Inbound Marketing: How To Use It
Alan Williams 
Unlike traditional forms of marketing, inbound marketing focuses on creating content that is intended to attract customers to the business and its products.
This is just the contrary to bringing the product to the customer and hoping that they will make a purchase.
It is about attracting customers themselves to the product.
The goal of inbound marketing is to offer quality and to ensure that the customers keep coming back for more.
If you are interested in learning more about the essence of inbound marketing, head to part one of this article series, where we go in depth on the topic.
Now in part two, let’s have a look at how exactly you can apply this to your business.
How It Works
Inbound marketing matches the way customers buy products online, involving various actions.
Those include, but are not limited to:
- ● Conducting analysis - online shoppers start by searching for information and products online before deciding whether to continue with the purchase.
- ● SEO - It involves creating content that is high quality, and that is higher in search engines. This makes it easier to find by customers.
- ● User experience- ensure that your website is easy to navigate and that it easily directs site visitors to precisely what they're searching for. Remember that customers have a short attention span and can quickly switch over to a competitor if they don't find what they’re looking for.
- ● Quality content- ultimately, online shoppers want to know what is in it for them and what they are getting out of it.
- ● Acquiring leads and nurturing them - this will require you to take shoppers through the buying process until they make and complete the purchase.
- ● Building brand trust - this requires a business to develop content that helps users solve problems. It is focused on the needs of the users rather than the needs of the business. This helps build trust in the business.
How To Use It
Alright, with all of this theory that we chugged down in both parts of this article series, let’s see what you can actually do to use inbound marketing!
Ready? Steady? Sell!
1. Attracting
This is the first step to inbound marketing and entails locating and attracting your target audience.
Some of the questions that you can ask yourself include:
- ● How can I help customers find my website?
- ● Do I use hashtags, or do I use keywords?
You can help rank your site higher on search engines by making your website more visible to potential customers by answering these questions.
2. Convert
All marketing is ultimately about converting the leads into customers. Some ways that you can do this include:
- ● You can ask visitors to sign up for your newsletter
- ● You can include a compelling call to action in your content
This ensures that site visitors don’t just access your website and leave without providing something in return, such as their contact information.
3. Close
Sometimes you may not be able to convince customers to fill in a sign-up form or subscribe to your newsletter.
Consider if you have the option of using automation. A good example is automated emails which can be sent at appropriate times to remind customers to finish the checkout process.
This can go a long way towards improving conversions and closing sales, considering that as much as 45 to 50% of abandoned cart emails will be opened.
4. Delight Phase
This is the final step in your inbound marketing strategy. You need to show customer appreciation for buying your products. It may involve offering a discount or sending a thank you email.
You may want to gather more information by including a survey in this stage. You may also ask customers to give you feedback.