As a small business owner, you've heard of the benefits of inbound marketing. With outbound, the marketing flow is from companies to consumers. But with inbound marketing, the flow is from consumers to companies. So the flow is inbound instead of outbound. Instead of your marketing being an interruption, it's a welcome relief to a prospect in need.
A lot of small business owners have trouble wrapping their heads around this concept. We've all gotten so used to the idea that we need to be out there on various platforms, trying to reel customers in. We've lost track of the fact that we're providing products or services that are actually of value to consumers. We're helping to make their lives easier in some way. So it makes sense for consumers to come to us. And this is the basis on which inbound marketing works.
Elements of Inbound Marketing
With inbound marketing, it's not necessary to aggressively get in the customer's face. It's only necessary to be prepared when the customer comes to you. In order to do this, you need the following:
Your Inbound Optimized Website
All the pertinent information about your product or service should be present on your website. It should be properly explained without sounding too jargonic.
Additionally, your website should look inviting. This means it shouldn't be too busy or too dull.
Using cool colors (like blue and green) and pictures of people smiling is also a good idea because this generally appeals to visitors.
Make sure your website doesn't look dated. You don't need to have the latest, most fashionable website design elements. But it should at least look like it's being updated as time goes on and that people are visiting it.
You Need A Blog
A blog is a very important element of any website because it can help you incorporate more keywords and be found in a lot more searches. It's also a great way to provide value to website visitors while helping you establish thought leadership.
The essence of inbound marketing is allowing the customers to come to you. But in order to do this, you have to position yourself in a way that makes you easier to be found. And a blog, which is being constantly updated, will enable you to do that.
Search engines give priority to websites updated with quality content on a regular basis. So it's up to you to turn your website into one of these with regular blogging.
Develop Your Social Media Presence
Just as a blog which is being updated regularly can help you to reel in the customers, so can your social media presence.
However, it's not enough to have static social media pages. You need an interactive social media presence. You need to keep posting new valuable content. You need to keep engaging with your customers.
You need to become a presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. When you get to this stage, you'll be able to tell because your “friends,” “followers” and “likes” will increase exponentially.
But you can't get to this stage without going through a fledgling stage first. So if you've just begun your social media efforts and aren't seeing too much activity, don't despair. It will come as long as you don't give up and you keep posting quality content regularly and consistently.
The 10,000 Hour Rule
Remember the words of Malcolm Gladwell who says that 10,000 hours of work in any field will ensure you become truly great in that field. You may not need to put 10,000 hours of work into inbound marketing. But if you want to grow your business, this is a legitimate area into which you can focus your time and energy.
Inbound marketing has been proven to work and its uses are only increasing. Plus, it's not that complicated. Anyone can set up a website, blog and social medial presence and keep their content relevant and engaging. And, if you don't have time to do this, speak to someone from a digital agency who can handle your needs.
Contact us for more information about using inbound marketing to grow your business.
