Inbound Marketing – Essential for Your Business

Until the past year or so, an inbound marketing strategy was an optional, nice-to-have feature for most businesses. That is no longer the case; inbound marketing has become a critical factor in your online marketing plan. Inbound marketing is the new normal. It uses the concept that if you provide value to customers first, they will respond by returning that value back and doing business with you.

What Exactly Is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing is a means of enabling your brand to get found by customers. You can accomplish that using a couple different methods.

• Content marketing is probably the most popular form of inbound marketing. Creating and sharing useful and compelling content will entice potential customers and keep current customers interested. The content is such that it encourages them to want to learn more. Inbound marketing and content marketing are sometimes used interchangeably, where in fact; content marketing is a subset of an inbound marketing plan.

Content can be in the form of your website page content, blogs, articles and e-books, to name a few. It should be optimized for optimal SEO to get the best results, while also offering useful information. You can’t just stuff your content with keywords and phrases any more to improve SEO. Google is too smart for that!

• Social media marketing is another method used in inbound marketing. This does not refer to paid advertising campaigns. Instead, it includes posts and information about you and your company that puts a human face on it. It’s a way of connecting with followers, who will then share your content with the intent of reaching a larger audience. Having an effective social media campaign strategy will go far in getting more exposure for your brand and reaching your target audience.

Why Inbound Marketing Is So Critical Today

The success of outbound marketing has dwindled considerably in the past few decades. Outbound marketing is the practice of blasting people with paid advertising, whether they are looking for it or not. With the accessibility of information, literally at your fingertips, consumers are much less tolerant of pushy salespeople. Even if a potential customer sees an add or gets a sales pitch, they are more likely to do their own research before buying.

Consumers like to feel that they arrived at a decision on their own, through unaltered methods. It’s empowering for them to purchase your good/service from their own due diligence, rather than through outbound persuasive techniques. Additionally, the expectation level is more aligned if the consumer arrives at the decision on her own, rather than through lofty sales promises.

In contrast to outbound marketing, inbound marketing gets prospects reaching out to you because they like and enjoy what they find on your company. Give them interesting and valuable information, connect with them on social media; it takes time, but it can prove worthwhile. Be a respected expert in your field, not just another annoying salesperson. You probably have more to share than you realize. Don’t make the mistake of “tricking” people to get their business; get their attention with the truth, facts, reaching out and genuinely trying to help them solve their problems.

Let Philadelphia SEO for Growth Help You with Your Inbound Marketing Strategy

At Philadelphia SEO for Growth, we are inbound marketing certified. We build content-driven websites that get you leads and will help you get found in search engines. We have the expertise to build your online marketing strategy so that you can concentrate on attracting and keeping customers.

Philadelphia SEO for Growth has the tools and resources to help you create interesting content, in the form of blogs, videos, social media posts, and other ways of sharing useful information about you and your business. Contact us today to learn more!