In today’s digital market, more companies than ever recognize the importance of having a content marketing strategy. According to HubSpot, 77% of respondents in a 2019 survey said their company had a content marketing strategy. Many companies are now producing content for social media, blogs, email, etc., to reach consumers who are interested in their products or services.
However, content marketing involves more than simply posting content in the right places. An effective content marketing strategy involves posting the right content, in the right places, and saying the right things. Today’s consumer market wants to see more than ads. They want useful content that helps them connect with a company. This is where inbound content marketing can help.
What is Inbound Content Marketing?
Inbound content marketing involves creating content that consumers will find useful at different points throughout the buyer journey. Inbound content often includes:
- Informational or insightful blog posts
- Social media posts
- Other forms of digital content
Offering targeted informational content helps you connect with consumers, offer helpful resources, and ultimately build awareness about products or services you offer without direct advertising. Targeted inbound content is a great way for your ideal customers to find your brand on their own.
Inbound vs. Outbound Content Marketing
Outbound content marketing is often what is seen as traditional marketing, where a company creates a piece of sales-based content and pushes it out through paid advertisements or other promotional strategies. Outbound content marketing can be a great way to get people to look at your content, but the “sales pitch” feel of this type of content can turn many people away.
Inbound content marketing is more subtle and pulls consumers in who are interested and searching for information on their own. If inbound content is targeted correctly, it can often help bring people to your website who are already searching for information about products or services that you offer.
What Are the Benefits of Inbound Content Marketing?
Inbound content marketing has many benefits to both a business and the prospective customer who is searching for information.
Build Relationships with Your Customers
Inbound content allows you to build a relationship with your customers from the very beginning. By offering useful information that speaks to your customers, you become not only a company that they can purchase from, but you also act as a dependable resource for information. The mutual benefit that inbound content has can help you build a loyal customer base over time.
Build Trust and Credibility
If you post quality informational content that is useful to your customers, it will help you build trust and credibility in your industry. When you are a trusted resource, it will make prospective customers feel more comfortable buying from you. This “trust factor” can often be beneficial when someone is deciding between your brand and the competition.
Higher Return on Investment
Inbound content marketing often leads to a higher return on investment (ROI) than traditional paid advertising. Inbound content marketing has a high ROI because it is:
- Cheaper: Inbound marketing allows you to generate organic traffic. This means that you don’t have to pay to promote your marketing content to get views.
- Creates evergreen content: If you target the right topics, it could potentially generate consistent organic traffic for years to come.
- Results in high-quality traffic: Inbound marketing brings in prospective customers who may already be interested without the sales pitch of paid ads.
- Leads to higher conversion rates: Bringing in shoppers who are already looking to buy will lead to higher conversion rates.
All of these advantages will lead to a higher ROI for your content marketing.
Learn About Consumer Wants and Needs
Inbound marketing will help you learn about consumer wants and needs over time. When you utilize inbound content marketing, you can use analytics to see what type of content consumers are most interested, leading to high conversion rates. This can help you optimize your content strategy based on consumer preferences.
Inbound marketing also leads to making valuable connections with loyal customers who may give you feedback about additional products or services they need. This can help you create additional product or service offerings or adjust what you currently offer to satisfy these additional needs.
Content Creation for Inbound Marketing
When creating content for inbound marketing, there are some common best practices you can follow to get the best results.
Best Places to Post Content
Website
A company website is the most common place to use inbound content marketing. By optimizing your web pages and blog posts for search engines, you can help your ideal customers find your website when they are looking for your products or services.
Social Media
Social media may also be used to generate inbound traffic. Some consumers may discover your company when they come across your social media posts. Posting quality content to social media can be a good way to generate interest in your brand and drive new traffic to your website.
How to Optimize Content for Inbound Marketing
There are many ways you can optimize your content for inbound marketing. Common ways to optimize your content include:
- SEO: Search engine optimization is one of the top ways you can generate inbound traffic to your website. By targeting industry-specific keywords that potential customers may search during the buyer journey, you can bring high-quality traffic right to your website.
- Location features: Using location-based features on search engines or social media can be a good way to target people in your area. Location features are beneficial for companies with a retail location or for those who offer services in a specific area.
- Hashtags: Using relevant hashtags for your industry can be a good way to target the right audience on social media. A targeted social media audience will help you make valuable connections that will grow your business.
- Usefulness: Before creating content, you must ask yourself if your ideal customer would find it useful. Offering quality content that is beneficial to the viewer will ultimately lead to your inbound content marketing strategy being successful.
If you follow these tips, you will have a good start on optimizing your inbound marketing content.
How to Create High ROI From Inbound Website Traffic
Inbound marketing will help bring targeted traffic to your website. However, once people are on your website, there are still steps left to go in the buyer journey. Your website must be optimized to create conversions, and your company must ensure that the buying process goes as smooth as possible to create an all-around positive experience.
Optimize Landing Pages
Optimized landing pages are essential to maximize your conversion rate. Your web pages should be clear and easy for people to navigate to other areas of the website. When people are navigating through the website, it must be responsive with quick loading times. This will ensure the best possible browsing or shopping experience.
Opt-in Forms
Creating an email list can be a good way to keep your customers up to date on your company, as well as offer them useful information about your products or industry. Having opt-in forms on your website can be a good way to build an email list and keep in touch with your most loyal customers.
Calls to Action
One of the biggest things that will lead to conversions when people visit your website is having calls to action. A call to action encourages someone to take a targeted action such as making a purchase, signing up to receive email updates, or creating a profile on your website. By providing strategic calls to action, you can help prospective customers move along through the steps of the buyer journey.
Customer Service
Customer service is vital to ensure that your customers have the best possible experience. Offering customer service resources directly on your website can help customers get in touch with your company to answer any questions or help with issues. Positive customer service experiences will result in loyal customers that keep coming back to make future purchases.
Conclusion
Having an inbound content marketing strategy can be very beneficial to a company in many ways. Inbound marketing allows you to provide valuable content that brings your ideal customers to you. This can make the shopping process smoother and a positive experience for everyone involved. If you want to make sales without the sales pitch, inbound content marketing is the answer.
