5 Effective Inbound Marketing Strategies to Know

You may have heard people discussing inbound or outbound marketing. What’s the difference?

Outbound marketing relies on paid advertising campaigns. It’s about putting your offer in front of other people. You’re going out to meet them where they are.

By comparison, inbound marketing has different priorities. It’s more about building relationships with your audience. It can also increase your leads by 72 per cent.

Inbound marketing brings your audience to you. Its strategies are often cheaper to do but take longer to show results. Thankfully, the momentum continues to build over time, giving cumulative effects.

Looking for new effective inbound marketing strategies? Read on to learn the 5 you need to know.

1. Content Marketing

Despite what you may have heard, blogging is not dead.

There are two main benefits to blogging. First, it provides regular content for Google. This shows your site is maintained and gives more opportunities for users to find you.

Second, it allows you to explore useful content in a more conversational and informal way. You’re not directly selling anything, so you can focus on providing valuable or helpful information.

True, you can do this through Facebook Lives or IGTV videos. Yet these are ephemeral, they’re difficult to search, and they often get buried in crowded social media feeds.

Putting this content on your blog gives it a permanent home. These blog posts continue to carry weight for weeks, months, and even years. Refresh older content to keep it up-to-date and relevant.

Yet you can repurpose this content for social media, giving it a whole new lease of life.

2. Social Media Marketing

Brands don’t enjoy the same level of organic reach that they once did. Social media advertising is largely a ‘pay to play’ arena.

Yet that’s not all that social media is good for. It’s also a great place to connect with customers and build your brand.

Remember, your brand is not just a logo. It’s also how people feel about you.

Tea companies PG Tips and Yorkshire Tea understood this when they made their company values about Black Lives Matter clear. The competitors joined forces on Twitter and won new business in the process.

That kind of organic exposure is almost impossible to orchestrate with a paid campaign. The best inbound marketing tactics are genuine and fit your brand.

3. Guest Posting

Writing content on your own blog is great. Publishing it elsewhere is an even better inbound strategy.

Why? It confers greatness by association. If you can land a guest spot on a big blog in your niche, some of their authority rubs off on you.

It also gets your name, brand, and content in front of a fresh audience. This can help drive brand new traffic to your website.

Likewise, appearing on podcasts is a great alternative if you prefer to chat. You gain access to a new audience and all it costs is your time.

4. Make Use of Landing Pages

Inbound marketing relies on you bringing people to your website. So, you might think that means sharing your home page URL, right?

Wrong. That leaves visitors sitting on your home page, unsure what to do next.

Instead, direct visitors from social media and guest blog posts to landing pages. Use these to share targeted, valuable content.

Give visitors a single action to take on the page to convert them into a lead.

Interested in inbound marketing? See here for more ideas.

5. Share Social Proof Everywhere That You Can

You may not think reviews or testimonials are examples of inbound marketing but they are.

People trust reviews from other people more than they trust what you say about yourself. That’s why websites like TripAdvisor get such high traffic.

Reviews prove you can do what you say you can do. Share reviews on social media, embed them in your blog posts and add them to your landing pages.

Which Inbound Marketing Strategies Will You Try?

As we said at the start, inbound marketing strategies can cost less than ‘traditional’ choices like paid ads. They rely on bringing people to you where you can prove why they should choose you.

By your audience coming to you, they’re already in a position to want to buy. That’s why they were searching for and found you! It’s a much smoother process.

Looking for more inbound marketing examples? Check out our marketing articles for more ideas and inspiration.