We have all grown up seeing advertisements on television and many times we find it interrupting. These advertisements are outbound advertisements and are an old form of marketing. With the advent of social media and search engines, advertising has taken an entirely different course of route. This may include advertising through messages and emails. This form of advertising where the marketing is done through emails, messages, or any other form that attracts the customers without interrupting them is called “Inbound Marketing”.
Components of inbound marketing –
It aims to provide value at every stage of the customer’s journey, from awareness to purchase and beyond. The key components of inbound marketing are explained below –
1. Content creation –
Content creation is a very effective form of marketing in today’s world. People can market their services and products through videos, infographics, images and even blog posts. These are aimed at catching the attention of a customer without interrupting them in any form. For example, someone could be casually scrolling through their phone and come across a blog about some product which could interest them in buying it. This form of marketing is by far very effective.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) –
Nowadays, the best way to endorse yourself on search engines is through search engine optimization. This is basically focused on using a keyword that focuses on your product as well as the possibility of searches that the customers might make. This could include topics that customers search relate to your product. For example, if you sell perfume, then keywords related to that will help your website pop up in the search result which allows your marketing to be done on its own without interrupting the customer.
3. Social media marketing –
Posting content on social media is by far the best strategy among all the types of inbound marketing strategies. This is because of social listening and geotargeting. You can not only target the audience that is speaking about your products but also target the audience that purchased from you earlier. Viral marketing, influencer marketing, organic marketing and paid collaborations are certain ways in which you can direct your social media marketing strategies. In simple words, you are either paying someone to promote your products in the form of videos or reels or posting your own ads and making your content go viral with social media tools.
4. Email Marketing –
Email marketing is done to share information with your existing customers or with a group of people who visited your website but did not make any purchases. These can include newsletters, purchase coupons, any discount and offer details on the website and new launch details. For example, if you have a buy 1 get 1 sale on your website all your customers will get an email to get information about the offer. this will drive traffic to the website and increase your conversion rates. This is also the most cost-effective means of inbound marketing.
5. Content promotion –
You can also promote your content through various channels, such as social media, email, and paid advertising, to increase its visibility and reach. For example, there is an option for paid promotion on Instagram to promote a post for the required duration of time. This will help you reach a desired audience as it is flexible with the region you choose. This is however not as money-efficient as other forms of inbound marketing strategies.
Wrapping it up –
If you are only aware of TV advertisements and in-call promotions, then you are missing out on inbound advertisements that are 100 times more effective in today’s world. People are more bound to be attentive towards ads that are not interruptive. These can include SEO marketing, social media marketing, Email marketing and content creation. In conclusion, these are some of the highly effective ways of marketing which have proven to drive more traffic to the website and increase conversion rates and clickthrough rates with time.