Andrew Davis, one of the world’s most senior and esteemed marketing personalities once said, “Content creates relationships. Relationships build trust. And trust drives revenues.”
In other words, the more that content and marketing professionals create content of value to their defined, target audience, the greater is their chance of securing relevant and quality traffic that will ultimately translate into conversions.
Inbound Marketing is a marketing strategy based on the simple understanding that customers do not like being bothered. They do not want products and services they do not need to be forced upon them, but rather want someone to solve the problems and challenges they are coping with. 46% of marketers report using Inbound Marketing to increase their ROI.
The Inbound Marketing strategy is comprised of 4 stages:
- Attraction – This is the first stage and is meant to cause potential customers to enter the digital asset (blog or website). How does it work? Today, when someone has some sort of problem, one of the first things they do is try and find a solution on Google. If the brand’s marketing and content team prepares enough content that responds to that problem and promotes said content online with SEO, there’s a good chance that the potential customer will reach the brand’s website or blog.
- Conversion – The stage during which website visitors must be motivated to become leads and leave their details. You are, in essence, telling the visitors that you are expecting them to have a certain relationship with your brand. The relationship is a commitment – and if the visitor can browse your site without subscribing, that’s what they’ll prefer to do. So, what do you do? You explain the benefits of subscribing. This is when you discuss the product or service’s value from the customer’s perspective. It is important to provide them with a proposal with added value – value that is concreate, clear and specific.
- Closing – The stage in which you need to cause leads to become paying customers. There is much to do with subscribed leads, such as turning to them in a direct mailer or with a relevant SMS offer. It is important to note that the button be the point where the decision becomes an actual action, and so it should be properly designed and have precise copy that will drive the customer to act.
- Retention – Turn your customers into brand ambassadors by fostering a long-term relationship and creating content they will continue to consume. Namely, you must remain in contact with customers, even after they have completed their purchasing process, to encourage future purchases and motivate social proof.
