Marketing has evolved over the years thanks to the emergence of new types of media, especially internet. While the traditional ways of marketing through television, newspapers, magazines etc. are still very much relevant, the coming of internet has levelled the ground for small to mid-size businesses. Inbound marketing has changed the way we perceive marketing. We don’t search for a prospective customer but he/she finds us looking for a particular product through internet. This form of marketing is highly targeted and the percentage of prospective buyers that are converted into customers is high.
So how does it work?
Suppose a person is looking for a particular product, which meets his personal needs. The easiest thing to do in order to find such product is to get your phone, tablet or laptop and Google it up (or maybe Yahoo it up? Bing it up?). He/She types in a set of keywords to look for a similar product and you have a website that sells it. You may have website that sells the product but if you don’t have the right content or in case you don’t rank high up (in the first page of Google Search) for the relevant keywords you will miss the opportunity to make customers. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes to your rescue here and ensures that you rank high up there in search engine results while people are searching for your product.
Social Media
Ranking up in Google search results may still take time but getting hit on social networking sites is easier. If one customer likes your product on Facebook chances are high that his other friends too will follow suit. Social networking will help you to spread word-to-mouth message about your product and people can share their experiences and recommend your product. The way it works is if people like your product they will sell it for you.
The phases of inbound marketing
The initial phase involves attracting people to your website or blog and social media. Once you’re being visited by thousands of prospective customers you need to convert them to leads by getting their email IDs and personal information. The best way to do this is by offering something for free your visitor might be interested in. The last stage involves converting the leads into customers by providing him a product customized to his/her needs. You can convert your one time buyers into repeat customers by offering them the right products and keeping them updated with your latest content, offers and products.