Build the Most Effective Inbound Marketing Strategy with These 4 Steps

Inbound marketing is one of, if not the, best ways to reach your customers and grow your business faster. It focuses on educating and engaging your audience at every stage of the buyer’s journey, leading to better revenue and improved conversions. Take these stats for example:

• 93% of companies are using inbound marketing to generate more leads.
• One-third of marketers think outbound marketing tactics are overrated, with 32% saying outbound marketing practices are the top waste of time and resources.
• Inbound leads cost 62% less on average than outbound leads.

If you’re just getting started with inbound, or looking for ways to take your marketing to the next level, check out these steps to creating the most effective inbound marketing strategy.

1) Build detailed buyer personas

Before you can deliver a marketing message, you need to know who you’re delivering it to and why. Get to know your target audience and their shared business challenges, goals, wants, needs and common behavior patterns. Pick the brains of your sales representatives — the people who are in the trenches day in and day out interacting with your prospects and customers.

Or go straight to the source and ask your customers themselves. Send out multiple choice questionnaires or surveys via email. If you’re having trouble thinking of questions, HubSpot developed a buyer persona template that may be helpful. Once you’ve done due diligence and uncovered some golden nuggets of information, create detailed buyer personas your Sales and Marketing teams can use to drive better results.

2) Optimize your website

Is your website a lead generation powerhouse or a virtual graveyard where leads go to die? (That got dark quickly!) Optimizing your website for conversions is vital for a successful inbound marketing strategy. Here are some best practices to follow:

• Include AND test calls-to-action on your webpages (especially the high-trafficked pages).
• Capture contact details by having visitors fill out a form on a landing page to download an offer, register for a webinar or sign up for a promotion.
• Design a mobile-friendly website that displays beautifully on any size screen.
• Create pages targeting specific buyer persona segments (e.g. aerospace and engineering, managed service providers or whatever’s relevant to your company) rather than compiling all information on one page.
• Use interactive content to engage more of your audience. For example, we created an interactive quiz for our client, Razor Technology, that calculates a company’s vulnerability to data loss.

Above all, make sure your website is responsive, clean and easy to navigate. An engaging and enhanced user experience goes a long way in improving your inbound marketing efforts.

3) Produce high-quality content consistently

Seems like a no-brainer, right? But many companies struggle to churn out great content consistently. Stay motivated by blocking out time to write on a weekly or even daily basis. Revisit your buyer personas and write blogs and downloadable content that speak to their interests, answer their questions, and help them solve their challenges.

Are you running out of topic ideas? Go to Buzzsumo, type in industry-relevant keywords, and find topics of interest. Or check out Quora or competitors’ websites for inspiration. If you’re strapped for time, update and republish old content. Repurpose a high-performing blog and turn it into a SlideShare, video, infographic or checklist.

4) Partner with an inbound marketing agency

Inbound marketing, when done right, can drain your time and resources. Working with an inbound marketing agency frees up time to focus on running your business. And when you partner with the right agency with a proven track record and a team of experts on call (like Stratus Interactive), you get the best return on your investment.

If you’re struggling to get the most out of your inbound marketing, you may be looking for an inbound marketing agency who can help. Feel confident in your choice and select the best one for your business with our guide, 7 Tips for Selecting the Right Marketing Agency.