What is Inbound Marketing?

Today there are an incredible number of online "messages" being sent out into the world. All of that has to be processed by the visitor. It is therefore not incomprehensible that as a result more than 50% of direct e-mails are ignored. Nobody is waiting for flyers, booklets or other things that land in our mailbox every day. Most of them go straight to the trash can. For TV advertising, we go even further. In that, about 90% of viewers rewind, and when we can't, we pull out our smartphone to kill time while the commercial plays on our television.

The difference with outbound marketing is that with that strategy, the touting of the product is aimed at a large group of people in the hope that many will be engaged. With inbound marketing, on the other hand, you're looking for people who are already interested. So this requires a little more effort on the front end and it takes a little longer before you see an effect, but this strategy is a lot more sustainable. In fact, with outbound marketing, it's a case of shooting with hail. With inbound marketing, you are a marksman and target the right possible customers.

There is no inbound marketing tactic that works well on its own. Here's what Bill Faeth shared with us about healthy ecosystems for inbound marketing:

Inbound marketing cannot be segmented into separate categories, with each section having independent power. Although we rely on SEO to attract visitors from organic search, that SEO does not work if there is no content. Without social media, blogs don't reach new, interested people. And SEO, content and social media are all completely useless without a lead generation process."

Most successful inbound marketing campaigns include all or parts of the following elements:

Search engine optimization is an integral part of effective inbound marketing. Using effective keyword analysis, well-structured site design and other Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices to drive your business to the top of the search results will ensure that your content is viewed by the right audience and you get the right leads.

Content remains by far the most common form of inbound marketing. Blogging can play a powerful role in generating traffic and nurturing leads. Furthermore, it is good to blog regularly about trends in your field, for example. That way, people are going to engage with your product. Provide the necessary trackings such as Facebook Pixel, Heatmaps, Analytics, forms and pop-ups at the right stage of the buyer's journey and your inbound marketing strategy can't fail.

67 percent of online adults who use social media to share information cannot afford to ignore widely used online communities such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Obviously, you need to provide the right content here as well for the benefit of your inbound marketing.

Take inbound marketing to the next level with online webinars and live events. Do more in community building where you solve specific questions or problems (for free) for your target audience.

And there is much more than the things mentioned above. So you can get started with videos, white papers, e-books, newsletters, public speaking ... Any opportunity to share valuable content is an opportunity to practice inbound marketing.

Also make sure that visitors can easily get in touch with you. So check that there are enough contact forms on your website. Just one form is pretty little! When it comes to the content of your website, it is wise to respond to possible problems of the visitor.

Offer a solution or take away any doubt. It can also help to offer your customer something on your website, such as an e-learning module or a (few chapters from) an e-book you developed yourself. To get access to those extras, customers must leave their contact information, which in turn allows you to approach them effectively, personally and in a targeted manner.

To help you set up your inbound marketing strategy, we highly recommend using HubSpot. As founders of inbound marketing, their marketing automation software is the tool of choice to use with your inbound marketing campaigns.

So the software helps you tailor your product to the needs of the customer. Among other things, it offers possibilities to efficiently maintain a blog, helps you find out which pages of your website are the best visited and has tools for sending personalized e-mails, for example targeted to the interest of (potential) customers. You can build optimized landing pages, set up workflows and automations and much more!