What is Inbound Internet Marketing?
Help Your Prospects Find You
Inbound marketing refers to permission-based marketing activities that facilitate a person’s choice to learn more about you. These highly interconnected activities include: content marketing, search marketing, email marketing, social media, and digital PR, supported by a lead-generating website and business blog, landing pages or microsites, and robust lead intelligence and analytics.
The Concept of Inbound Internet Marketing:
Inbound marketers understand that the very essence of human behavior has changed since the mass adoption of the Internet. Think about your own life and how much time is you spend on your laptop, iPhone, Blackberry, or on Facebook. How much time did you spend on these tools 10 or even 5 years ago?
Clearly, human behavior has changed. And because human behavior has changed, communication has changed, the buying cycle has changed, and marketing has changed!
Inbound marketing takes this shift in human behavior and translates it into the marketing actions companies must take in order to succeed in today's world. Basically inbound marketing says that when you position your brand ahead of your competitors in the places where your customers look for information or advice about what you offer (online); and when you do it in a way that adds genuine value to the buying process, prospects will choose to interact with you. When done right, these interactions can become self-qualified leads that can then be turned into loyal customers.
What are the Requirements of an Effective Inbound Marketing Program?
To be effective, inbound marketing requires the following:
- Identifying and understanding your buyer personas
- Buyer-oriented content strategy
- Integrated execution of content marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing, digital PR, and email marketing
- A specifically-tailored balance of inbound and outbound marketing tactics, suited to your business and the clients you serve
- Strategic measurement, interpretation and response to internet marketing analytics
- Know-how to craft effective offers
- Ability to build lead-generating websites, landing pages and blogs
