As technology becomes a part of the buyers’ journey, prospects are now in the driver seat. Instead of blindly accepting anything advertisers offer, customers have the power to control the flow of information, all through a google search.
Nobody wakes up in the morning and thinks, 'Hey, I hope I get spammed today' - Trent Dyrsmid
Most outbound marketing tactics push their product in front of their prospects faces. Inbound marketing does the opposite. It helps customers find your product and your brand. How? By leveraging on content.
Compared to outbound, inbound is more subdued. It doesn’t force your target market to listen to a canned sales pitch. Rather, it shares relevant and useful information that answers potential customers’ pain points.
Inbound marketing doesn’t try to sell, at least not immediately. Inbound aims to educate, inform, even entertain through blogs, infographics, social media posts, and webinars. It encourages you to develop thought leadership and raise your brand awareness. This positions you as an authority and a top-of-mind solution with your audience.
Inbound marketing maximizes technology to attract a wider but targeted audience. The more content you post and the more relevant the topic, the higher your SEO ranking is. This means more people will get to see your brand and those who click are organically interested in what you offer.
More and more companies are turning to inbound because it goes beyond the transaction. Inbound marketing’s content evolves to guide prospects become leads, and leads to customers. Inbound takes time and creativity to create systems designed for every stage of the buying cycle. Instead of a catch-all approach, inbound is all about customizing the experience; tailor fitting messages to respond to the target audience’s needs. And it doesn’t end once the purchase is done. Inbound enables businesses to keep in touch with their customers through content engagement. This, in turn, creates loyal brand ambassadors willing to vouch for their products and services.
What makes inbound different? It provides value to the customers long before they become customers and inbound makes the customers feel valued long after the purchase.