By Bernie Garrett on Nov 8, 2021
Inbound marketing produces more results at lower costs than traditional outbound marketing. We wanted to start right from that fact, because it is a powerful statement about how you need to think about your marketing budget.
A small business operating in today’s fast-paced marketplace needs to react quickly to the ever-changing whims of customers. That means you or your digital marketing agency should be crafting a message and brand story that naturally draws in the attention of your audience.
With inbound marketing, content is king. The goal is to create highly engaging and attractive content that speaks directly to your most desirable potential customers. For example, if you have a website devoted to everything about running 5Ks and marathons around the United States, you would commit to writing, promoting and developing content geared towards consumers who love to run in the Boston Marathon or local Turkey Trots.
Inbound marketing feels more authentic than outbound marketing because it focuses on organic content. It makes sense for a company selling fishing lures to feature brand messaging, stories and videos where their customers use their lures as they fish.
Outbound marketing, on the other hand, feels more “salesy,” because it involves never-ending calls to action that conjure reluctant experiences with used car salesmen bartering the price tag of a 1998 VW Bus.
There are numerous ways to create inbound marketing that attract your customers’ interest. SEO tops the list. because it uses keywords directly targeting your most valuable customer base.
Inbound marketing goes beyond digital techniques and into the wide world of content management. Let’s create a hypothetical company right now. What if we had a lemonade stand that features a secondary product of incredibly delicious sugar cookies made from our great grandma’s recipe. We start selling our liquid refreshments for $1 a cup, and every customer gets a free sugar cookie. Pretty good deal, right?
Of course, everyone else thinks so too. In no time, our little stand is getting noticed on social media and local blogs as a “must-see” destination in our area. Now we’ve got something with which to work. We or our digital marketing agency can build a brand around our sugar cookies and launch an Instagram account with a customized hashtag #grandmassweetcookies and a new website featuring an order form.
We can hire a blog writer to compose excellent recipe posts and cookie-themed content. We can send out press releases to our local newspapers about special events or partner with community fundraisers and get mentioned in their media. We can even hire influencers to stop by our shop and snap selfies with our cookies.
We have created an inbound marketing funnel of attention attracting tourism and the interests of anyone with a flair for confectionary delights. The best part is that we spent way less on our campaign than posting a series of paid advertisements.
The point of inbound marketing is to craft content that your customers want. The majority of shoppers use multiple channels to find their products and services. They actively seek out brands that speak to their needs the best. To provide the perfect landing spot for these customers, you need to attract their attention. Use highly relevant keywords and trends that fit with your customer base.
Let’s look back to our sugar cookie company. We are going to attract more customers by using keywords relevant to our location, Boston, Massachusetts. A good local marketing agency can help with that. Our website and social media need to be full of brilliant photos and videos including user-generated content with authentic reviews.
Our goal is to craft meaningful content that engages with our target market. The more we appear as an industry leader in the sugar cookie world, the more likely we will build trust capital with our customers. That is an excellent foundation to build a relationship upon.
Finally, we need to convert and delight our customers into sales. We do this by always offering new, highly relevant content they can digest and share online.
The crème de la crème of inbound content management is video. Facebook alone gets 135% more organic reach with videos than photos. 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.
Our sugar cookie company has a new task. We need to encourage our followers to post videos of themselves enjoying our delicious treats. We can start a new competition where the most shared videos with our hashtag receive a month’s supply of cookie ingredients. Pretty soon, we’re going to have so much video content that we can supply a year’s worth of social media on TikTok, Instagram and our own website, all from the power of user-generated content leveraged into inbound marketing.
The best part is that it doesn’t feel wrong. Consumers are likely to have feelings of nostalgia around making or enjoying cookies with their families. We’ve created a monster marketing cycle that is going to generate a lot of views and sales.
Leveraging the power of inbound marketing doesn’t take a rocket scientist, but it certainly helps if you have experience. You’re going to want to analyze your target market, know about social media content calendars, determine your content goals and decide which platforms are the best fit for your company.
All of that work can be accomplished better when you hire a professional digital marketing team like the experts at Umbrella Local. They have years of experience working in the online business world using results-oriented marketing to drive sales.
When you schedule a free consultation with Umbrella Local, you gain access to valuable insights into how your inbound marketing strategies can work across your entire online presence. Their experts can explain how to unify your brand identity and incorporate engaging content to further your company’s goals.
If you are ready to grow your business using high-quality content creation and proven marketing strategies and you think you need a digital marketing agency, you should reach out and contact Umbrella Local today. The future growth of your brand is only one click away!
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