The 7 Inbound Marketing Strategies You Need to Know
Inbound marketing can be your best friend if you are a small e-commerce store owner or a business owner. This is the most basic form of market strategy where you try to attract clientele and draw them towards you through various marketing techniques. Calling by cold and fire sales are just the marketing positions.
So do you want to be a part of that operating system? Inbound marketing changes the rules: it is no longer about coming down the street chasing the right crowd; customers now visit you. On the other hand, you will also need to know how your machine operates and the inbound marketing strategies you need like content marketing, social media aggregation, and email marketing.
What Is Inbound Marketing and Why Does it Work?
Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy that aims to alluring leads to your business. We will aim to do this by not only covering issues of interest but also focusing on creating a unique experience for prospective buyers. Marketing via content, social networks, branding, and SEO or search engine optimization, all are different ways of inbound marketing.
Inbound marketing is successful in fact that it is centered on a user’s experience. It is multi-channeled and comprised of a variety of content and media, so your studious buyers can embrace it at their own pace.
In outbound marketing, the sales process tends to go something like this:
- 1. You use cold-calling campaigns, trade show showcasing, or any other means to make sure your prospect knows that your store exists.
- 2. With your sales team and all the product information, you give answers.
- 3. The prospect (buyer) makes the final decision of whether they want to purchase or not. These, in simple terms, are that old-fashioned channels have only one way to enter the sales funnel (buy) and limited ways of after-sales care.
- 4. Although inbound marketing can be regarded as a funnel where the customer has control over their journey, on the other hand, inbound marketing is also a system where there is several entry points to it.
The principle of inbound marketing is to supply information useful for your prospects as well as associated with their needs, create and maintain relationships, and move them toward the conversion stage.
The section that follows will cover a couple of inbound marketing techniques that you can start employing right away.
7 Inbound Marketing Strategies:
Now that you know what inbound marketing is and why it works, let’s explore some strategies you can use to attract new customers to your e-commerce store.
Content Marketing:
The heart of an inbound marketing strategy lies in providing your audience with content that adds value to their lives and does any of the below:
- 1. Addresses their pain points
- 2. Answers their questions
- 3. Educates them
- 4. Entertains them
The modes of content marketing are also diverse, ranging from from targeted or broad to addressing and captivating particular audiences.
- 1. Blog Posts and articles: Additionally (as part of blog marketing) this is about content on your website comprising various topics from your industry, product, and service(s).
- 2. Infographics: The information visualization approach implies the representation of data or information using minimal text and graphics (charts, graphics).
- 3. Videos: Visual information is presented in a dynamic video format ranging from short clips to long ones as documentaries.
As inbound marketing takes place, your content should be searchable, not you command your audience to read it. Planning it out for your content is to the point wherein you would have to do optimization and rank it for google.
Focus on Search Engine Optimization:
The fact that making a blog is just one of the steps you have to take to spread the knowledge won’t make much difference unless the blog is easy to find. Therefore, you should make sure that such material will be visible to the right users and will be distributed to the community you want to reach. It is during this stage that search engine optimization (SEO) occupies.
The strategy of SEO is the techniques, tactics, and procedures that you use to get your website to the top of search engine result pages. You must have your keywords in place such that your business shows up when people are searching for these keywords.
It has been proven by SMA Marketing that as much as 75% of users will never click another page when picking results from search engines. As per the statistics revealed by Moz, it was only 4% of the total web page clicks on page two and 1.6% on the third page. Therefore, SEO is essential.
On-page SEO:
Involves optimizing your website’s pages through:
- 1. Keyword optimization. A major strategy entails the use of relevant keywords in the titles, headings, and content.
- 2. Image optimization. Creating SEO-friendly visuals Content quality. Enabling the audience with information that’s worth their attention and keeps them on their toes.
- 3. Meta tags. Using the proper meta titles and descriptions would make the attractive.
- 4. URL structure. Setting up nice and linked URLs.
- 5. Internal linking. Establishing paths on your site through inner page links to improve communication and spread link juice.
Off-page SEO:
Involves all activities that take place outside of your website and its content through tactics such as:
- 1. Link building. This is 90% of the off-page SEO to do, and it is about coming up with distinctive and relevant backlinks from respectable sources.
- 2. Social media signals. Utilizing two social media platforms to spread and disseminate your content.
- 3. Brand entions. Increasing online brand mentions and citations as well.
- 4. Influencer outreach. Working with influencers or individuals with stature in your area of expertise to earn their endorsement.
- 5. Online reviews. A strategic approach to customer feedback, which includes everything from encouraging and managing positive online reviews and testimonials.
Technical SEO:
Helping you optimize the technical aspects of your website to make its visibility more visible with the search engines and user experience better. Its key elements are:
- 1. Site speed. Loading times for your website and its pages should be fast and smooth.
- 2. Mobile-friendliness. Addressing the hindrances that mobile devices pose for browsing is vital for enhanced convenience for users.
- 3. Crawlability. It is vital to make sure that search engines can conveniently read and map your site.
- 4. Site architecture. An effective web page design requires a clear and structural layout.
Retarget your Audience:
If a visitor doesn’t buy anything from your site after visiting it, you can’t consider them your lost clients for the rest of the time. Nevertheless, we will need us put in some work to get them to want back and eventually return. Probably the most effective method of making sure people keep visiting your network is to do retargeting. Did you ever browse the offerings of an e-commerce store and leave without making a purchase, then subsequently start seeing the store’s products on the banner ads or in your social media feed? Therefore, it is considered a retargeting if you have noticed this!
You can segment customers through their website visits, and product views, this could be an abandoned shopping cart or even purchases they have made in the past. A retargeting campaign makes them remember your product’s interests and pushes them towards expanding their order. As opposed to 57% which convert according to Criteo, 43% of website visitors are retargeted. This precisely indicates that even when almost 97% of first-time website visitors do not make a purchase, this is a pretty good marker. The average customer who has visited your site three to five times does not yet constitute a paying customer, so keep retargeting the ads or content.
Using these platforms you can find more balanced audiences through Facebook, Google Ads, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and so on. If you want your ad to be tracked you have to include a tracking code or “pixel” to the relevant pages of your website. Having set up your ad, and defined your audience parameters as well as your budget, all you will have to do next is sit back and relax!
Use Chatbots and Live Chats:
The outstanding factor of chatbots is they are non-human developers. Chatbots can be available even late after your business hours, because of their inclination to ongoing service, that is not limited to working hours. Such real-time access grants you an immense benefit in terms of customer service and the quality of the interactions with the end users.
However, chatbots are not skillful in answering to the specialized problems. Rather, the advantage of chatbots lies in how they can provide common information and lead users through familiar issues. The specific facts vary by industry, however, some common types of questions are more or less universal:
- 1. Product or service information. e. g. ”Please list down the products/services you offer.”
- 2. Pricing and discounts. e.g. ”How much will be the [the price of product/service]?”
- 3. Order and shipping information. e.g. “How can I follow up on my order?”
- 4. Account and login assistance. e. g. “I seem to have forgotten the password, how can I reboot it please?”
- 5. Technical support. e. g. ” What are commonly asked questions or inquiries regarding [common issue]?”
- 6. Booking and reservations. e. g. “Are there any vacancies left on [specific date]?”
On the one hand, chatbots deal with simple and repetitive questions. In contrast, the live chat allows the introduction of the individual human element in the work. Live chat establishes this quick customer-support interaction platform, which in turn has both its positive and negative sides.
Live chat is on the one hand one of the best techniques with which issues utilization and personal feel of interaction can be done optimally. If we turn the coin around, who would believe that both technologies are too pricey to be used for all kinds of businesses, though they should be important tools for high-ticket ones to use?
Use Campaigns for Leads:
Within the given paragraph we agreed that almost all visitors will not decide to buy something on the first time of knowing your store. Finally, you’d better provide high-quality pieces that captivate them in the beginning or attractive content in the social media channels and retain them once they get interested. And email marketing is the place where email marketing services do their best.
Email drip campaigns are among the most powerful tools that can be used to achieve the purpose of this. A specific action is taken to prospect for every automation sequence, and the email marketing list is chosen as the first action that will be triggered when a visitor signs up.
The campaign you commence with can also have a structure similar to this one. Here’s a breakdown:
- 1. Email Number 1: “Hi there! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. We are excited to share informative and engaging content with you regularly. At this point, we are only greeting the customer, considering that the customer boarding the vessel. If you had a lead magnet that you offered for your sign-ups, like a freebie or bonus, this is where you will live up to your promise.
- 2. Email Number 2: You are [“Tell us about yourself” in the email]. At this point, you can start a quiz or something to get to know your customer more regarding her/his needs in product and preferences.
- 3. Email Number 3: It’s the sales email. You have to imply this without giving the impression of selling goods. Meanwhile, you can consider giving a limited-time discount offer before people agree to pay later.
Utilize Email Marketing:
Email marketing is definitely part of 90% of all successful inbound marketing strategies. It is one of the best money-saving practices not only for customer perception creation but also for long-term relations and trust.
Through email marketing as part of your inbound marketing campaign, you are only limited by your imagination. There are several different ways you can use email marketing within an inbound marketing strategy, with the most common ones being:
- 1. Lead generation. Exploit sign-up forms to harvest email addresses and then carry targeted email marketing campaigns for lead nurturing.
- 2. Welcome emails and onboarding. The welcome email is communicated with the new subscribers or customers. It is set to show them the way, guide them, and help them make the most of your products and services.
- 3. Content distribution. Email, mostly, a newsletter, is the most effective way to do it, especially via sharing your blogging posts, articles, or materials with high value.
- 4. Product announcements and updates. Apart from email, this channel also serves as a great channel to make product announcements or feature launches.
- 5. Surveys and feedback. Collect the information from your clients via online surveys to create a better product, service, or the experience of the clients in general.
- 6. Exclusive offers & promotions. Email people with no codes, early access offers, or discounts. just in case they have subscribed to your email club. This can boost sales by customers to encourage purchases and pleasantly motivate customer loyalty.
- 7. Abandoned cart emails. Cart abandonment is the disease and why we use email marketing as the cure to keep the customers there with an email with a reminder and encouragement to complete the purchase.
Get into Social Media:
Social media is the platform that currently connects billions of people all over the world. Consequently, it has no alternative but to be used by marketers to take the business to the next level. Instagram is what 60% of the consumers want to use to look for products and 78% turn to Facebook to discover new products.
Whereas, you are not required to be on all the platforms. At least, focus on Facebook, LinkedIn as well as Instagram to some extent.
An active social media presence has several benefits:
- 1. As a result, the medium can also be utilized as a new platform where old and new audiences alike can discover your organization.
- 2. It gives you an impetus for SEO. Social network presence is considered as one of the most important items of off-page SEO strategies which you use to promote your rankings.
- 3. It gives you the opportunity to hold conversations with the customers and those who were engaged in different stages.
- 4. Consequently, the main social media actors are quite frequently buying and selling merchandise within their applications. This means that consumers can effectively discover and access your website for selling goods to them so merchants will always get a higher rate of impulse buying.
There are several things you can do to market your products using your social media channels, and sharing is one. But, sharing is not enough, sharing should not be in the first place. Conversely, value your audience rather than trying to create relationships, and connect them. Query your network, post your blog articles, link other relevant content, and share assistance and skillsets. Be consistent in your scheduling your posts regularly as well as posting from an advanced calendar. Do not overlook the role of pictures and videos in your social posts.
Conclusion:
Are you looking to automate an inbound marketing system for your web? Perhaps you have established a project but because of the malfunction you can’t work properly on it—and you have to identify the cause. Maybe you want to start one, or you have already started one and you want some guidance. You possibly want to have it tailored-made or someone to pick up the pieces for you.
However, we are capable and experienced in all facets of inbound marketing services at MediaEclips. Please, contact us today if you have any worries. We’ll be happy to assist you.
FAQs:
First, Facebook attracts the most people, which makes it the king of social media. Any campaign can reach a broad audience on Facebook.
Instagram is one of the most valuable platforms for visual businesses, including restaurant, fashion, and lifestyle brands. Due to its image—and video-focused format, these businesses can make their products look more attractive.
For B2B organisations, LinkedIn is the networking hub where they can share industry-related content and create a place for thought leadership.
Twitter’s speed of correspondence and timeliness make it a relevant tool for customer engagement that allows sharing news and trending topics.
On TikTok, it can appeal to a younger demographic by producing engaging, bite-sized videos. As a leading social media platform, this is a good move for brands that want to develop their relationship with Gen Z.
