Fifteen years ago, your website’s mere existence and aesthetics might have proved sufficient to differentiate your business from some competition. We live in a different world now – having a website simply lumps your business in with all of your competitors.
Without a strategic plan in place, you can’t hope to stand out from the crowd (and the crowd is massive – there are over 1 billion sites online). Instead, you become a single light bulb on the Las Vegas Strip – indistinguishable from the myriad other sources and easily forgettable. Armed with the right inbound marketing strategy, however, you become the brightest bulb of the bunch.
Shine a Light on Your Business – And Your Customers
For an inbound marketing strategy to work, you need to understand both your business and your target market. The former gives you insight into your differentiating value proposition, while the latter opens the door to connect with the people who might buy your product or invest in your service.
Once you’re clear on your business’ goals and your customers’ needs, you can start creating valuable content that bridges the gap between the two. Every piece of content you publish should provide valuable insight, solve a problem, or share a fresh idea.
The content creation portion of your inbound marketing strategy is designed to attract potential customers and can involve numerous moving parts. You want your audience to not only consume your content, but also share it with their tribes and participate in conversations. The more buzz you generate, the brighter your business starts to shine.
Illuminate the Desired Path
Your customers won’t automatically know what to do next when they connect with your business, whether they read one of your blog posts or land on your social media profile. They could easily be distracted by other sites, social media, or any number of distractions.
Instead, you’ll tell them how to proceed clearly and quickly. A call to action (CTA) gives your target audience a direction, whether you want them to visit your products pages, sign up for your email list, or download a free white paper. Invite them to continue connecting with your business so you have more opportunities to convert them into customers.
Rekindle Interest
The most successful businesses continue to reach out to their current and potential customers on a regular basis. They keep in touch via email and social media, and they invite connection at every opportunity.
Even if prospects doesn’t convert after they first encounter your business, they might one day express renewed interest. It usually takes multiple touch-points over various marketing channels for a lead to determine that your product or service fits their needs. That final conversion only happens, however, if you keep your business in the forefront of your contacts’ minds.
There are multiple ways to accomplish this, whether it’s a retargeting campaign or an email series, or something else entirely. An inbound marketing firm can help you devise a strategy that will continue to highlight your business’s unique offerings.
Ignite the Numbers
An inbound marketing strategy doesn’t blaze a trail on its own. It needs data and statistics to drive it forward and influence its direction, which is why businesses have to both collect and analyze information about their tactics and their audience’s response.
The more data you collect, the more informed your decisions become. You’ll figure out how your target customers interact with your business and which strategies appeal to them most.
Your website can’t shine on its own – your target audience needs a compelling reason to give it their attention. Inbound marketing methodology harnesses your unique business qualities and positions them as just the solution that your audience needs.