The AB of Inbound Marketing: what it is and how it works.

29 Sep The AB of Inbound Marketing: what it is and how it works.

Although Inbound Marketing has been with us for a few years, this methodology continues to be one of the trends in Digital Marketing for all the advantages it brings to the brands that practice it. 

We continue to experience a huge shift in brand-consumer relationships, and the rise in Inbound strategies is proof of that.

Brands have always wanted to reach customers, and normally customers have always wanted to get away from them (or their advertising). Inbound Marketing is committed to another very different methodology: its actions make the user the one who approaches the brand, and is interested in it.

If the term remains unclear, today we want to tell you what Inbound Marketing is and how it works.

Let’s get down to business!

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound Marketing, also called attraction marketing, is based on a methodology that consists of attracting your customers through the generation of useful content that generates value in each of the stages of the funnel that the buyer goes through.

These techniques contact the user at the beginning of their purchase process, and accompany them until the final transaction occurs (the sale of the service or product, for example).

The content provided must be quality content, that fits the profile of the target, and that is appropriate for each of the phases of the purchasing process.

What is the difference between Inbound Marketing and traditional advertising?

Inbound Marketing differs from advertising in that it reaches users and acquires their loyalty without the use of intrusive marketing techniques.
Unlike advertising and more traditional marketing, inbound attracts potential customers without intrusively attracting customer attention.

To do this, content is created that directly addresses the problems and needs of the target audience, and attracts qualified prospects that fit the profile of the brand’s potential customer.

These prospects are accompanied throughout the funnel with valuable content, generating credibility and trust.

This new concept was born to respond to changes in consumer behavior, which are no longer passive recipients, nor are they willing to allow advertising interruptions impassively.

Users have modified their way of communicating and interacting with brands, as the internet has become a space for conversation where users have an active role.

Inbound Marketing strategies allow us to attract and engage customers, without consumers feeling that the only purpose is to achieve sales. Customers approach the brand, without the brand having to approach them directly (as is the case with outbound).

What advantages does Inbound Marketing provide?

Inbound Marketing’s actions stand out for being a long-term investment for the company. They are not specific actions that are launched to obtain specific benefits, but are small seeds that are planted to obtain long-term assets that will be really beneficial for the brand.

What does the brand achieve with the implementation of the Inbound Marketing methodology?

Increase in the number of subscribers: the different actions of Inbound serve so that users who visit the brand’s website end up becoming database records. These efforts allow the company to have an ever-widening and loyal subscriber base.

Increased reach: the content created by the brand manages to reach a much higher number of users, so that the company has more visibility.

Expert voice: generating quality content makes the brand an “expert voice,” so that you can more easily market your services or products.

Improving brand branding: all the actions carried out through Inbound Marketing make brand branding better. The brand, gradually, has more interactions, so it becomes more known.

Increase in sales: the increase in community around the brand and the increase in its confidence makes sales increase. In addition, generating automated process frameworks helps ensure qualified leads are obtained.

How does Inbound Marketing work?

We can outline the operation of Inbound Marketing in two ways.

From the customer’s point of view, the user follows the following path:

Awareness (decides you want to buy something)> Research (investigates the product) > Decision (chooses what you want to buy) > Action (purchase)

From the brand point of view, certain Inbound Marketing actions are carried out to achieve the following:

Attract the user > Turn it into a lead > Close sale > Loyalty

We can see this process in a more detailed manner in the following graph:

The 4 Inbound Marketing Phases

1. Attract: 

How do we attract the user? Generating traffic through a diversity of resources such as social networks, events, SEO, or content marketing. All these actions direct users to the website, where they find useful information to cover the need they have at a given moment. For this, it is necessary to design attraction strategies that are hatched around the quality content created. This content can be published on a variety of sites: on the blog, on the web, on social networks or on other portals. All this helps the web to end up ranking better and increase its visibility. In addition, the users themselves help to share the content, so that even more traffic is generated to the brand’s website.

2. Convert:

Your objective is to convert your website’s traffic into a complete database in order for your inbound actions to be effective. How can you get it? Well, through processes and techniques that convert visits into quality leads.

You can do this by offering relevant and personalized content that the user can download in exchange for leaving their personal data. There are many formats to use, for example:

-Ebooks

-Templates

-Checklists

-Guides

-Videos

3. Close:

Once the users have become leads, a seduction process must be started that leads to the closing of the transaction. How can we make users end up becoming the brand’s customers? Well, providing useful information that covers each of the needs in all phases of the purchase process until the closing is achieved.

4. Delight:

Once the user has entered the closing phase, inbound sales begin. In addition to closing sales, inbound marketing also focuses on keeping customers (already converted) into loyal and satisfied customers through various loyalty actions. It is not only enough to convert users into clients, it is also essential to keep them. And this can be achieved by sending them useful information that may be of interest to them.

What results does Inbound Marketing provide?

According to a report published in Hubspot, an appropriate Inbound Marketing strategy and the implementation of Inbound actions, provides the following benefits:

-93.2% of brands that carry out Inbound Marketing actions increase traffic to their website.

-92.7% of brands increase lead capture, and expand their databases.

-49.2% of brands increase their sales.

-B2B companies using Inbound Marketing get 23.9 times more leads than without using it.

-B2C companies that use Inbound Marketing get 30.4 times more leads than without using it.

If Inbound Marketing is so positive, why don’t all brands do it?

Many companies expect to see results immediately, and are not willing to make a future investment that does not lead to instant sales. This is often a serious mistake. Many CEOs assure that they want their company to grow, but they are not willing to make the necessary changes to make this really happen and have real growth. Knowing the interests and needs of the client, and knowing what content to contribute to adequately accompany them throughout the funnel, is something that needs time and dedication.

Investing in Inbound Marketing is synonymous with investing in the future of your company. It is synonymous with understanding your users, helping them throughout the process, and closing sales.

This new reality represents a fantastic opportunity for all those companies that want to grow, since only those companies that are willing to invest in the creation of content that helps improve people’s lives are those that will grow in the long run. Unstoppably.

If you want us to tell you more about Inbound Marketing, or you need us to help you develop an Inbound strategy, contact us. We are your best option!

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