Inbound marketing. You’ve probably heard the term. But what does it really mean? And more importantly, what does it mean for your business?

According to Hubspot (a leading inbound marketing platform),

“Inbound marketing is focussed on attracting customers through relevant and helpful content and adding value at every stage in your customer’s buying journey. With inbound marketing, potential customers find you through channels like blogs, search engines, and social media.” 

Quoted - https://www.hubspot.com/inbound-marketing

In short, it is a method of “pull” marketing rather than “push” marketing. It is a content marketing strategy where you market in a way that pulls your customers towards you, rather than pushing your products/services onto them. By creating content designed to address the problems and needs of your ideal customers, you attract qualified prospects and build trust and credibility for your business.

Sound good? It is. The problem however, is that not many people know how to run an effective inbound marketing campaign.

Most people tend to think that marketing is actually all about the sale, and end up focussing all of their energy on trying to get a customer across the line (and in turn, grow their bottom line). And that’ why so many marketing efforts fail miserably...

Marketing is about so much more than just a sale. It is about forging meaningful relationships, providing value, and nurturing potential customers along the buyer's journey process.

Nobody enjoys being actively sold to, or having products pushed in their faces, or being forced to endure ongoing campaigns that they are not interested in. As a marketer, it is your responsibility  to help a potential customer make an informed decision (especially if you value sustainability, repeat purchases and valuable word-of-mouth advertising, which you 100% should).

But exactly how do you run an effective inbound marketing campaign? Well, we’re glad you asked… Here are the top three things you need to keep in mind when creating your campaigns:

1. Create content specific for each stage of the buyer’s journey so that you can nurture potential customers closer towards a sale from a value-added perspective (rather than purely from a sales perspective).

2. Give more than you take. Offer value before asking for a sale.

3.  Genuinely care about the relationship you are building with the customer. People are more advert savvy than ever before and can smell a campaign a mile away. The more human-to-human the connection is, the stronger the relationship will be. We are all emotional beings, so showing the human element rather than a strictly corporate element is a great way to build connection.

Running an inbound marketing campaign certainly requires more thought and effort than any old marketing campaign, but it’s returns will be seen long after the initial campaign launches and will continue to bring value to your customers (and your business) for a while yet.

Consumer buying behaviour is changing rapidly, and those who continue to use dated marketing methods will left behind and overlapped by those who are adapting to the new customer experience. Do you need help adjusting and adapting your marketing efforts? We’d love to hear from you.

P.S. Want to run your OWN inbound marketing campaign but don’t even know where to start? Not to worry, we’ve got your back. We’re putting the final touches on a downloadable template to guide you through how to run a successful inbound marketing campaign. Sign up here to be the first to receive it as soon as it’s ready!

Still not sure where to start?  Visit the Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Strategies.