Popular in the US, inbound marketing is making its way to UK shores. Michael Kaeflein, Marketing Manager, at Incisive Edge looks at how it can boost your website traffic and generate leads using its key principles.

If you are not using inbound marketing yet you are missing out. Take this astonishing statistic as a case in point: a recent HubSpot study showed that 54 percent more leads are created through inbound versus outbound practices and at a cost of 62 percent less per lead.

Impressed?

Put simply “inbound marketing” is the creation and promotion of quality content that pulls people toward your product or service – rather than using intrusive “outbound” tactics like buying ads, direct mail and cold calling.

Let’s delve into some of the many benefits.

The benefits of inbound marketing

You build assets for your business

The content you publish is a business asset, attracting links and traffic for years after it goes live. These links and social shares will move you up the search results and provide you with valuable leads.

You build a lasting brand

If outbound marketing is the way to get people to hate you, inbound marketing is the way to get them to love you. By providing valuable content that they enjoy, you will create an emotional brand experience that will keep you top of mind.

Simplifies the job of sales and marketing

The inbound philosophy revolves around the concept of aligning sales and marketing. With inbound, your sales and marketing team come together to create quality content for potential customers. Marketing provides sales with better leads and sales close more leads, thus creating a virtuous circle. Everyone is happier.

Higher ROI and quality than outbound marketing

As we mentioned previously, a staggering 54 percent more leads are created through inbound versus outbound and cost 62 percent less per lead. That is not to mention the fact that the leads are higher quality because they have actively sought you out.

Increases your visibility and brand awareness

When you align your content with the buyer’s journey your target audience will be able to find you as they conduct their research. The bonus is that if they like your content they will share it with their social networks, thus dramatically increasing your reach and boosting your brand authority.

Inbound marketing tips you can implement now

Benefits are great, but how can you start to implement inbound principles on your website. We will use “industrial air conditioners” as an example, to show how the inbound philosophy works even for the plainest of industries. Whatever your industry though, these tips will help you attract more traffic and turn that traffic into leads.
Develop content for the top and middle of the funnel

If you already doing good on-page search engine optimisation and you are working to get high-quality backlinks, then you are likely focusing on “money” keywords at the bottom of the funnel where people are likely to convert and become a customer.

What else can you do?

The next step is writing content for the top or the middle of the funnel. In our example, the company would write content starting at the top of the funnel, which is when people are not looking for YOUR solution yet, but they do have a pain point. In this example, “how to cool industrial buildings” or “air conditioners versus fans for warehouses” for the top of the funnel and “industrial air conditioner sizing calculator” for people in the middle of the funnel, who are closer to making their purchasing decision.

Focus on the long tail

Now you have content for the top, middle and bottom of the funnel, focus on longer tail keywords to give you a more comprehensive range of content. The best way to do this is target questions; “how to install an industrial air conditioner” or “what to look for when buying an industrial air conditioner”. While these keywords may not have a large search volume, they help you to become an authority, increase credibility and can help to boost your overall ranking for your main keywords.

Amplify your content through social media

With this quality content in place you can push it out through your social media channels as part of a multi-channel campaign. With your followers interacting and sharing your content, the reach of your article will be magnified.

By Michael Kaeflein
Marketing Manager
Incisive Edge