How to convert visitors to leads with inbound marketing

Inbound Marketing
Content Marketing
Content Strategy/Creation
Lead Generation

Did you know that the average person is exposed to between 4,000 - 10,000 adverts every day?

Being bombarded by ads, it’s no surprise that many buyers have become savvy to the methods used to target them. Whether it’s skipping through adverts on TV, unsubscribing from email updates or leaving a favourite website behind, behaviour is changing and it’s leading to the declining impact of traditional ‘outbound’ marketing.

So why would anyone want to join the thousands of other outbound marketers that are competing for a smaller chunk of shrinking attention spans?

Modern buyers prefer to conduct their own research before approaching sellers, so a new strategy is needed. Add in new rules like the General Data Protection Regulation – which has ushered in changes as companies can no longer buy email lists for bulk email blasts – and it’s clear that a new approach is necessary.

You can no longer rely on yesterday’s tactics to reach tomorrow’s audience.

What is inbound marketing?

Inbound marketing is essentially about creating valuable content that will ‘pull’ visitors and potential leads towards a website. This is in contrast to the ‘push’ methodology of traditional outbound marketing which aims to get content in front of an audience whether they are interested in the products and services or not.

Inbound calls for a strategic combination of content marketing, email, search engine optimisation and social media. At the core of inbound marketing is the website. It provides information that is valuable to the reader, even before they are ready to buy. 

Delivering such value builds trust and improves the customer experience. Inbound marketing pays particular attention to a prospect's needs based on the actions they take, adapting to deliver the right content to the right person at the right time. Because of this, inbound marketing is the most cost-effective way to convert strangers into customers and customers into endorsers of a business.

Reinventing the (fly)wheel

It’s almost certain that at some point in a traditional marketing strategy that the purchase funnel will have been discussed. This is a theoretical model that plots the customer journey towards the purchase of a product or service.

Inbound marketing puts a new spin on this model by introducing the flywheel concept to replace the funnel. The flywheel puts customers at the heart of a strategy, using the momentum of happy customers to drive referrals and repeat sales.

In simple terms, the process keeps the business keeps spinning. This replaces the repeating process of marketing > sales > customer, with the customer being an afterthought rather than driving actions and in turn increasing growth.

The flywheel has three key processes:

Attract: Inbound marketing is about drawing visitors to a website and blog through relevant and useful content

Engage: Inbound marketing provides the means to engage visitors when they are ready through conversational tools, such as chat and email, by offering continued value

Delight: Finally, the inbound methodology enables delivery against promise through expertise, and provides measurable ROI for the client.

Although there is no magic bullet, an inbound approach is the golden ticket to a seamless marketing, sales and service function – providing valuable synergy for a business and its customers. 

Right content, right time

We’ve all heard content is king, but why is it so important?

Simply put, content delivers credibility and reach that even the best cold call/email from a top salesman could not compete with. Content is important because it is what’s going to bring visitors to a site and convert them into leads.

In an inbound context, due to its relevance and targeting, it’s also going to ensure high quality leads and gain a level of buy-in pre-contact that turns visitors into warm leads rather than cold prospects.

Decision makers rely on content in order to perform their role effectively. Making an impact and looking good are key drivers for business leaders and credible content can help them with this by providing the information they need to gain stakeholder buy-in, make the right decisions and deliver against objectives.

By providing the answers and solutions to the needs of a target audience, you not only are able generate qualified leads but are able to build trust and credibility for your business. And that’s why inbound marketing is so important not just for now, but for the future as well.

Mike Harrison, Inbound Marketing Director, Essential