BBC Content Team
Marketing: Inbound Marketing
Updated: Sep 14, 2019
A business method that attracts customers by creating content and connections tailored to them to help solve the problems they already have is called inbound marketing. This marketing method focuses on giving solutions and opportunities to have a positive impact on both the customers and business. It is sometimes considered the foundation that emphasizes the fact that sometimes attracting customers is not enough. Once they are interested you need to continue to support, assist, and provide. By consistently focusing on the customer’s needs/wants now and in the future, you can ensure that your business will grow.
So, why is inbound marketing important for a business? Inbound creates a relationship between the business and their customers, where they both are interactive, which sets it apart from outbound marketing. Another difference is how outbound marketers simply sell a product or service, while an inbound marketer will try to educate the customer. Inbound marketing will allow customers to reach out to the business, while outbound reaches out to potential customers.
Strategies for inbound marketing online could include search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), content marketing, and social media. To start off, SEO optimizes your website’s content in order to receive a higher placement on the search engine results. By utilizing keywords, code, and webstructure, it could make your website more relevant. PPC are paid ads for top placement on the search engine pages, where people are more likely to see your ads. SEO and PPC are usually some of the most effective ways to get leads.
Next is content marketing, without new and fresh content, the chances of keeping and educating your leads greatly decrease. Content should come in multiple forms in order to help your audience by answering questions or to solve a problem. For example, one way to share new content is by having a blog on your website. This way you can attract new customers, gain returning customers, and convince other leads. Another way is to create downloadable content such as e-books and guides where you can inform how your product or service will benefit them. To add, social media is where a large amount of people spend their time, so by promoting your content there, you will be attracting more people.
In conclusion, inbound marketing is all about attracting customers, engaging them, and finally, providing for them - with content and experience made for them.