A Beginner’s Guide to Inbound Marketing

The cornerstone of inbound marketing is lead generation and taking that lead through to a sale.

We’ve all filled in our email address and other details to “download now” a white paper or a money off coupon etc… This is lead generation and the start of the inbound marketing process. You’ve given the company something to work with, you’ve shown interest in their product or service and have given up some details about yourself.

Inbound Marketing Tools

Inbound marketings uses four main tools:

Calls to Action – “Download Now”, “Get your Offer”. Click on these calls to action takes you through to….
Landing pages – the page designed to focus your attention on entering in your personal details
Forms – hosted on a landing page, the information filling in.
Offers – something that is considered of sufficient value to tempt you to fill your details in.

The amount of information you fill in on a Landing Page or a Form, depends on what preferences are needed to be able to create a worth while lead. Some companies just your name and email address, others want the whole nine yards.

Your Inbound Marketing Tools

Inbound marketing does need planning and time. For success, think about how visitors will find your website, landing page or offer?

Organic search
Blogging
Social media placement
Direct email/newsletter

Conclusion

Inbound marketing is the opposite to Interruption Marketing (sales calls, advertising, praying etc) which are relatively distant and cold in their approach. Inbound marketing uses great SEO and digital marketing techniques to encourage visitors to start a business relationship with you. We are more likely to engage in a sales call if we’ve had something of value in the first place.