If you want to draw in your customers instead of shouting out to them, you're living in the right era. Creating authentic connections with your customers builds trust and an ongoing relationship. These days, your customer relationships often form online. This is why inbound marketing is the face of the future when it comes to marketing campaigns.
1. It Builds Community
Modern websites are a new twist on the old-fashioned corner store. Today, much of our social interaction occurs online. As you develop your Twitter account or your Facebook page, you think about building community as a way to build your brand. Your customers may decide to come and visit for a long time or a short time, but while they're with you they feel like they're part of a respected and respectful community.
Show that you respect your customers by giving them content that they need.
2. It Respects Your Customers' Time
After many years of outbound marketing, customers are tired of the game. They avoid picking up phone calls from marketers and recycle the advertising from the newspaper. The advertisements that you post on billboards or the flyers that you hand out might catch a customer's eye, but more than likely they'll be ignored as your customers move from place to place or task to task.
Inbound marketing respects your customers' time. When you give your customers what they're looking for, they come to you. They don't need to ignore your marketing. Instead, they seek it out because it provides information that's valuable.
3. It's Proactive
In a world that's always moving, you need to keep moving along with it. You can't afford to send out advertising, then wait and see who comes knocking at your door. Inbound lead generation is inherently proactive. You create outstanding content, you work with partners to promote your work, and you connect with your customer base on social media. As you do so, you build an ongoing customer base.
4. It's About Data
While inbound marketing might sound and look warm and fuzzy, it's actually all about the data. The Internet-driven world gives us unprecedented opportunities to look at the interests of leads. You can gain insight into their motivation for coming to your site by looking at the search terms that they used, and you can monitor what blog posts turn into leads and what sorts of blog posts appeal to your readers. All of this data helps you shape your future inbound marketing campaigns.
It's Quick
With an outbound marketing campaign, you hone your message for your customers and release it to the world. What if you've aimed incorrectly? You need to regroup and plan again. Inbound marketing is different. Once you have your data, inbound marketing strategies can be created or tweaked rapidly to respond to change. Since inbound marketing is based on many small actions rather than a few large ones, you also have more of an opportunity to experiment and learn.
If you're trying to upgrade your marketing strategy, Digital Inbound can help. Contact Digital Inbound today. We specialize in inbound marketing, and we can help you draw your customers into your business.
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