Let me tell you a little story!
There was a girl named Jenny. Smart , beautiful , loving Jenny! Let’s say she was your textbook’ love at first sight’ woman. Of course, she was admired and chased by many men. But there were two of them who were close. Meet the first guy Sam, handsome, rich and constantly trying to woo our girl. His unrelenting date proposals were exhausting and Jenny always avoided them as he came off as a little desperate and self obsessed.
Meet our other man Andrew, average looking, earns a decent income, happy and always concerned and available for her, be it her daily banter or 3 a.m anxiety calls. Jenny always asked Andrew out as he was great listener and she could talk to him about her work and family problems. Makes sense right?
Well that’s exactly the difference between selling and making them buy and its brought to life by the magic of inbound marketing.
So, What is Inbound Marketing?
In todays world your buyers have all the power. I want you to think about what you usually go through when you make a purchase. I m sure you hop online and do some research. Know about which product suits your needs, fits into your budget, has good reviews and much more. Inbound is nothing but supporting you during that buying process and empowering you as a customer to make right decision.
It’s about identifying and understanding your potential customers, understanding their needs, empowering them and most importantly gaining a “Mindspace”, so that whenever a related need arises, your product is the first one that pops into your prospects mind as well as their google search results.
A well thought Social media marketing strategy, digital marketing strategy and content marketing strategy frames your inbound marketing. There are a few simple steps which can help you nail that perfect marketing goal and it all begins with the customer, so lets start….
Understanding your prospect
Start by asking some simple questions about your typical customers. Where is he/she located, what is their job title?, average income, what is their lifestyle? what do they do on weekends? what they read? what are their challenges? and many other question specific to your business that will help you understand their behaviour better. Try to find when, where and why they need your product and their journey to make that buying decision.
Creating Awareness: Being found, Build Connect
Inbound marketing is very much the art of being found when your consumer is looking for your business or service and seducing them with right kind of content. It could be anything from interactive blogs, optimising your website, a bull’s-eye SEO, an indulging social media presence and glittering customer reviews. Let’s try to understand this with an example.
Recently I made a search for “how to write good customer support emails”, and I landed on ‘Guide to better email’, an article by HelpScout. I didn’t even know HelpScout.
One of their inbound strategies includes publishing articles which provides readers with amazing insights on consumer support while subtly introducing themselves in the content itself. It drew me into knowing more about them, and recently when someone asked me about customer support tools, Helpscout was first one to popup.
Engage to generate lead
Now that you have the right kind of content which was able to capture your prospects eye, you next step is to collect their contact information. This will enable you to stay in touch, remarket, send emailers etc. It’s like building your product’s quintessential fan base.
Obviously ! no one will just give away their private info just like that! Your consumer will always think “whats in this for me?” and you have to satisfy that urge.
So you have to rope them in with offers like a free ebook or a promise of sending them amazing information and knowledge. Check out this ingenious subscription popup from Help Scout.
Immersion and Closer
Now that you have the mindspace and the contact information its crucial you send the perfect content to close the buy. This can be done with right CRM tools, retargeting on social media like Facebook, emails reminding them of you and via promotional offers that tempt consumers into swiping that card. But in this process you need to exercise helping them into making buying decision but not making a hard sell.
For example with GoBiggi user may receive an email with an attached article link informing “how to build kick-ass online reputation” which will empower reader to make a better buying decision based on the features of the product that were educated to the prospect via the blog and the article.
Continue delightful relationship
Your marketing strategy doesn’t end with the sale. Don’t let the engagement go down and continue to educate further. Once the consumer uses your product its essential to convert their experience into something which can help influence other prospects. Case studies, reviews and testimonials can be a subtle yet the most legitimate way. When 92% of buyers refer online reviews before making a purchase.
Inbound marketing may sound like a complex mesh of fancy words and work but once you initiate step one the rest is smooth to follow. It’s all about taking part in the race, the time from the Go! To the finish line will just be a blur. All you have to do is just run as hard as you can. Like the most successful tag line in the History of marketing says,
”JUST DO IT!”
Credit: Medium
