How To Create An Inbound Marketing Campaign
Buyers are savvy. We all see through the traditional outbound marketing techniques, and find them tacky or lacking in integrity or simply annoying. So, although a ‘salesy’ technique might work for a short-term business plan (remember PPI anyone?) if businesses are to not only survive but thrive, long-term building and long-standing relationships with customers is key.
Inbound marketing strategy is arguably the best way to do this and this article will take you through the basics, starting with: what is inbound marketing? However, if you need to get a grounding in running a marketing campaign as a whole first, then take a look at our blog post on this topic here.
What is Inbound Marketing?
Inbound marketing is focused on three principles.
- You want to ATTRACT customers.
- You want to ENGAGE customers.
- You want to DELIGHT customers.
By doing this, you build meaningful relationships with your customers at whatever stage of their buyer journey they are at.
What are the Stages of the Buyer’s Journey?
The stages of the buyer journey are:
- Awareness.
- Consideration.
- Decision.
- Retention.
- Advocacy.
How Do You Attract Customers?
The way to build these relationships with your customers is to provide value. Generally speaking, this is ‘infotainment’ i.e. information that helps them with their pain points in an easily digestible and entertaining format.
The two main routes that businesses use to get their ‘infotainment’ out there are:
- Blog content.
- Social Media content.
- Advertising.
By backing these methods up with a solid SEO strategy you are also helping to get more eyes on your efforts.
How Do You Engage Customers?
Once you have attracted your customers to your website or social media post or profile, you now need to continue the conversation. With social media, it is vital not to ‘post and ghost’ so make sure you are starting and continuing conversations in the comments sections.
On your website, a chatbot is a useful tool to encourage conversation with your customers or you can use a tool like the one we use at Approved Business, Website Traffic Revealer, to follow up leads in a targeted and meaningful way such as with email marketing.
How Do You Delight Customers?
In order to delight your customers you will need to have the right automation in place. This could mean a post-purchase email, survey, or questionnaire and having excellent customer service that responds to your customer’s post-purchase needs.
With an excellent level of post-sales customer service, even if your customer has a problem with their purchase, you can still turn them into a loyal customer and advocate of your brand at this point of their buyer journey.
Still Stuck?
If now you know the ins and outs of creating an inbound marketing campaign, you are still stuck on where to start. Or maybe you don’t have the time or necessary skill set to create the required content, then get in touch with us at Approved Business. We’re a one-stop shop for every aspect of your inbound marketing campaign helping you to draw in, engage and delight your customers while saving you time, energy and money.
