Inbound Marketing has become a trend in the digital marketing world today. It is a set of actions that allow customers to reach companies more easily, and not the other way around.
A few years ago, traditional marketing featured intrusive advertising techniques, issuing information that users did not request and where the public's interest was practically zero.
With the arrival of the Internet and the widespread use of smartphones, a real revolution began in the world of marketing. Consumers began to be continuously connected, which changed their consumption habits. By receiving information constantly, consumers demanded more and more personalization , forcing marketing experts to increasingly pursue the goal of creating user experiences adapted not only to each customer, but also to each phase of their Consumer Journey .
This is the moment when it became essential to find new strategies such as Inbound Marketing , in order to attract and please consumers in a more effective way.
In this article we will analyze what Inbound Marketing is , the history of Inbound Marketing , the stages of the inbound methodology , and a definitive guide on how to implement Inbound Marketing in a company.
Inbound Marketing is the application of a set of marketing techniques that allow you to attract customers in a non-intrusive way by combining attraction marketing actions such as SEO , Content Marketing , and lead generation , among others. The objective is to establish initial contact with the user in the initial phase of their purchasing process, gaining their trust to accompany them until the final transaction.
Unlike traditional advertising (through which consumers perceive that the goal is to achieve sales), through Inbound Marketing companies can provide value to users in a non-intrusive way. The use of inbound techniques makes it easier for consumers to approach companies and businesses.
What is inbound marketing?
Therefore, companies must design strategies that accompany users from the moment they have a need (top of the funnel), during the middle phase (middle of the funnel) and until they reach the end of the funnel (bottom of the funnel).
The conclusion is that inbound marketing consists of designing those strategies and actions to accompany the user throughout the entire process, from the moment we capture them, throughout the entire information and education process and completing the process with everything that has to do with sales, known as inbound sales.
The Inbound methodology is the best way to convert strangers into clients for your company. Inbound marketing manages to attract users in a more natural way , without pressure. It is a non-aggressive method.
A Brief History of Inbound Marketing
Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah and David Meerman developed the inbound marketing methodology in 2004.
Founding of HubSpot and Inbound Marketing in 2005
In 2005, after the founding of Hubspot (a platform for inbound marketing that offers advice, tools, certifications, and tutorials), they officially named the strategy inbound marketing and published the book Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs.
The publication of the book Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs marked the launch of the implementation of this new way of understanding marketing.
David Meerman Scott, for his part, published The New Rules of Marketing and PR , outlining how marketing and public relations on the Internet have evolved over the last decade.
In addition to the important role played by Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah and David Meerman Scott, the digital revolution and the evolution of ICT play an equal or more important role than that of their creators.
Initially, the Internet was just a showcase where companies could present who they were and their products or services.
But with the arrival of forums , users began to express their opinions and ask other consumers about products and services. With forums, information began to be democratized and companies lost total control of the information that users obtained about their products and services.
In parallel to forums, the emergence of blogs allowed any user to compare products and brands, offering their personal opinion to audiences of all ages. Since the appearance of blogs, the influence of blogger users in different areas of the economy has not stopped growing. On the other hand, social networks , where users can freely share their experiences with companies, played an important role in making Inbound Marketing an essential methodology.
Search engines, forums, blogs and social networks marked the beginning of a process of market transparency that continues to grow and has helped the Inbound methodology to continue to evolve since its creation.
Market transparency has a strong impact on marketing and on users' purchasing processes.
The first stages of the purchasing decision process are mostly done through searches on Google, YouTube, and even Instagram and LinkedIn, among others. And many of the purchasing processes also end online, as would brazil telegram phone number list be the case with a transaction and purchase completed in an e-commerce site.
Ultimate Guide to Inbound Marketing 2020
Delivering content of a different nature at different times is the key to success. Informative content is needed in the awareness phase , and when it comes to the decision and purchase moment, promotional and transactional content is needed, such as offers and discounts.
Thanks to ICT, companies can reach a customer at the right moment in their purchasing process, with the information they need, at that precise moment.
So let's start by defining the phases.
Inbound Marketing: The 4 Phases of the Buying Process
The inbound methodology is based on the phases that correspond to the stages of the user purchasing process.
1- Attraction
During this phase, companies must demonstrate to their prospects that they can solve all their problems. The goal is to direct the user to a website with useful information to learn about and understand their need.
Companies must design attraction strategies that are articulated around created content that is published on the web, blog, social networks and also on other portals. This content is consumed by users, who share it and end up generating more traffic.
2- Conversion
This phase consists of carrying out all those actions and tactics to convert the visits that a website receives into records for the company's database .
To obtain user data, relevant content is offered to the user that can be downloaded in exchange for filling out a form. The formats that are usually used for creating content are ebooks, videos, webinars and checklists, among others.
3- Education and information
The previous conversion phase will allow companies to send users useful information at each stage of their purchasing process . To do this, companies use marketing automation techniques such as lead scoring and lead nurturing. In addition to automation strategies, retargeting and web content personalization strategies can also be applied .
Thanks to cookies we can track what the user has visited, which allows us to target the type of content, offers and actions that are delivered to each user who visits our website, ensuring that they find content that helps them advance in their purchasing process.
4- Closing and loyalty
Once you have acquired clients, it is necessary to retain them and keep them satisfied, offer them useful and interesting information and convert your clients into prescribers, and sales into recommendations.
The goal of inbound marketing is not only to get end customers, it also focuses on:
Customer satisfaction.
The delivery of useful information.
Converting users into brand prescribers.
Inbound Methodology applied to Sales
Getting inbound sales consists of
