Inbound marketing differs in the attraction/awareness stage, and that it is cyclical – once the customer is delighted, they’re attracted to more from your company.
Attract
Just as with any marketing process, the first step is to get people through the door – or rather, to get them to visit your website. Multiple strategies can be employed including ads, social media, content, blogging, videos, and so on.
The key is to create awareness, just as in a standard sales funnel, and by building awareness on a multitude of platforms with differing kinds of media, you’ll stand the greatest chance of reaching the most people.
By targeting ads at your desired demographic or creating content that appeals to the people you envisage as your ideal customer, you’ll attract those who are most likely to want to buy from you.
Attracting everyone possible is not the goal, nor is it the goal to make the world aware of what you are offering. You want the people who are interested in what you do, as the chances of converting them into paying customers are much higher.
Engage
By engaging with these visitors – who are now your prospects – you’ll begin to form relationships with them. For a prospect, a relationship with a brand is important, as it creates a lasting impression on them. Therefore, you need to ensure it’s a good impression!
Communicate with your prospects in the manner that best suits them, whether its chatbots, messaging apps, email, or anything else. Capture as much information from them as you can through on-site forms and calls to action and use CRM to make the journey through your site and content more personal.
Once you know that a visitor has a particular issue or problem they want to solve, it is much easier to build a relationship and convert them if the site is tailored to deliver content specific to their needs. Sending emails recommending solutions will bring more conversions than generic sales emails.
It is vital that you listen to what the prospect says and react accordingly – even if the process is entirely automated.