What is Inbound Marketing? How to Present to the Right Audience

In marketing, you are not your prospect.

You can walk the path and talk, but ultimately you can't speak to an audience without getting to know them first. And nothing prioritizes customer experience more effectively than inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing provides your customers with exactly what they want, when and where they need it. It builds trust, loyalty, and authority in your industry in the most organic way. While your website and marketing automation software are both essential components, your success depends on your technology, your research, and the strategy you deploy.

From content marketing to search engine optimization (SEO), there's no limit to the creative options you can experiment with for your inbound marketing strategy. And whatever tactic you work with, the goal is to empower your audience and persuade buyers.

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing is a business methodology that provides quality content and a tailored customer experience to attract leads and visitors. It does not impose products or brands on customers in the hope of generating leads. Instead, it allows the customer to take the first step.

When customers come to you by choice, you no longer have to hard sell. They already know your brand. A successful inbound marketing strategy creates lasting connections with your prospects by providing them with what they need at different stages of their buying journey.

In the long run, inbound marketing can generate better results than traditional marketing through better brand awareness and revenue.

How does inbound marketing work?

Inbound marketing is a lot like fishing. It's about engaging your audience with helpful content. Delivering this content at specific times builds awareness and trust in your brand, which means you're ready to integrate them. Hook, line and sinker.

The phrase “inbound marketing” was coined in 2005 by HubSpot co-founder and CEO Brian Halligan. It took nearly a decade after that for inbound marketing to take off as a concept. Now it's as prevalent in the vernacular of online marketing as SEO.

Inbound marketing is a strategic combination of owned and earned media. Owned media is content that you create and control. Earned media refers to content created by others that promotes your brand organically. This type of media offers less control, but is more credible and valuable to your audience.

Owned media Earned media Blog Print news Website social media quotes Social media handles Online forum mentions Youtube channel Product Reviews Mobile sites Word of mouth

But how do these two elements work together for your marketing strategy?

It's simple: Inbound marketing uses owned media to garner earned media.

For example, you need content as part of your inbound marketing strategy. You can create it on any of your own channels. Suppose you write an informative article on your blog. In this case, you could get earned media from someone linking to it as a reference on their digital news site or a reader posting about it using a social campaign hashtag.

Another example is online reviews of your product or service: you can reuse reviews to create content for your blog. A solid review strategy can also help you sell more and convert happy customers into promoters. This unique and targeted approach can go a long way in promoting your brand at the right point in the buyer's journey.

Again, you are only offering users valuable information and expecting them to act on their own.