash Course

Our tips for developing a killer inbound marketing strategy will be meaningless if you’re not clear on the concept of inbound itself. In a nutshell, inbound marketing takes the emphasis off of interruptive tactics (i.e.: television ads, direct mail, and cold calls) and puts it onto attracting attention from consumers. Instead of pushing your message onto your target audience, you’re working to create a message that will pull shoppers to your doorstep. This means that you need to know your customers inside and out. Inbound marketing is all about understanding what drives and motivates consumers to make a buying decision. It’s about anticipating customer needs. It’s about establishing meaningful relationships and brand loyalty. These tasks are often accomplished through creating relevant content, maintaining a blog, staying active on social media, etc.

That having been said, it’s also important to understand what inbound marketing is not. Blasting propaganda about your business on Twitter or using Facebook as a glorified print ad is not inbound marketing. Inbound marketers should also never stuff their content full of words and phrases without any actual relevance as a cheap ploy to boost search engine rankings (this won’t work anyway, thanks to Google’s increasingly intelligent web crawlers), nor should they post “fluff” that will not benefit their readers. These tactics will only alienate your readers and cause them to quickly click away from your site and move on to perceptively greener pastures — and it’s not likely that they’ll come back.

Inbound marketing is and always should be all about your customers — what they think, how they feel, what they want, and what they need. Whenever your inbound content begins to deviate from this list, you’re doing something wrong and you’re going to hit a wall. It’s really as simple as that. Let’s get started!

Create Buyer Personas

Be Uniquely Human

Emphasize Originality

Stick to a Schedule

Be a Social Butterfly

Integrate Your Inbound