Inbound marketing is an integrated digital marketing strategy that uses content as a starting point. It therefore integrates digital marketing tools to attract visitors to your website, converting them into registered users: lead.
The strategy has direct marketing in its conceptual vein. It then uses its user lists to build relationships and sell its products or services.
As the word itself says, it is an inbound strategy, where the objective is to attract visitors, specifically to your website. Therefore, the central point is the content, which is offered through a blog and various relevant and quality materials.
In this way, the blog will have a captive audience that, in all the actions coordinated by the strategy, will end up descending into a marketing and sales funnel. As a result, the result will be the acquisition of new clients.
To get your visitor and potential customer to move through the funnel, the idea is business to consumer database to use relevant information and rich materials . This way you will be able to qualify your audience, transforming them into customers.
The classic inbound marketing funnel has three positions : top (ToFu), middle (MoFu) and bottom (BoFu). These positions show where the visitor is in relation to the moment when they make the purchase. Therefore, the content generated must take into account the visitor's stage. So, according to this stage, the content generation is targeted.
How to use inbound marketing?
build a person
The first step is to know exactly who your ideal customer is. We call this customer “ideal customer persona .”
This person is much more than just your target audience. They are the embodiment of your ideal client, taking into account not only their demographic characteristics.
To build a personality, let's go further. We consider your desires, your stage in life and your preferences.
That's why it's best to create a profile through research. To start, you can get first impressions of your sales team. But, later, you need to polish the person with realistic information, since it will be around them that we will develop all the content of the attraction.
Consider the consumer's purchasing journey
The second step in using inbound marketing is to build a strategy that will appeal to this person, considering their buying journey . That is, what stage they are at in the search for a solution to their problem. Based on this, we will build the sales funnel.
The classic purchasing process has four stages:
Learning and discovery;
Problem recognition;
Consideration of the solution;
Purchase decision.
The steps
In the discovery phase, the potential buyer is not yet aware that he has a problem to solve. Therefore, he does not even know that he is facing a business opportunity. Therefore, you must arouse his interest. As we are talking about a content strategy, it is essential to present answers to the challenges common to this person.
At this stage we have more general content, but it quickly arouses interest.
The second stage of the journey, awareness, occurs when the person understands that there is a problem to be solved. But they don't have the solution in hand yet. At this stage, the content is more specific. It helps answer the main questions of this potential client.
The visitor who is in the consideration stage should already be learning how to choose the solution to their problem. They are already thinking about purchasing a product or service. This is where the content should insert some triggers to bring that potential customer to the end of the funnel.
At the bottom of the funnel we have the purchase decision. The last phase of the purchase process is the stage in which the potential client is ready to consume. In this way, the sales team necessarily comes into play, although in many inbound processes pre-sale contacts can already be made in the previous stage. This is the crucial moment to not lose the lead, converting them into a client.