There are many different approaches to generating leads and growing your business, including outbound marketing, inbound marketing, and even social media marketing. But what do they all mean, and which one is right for your business? Read on to find out what inbound marketing is, why you should use it in your business today, and how HubSpot can help you with this marketing strategy.
According to HubSpot, inbound marketing is a business methodology that “Attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them.” While outbound marketing “Interrupts your audience with content they don't always want.” So inbound marketing is really focused on forming connections between your brand and potential customers that have a problem that they're already looking for. You're producing content and putting it out on a consistent and regular basis and you're not knocking on the digital door, so to speak. Somebody is searching for the content that you're creating. And since you're creating it, they're going to find you and hopefully be attracted to you.
Inbound marketing is the best strategy to find target customers. By understanding who your target customer is, you can create social media content that will be most effective in engaging them. So how do you find your target customer?
First, think about what problem your product or service solves for your customers. Are they struggling with a certain task? Are they looking for an answer to a question?
Second, identify their passions or interests.
Third, see where they are spending time on the internet. By doing these three things, you will have identified what type of person your target customer is and where they spend their time online.
This is going to be things like ads on social media, pay-per-click, and video content, which we are huge on here at 32One. Video content is pretty much the foundation of everything that we do for our clients. Blogging, of course. You know that Google is going to index every single word in that blog, so you want to make sure it's a keyword-rich blog that you're putting out. Of course, consistent social media content...preferably video these days. It's really going to be picked up a lot better by the algorithms if you're putting out that video content consistently. Especially short-form content like reels.
One part of building a relationship with your target customers is telling your story so they can't get to know, like, and trust you. People like to do business with people that they connect with. If you are using generic content that looks and feels like everyone else or doesn't have consistency so they can identify that it belongs to you, it will be more difficult for them to remember you and connect with your story. When they see your social media posts and blog articles, if you don't make the time to create unique messaging that stands out from the rest - then there's nothing differentiating you from the competition. And when prospects come across your marketing automation messages in their inboxes, if you're not creating customized email sequences for each individual customer based on their preferences and history- then there's no way of standing out from all those other emails in their inbox.
Remember that there is a purpose to telling your story, which includes connecting to your customers and letting them know how your product or service can solve their problems. The more you work on refining and telling this story in a way that helps the customer see you as a guide that is helping them be the hero in their own story, the more they will trust you and rely on you. Gain more target customers by telling your brand story and fostering the relationship in a way that's mutually beneficial.
Once you have a clear understanding of your target audience and their needs, it is easier to create compelling content that will resonate with them. Use that information to create a content strategy.
Once you attract these customers or these potential customers, you want to engage with them. So how do you engage with them? You're going to use tools like email marketing, lead flows, lead management, maybe some conversational bots on your website, and of course, marketing automation. Marketing automation is a huge, huge timesaver. The possibilities with what you can do in automation are endless, especially if you're using the HubSpot platform. As I mentioned in my last video, and probably on every video thereafter, we are HubSpot certified partners who can help implement your HubSpot CRM and your various different hubs and automate a lot of these processes for you. But after you attract, after you engage, you move on to the delight stage.
The delight stage is going to be smart content, conversations inbox, email marketing again, and some more automation to really turn those customers into ambassadors for your brand. So inbound is a lot different than outbound. Again, I'm not a big fan of outbound marketing. I think in the digital age today, we all sort of know as consumers what it is that we're looking for. We don't need to be told what we're looking for. So outbound marketing is really telling you, “This is what you need, this is what you have to have.” And it's... kind of annoying, I'm not going to lie. So again, the inbound methodology is focusing on solving the problems of your potential customers. They're already looking for those solutions, and because you're providing that content, that consistent content online, you're more likely to close that sale than your competitor who's using maybe outbound marketing tactics.
The final tip is to remember to measure your results. This will help you see what content is most helpful and engaging for your customers. Social media content also needs a system of measurement.
It's important to know which type of posts are more likely to be successful in terms of gaining new target customers. You should always strive for the best quality posts, but there are certain types that are more effective than others, such as quizzes and videos. Video posts have been proven to garner up to 10 times the engagement of text-only posts. Posts with photos gain an average of six times the engagement. Posts without images receive about half the engagement rates.
It's worth noting that gaining more target customers through Facebook doesn't just mean advertising on Facebook (which could get expensive). Instead, try marketing campaigns like boosting posts or using Facebook ads to reach people who are interested in similar products and services. Remember to post fresh, engaging content consistently. And don't forget automation! With HubSpot, you can streamline this process so you can batch content out vs. having to post every day which can be time-consuming and make inconsistent posting more likely.
And there you have it. That's a quick little run-through of what inbound marketing is. If you have any questions about inbound marketing or HubSpot implementation, you can reach out to us directly.