Marketers using Inbound Marketing methodology have to be good with various aspects such as content creation, social media, SEO, lead generation, and more. Inbound Marketing demands that you are skilled at using all these techniques. Hence, inbound marketing may seem intimidating at times.
In order to tackle these complexities with inbound marketing, it is important to have a plan. This will help you figure out what to prioritise, what works best for specific business models, what mistakes to avoid, as well as how to implement this plan. Whether your business is a start-up, or looking to revamp your marketing activities a strong plan can help you achieve the best results.
There are many different ways in which you can plan your inbound marketing strategy based on your business model. Here are five important steps that you might want to include in order to ensure better results:
Buyer Persona
Buyer personas are fictional representations of your ideal customers. It is an important aspect of inbound marketing as it forms the foundation of the entire strategy. This will help you identify your target audience. Determining your buyer persona will enable you to build content or messaging that resonates with your target audience.
All buyers are different and have their own interests, goals, and pain-points. Taking the time to create your buyer persona will help you connect with them in a more personal way. Buyers will have personalised content to educate them and answer their questions.
Keywords
Now that you have determined your buyer persona it is important to analyse how they search for information. Researching keywords will help you create a list of key terms that you can use to create your content. These keywords are centered around the questions that your buyer personas have which will allow you to target and attract the right people to your website.
In addition keyword research enables you to estimate the search volume by location, cost of pay-per-click advertising, and keyword difficulty. When you create a keyword list focus on keywords that have a high search volume and medium to low competition.
Content Strategy
Content is an integral part of an inbound marketing strategy. Your inbound marketing strategy should include fresh, relevant, and useful content that will help you in converting leads. The content should be useful to your audience. It should answer their queries or solve their problems. Hence, it is important to outline your content strategy based on your audience.
When you break down the inbound funnel you can see that leads fall in one of three stages:
Top-of-funnel (Awareness stage): these leads are looking for general information on a subject.
Middle-of-funnel (Evaluation stage): the leads in this funnel need to be made aware of your brand.
Bottom-of-funnel (Decision stage): the leads in this funnel are looking for information about the benefits of your products/services in order to make a final decision of whether or not to invest in your brand.
Keeping in mind the leads in all these different stages you can create content to address each of their needs. The focus of top-of-funnel content is to spread awareness about your brand in order to convert visitors into leads.
You can use social media, blog posts, videos, infographics, etc. to spread more awareness. Middle-of-funnel content begins to position your product or service. Webinars, catalogs, FAQ sheets, brochures can be used to introduce your brand. Leads at the bottom-of-funnel are evaluating your product or service. Giving more information about your product, offering consultation or estimate can encourage them to invest in your brand.
Social Media
The content you create should also be shared on social media platforms in order to reach more audiences. Through social media, you can distribute content to relevant people who engage with it and follow your brand. There are many social media platforms out there and you need to determine which platform has the majority of your target audience.
Spend time creating a social media promotion plan, and analyse which content resonates with your audience. By investing in platforms that are used by your target audience you reach them at the right time with content that is relevant to them.
Landing Pages
Landing pages are where your leads are directed to after clicking on your call-to-action. It could be a product page, an e-book download or a form to fill out, etc. Whatever the purpose of your campaign is, it is important to create a landing page that is relevant to the call-to-action.
In addition, focus your landing page on a singular purpose so that you do not confuse the audience. It is also important to work on the design of your landing page in order to keep your audience engaged and interested.
Including these five steps in your inbound marketing strategy can make a big difference and give you results that you are looking for.
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