This new concept, also called attraction marketing, refers to a set of non-intrusive techniques that allow organizations, through the use of digital marketing actions, to attract customers by adding value. Thus, inbound marketing echoes the profound changes that have taken place in consumer behavior, presenting itself as the answer to the new communication scenario in which customers are the ones who meet brands and interact with them in the a consensual way and without unwanted interruptions.
The concept of inbound marketing was coined in 2005 by Brian Halligan, co-founder and CEO of the marketing software company HubSpot. However, it did not become popular until several years later, coinciding with the publication of the book Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs by Halligan, Dharmesh Shah, and David Meerman Scott.
Inbound marketing consists of a series of marketing techniques aimed at increasing the number of visitors registered by a certain web page, a blog or a profile on social networks, with the ultimate goal of converting them into leads (that is, registrations with the data of those people who are interested in the company’s online content). Based on this information the marketing team will work with the objective of preparing users so that they know the company well and end up becoming customers. A very subtle but effective form of attraction.
Steps to follow for an inbound strategy to work:
- Define the objectives well: firstly, the objectives must be clearly defined. What do you want to achieve? Who do you want to reach? How is it going to be done?
- Getting qualified traffic to be attracted: targeting those users who are more likely to become potential customers and, finally, customers. This can be achieved by periodically incorporating quality content in a blog, updating the different profiles of social networks, etc.
- Convert traffic into potential customers: when you already have a significant volume of visits likely to become potential customers, conversion should be encouraged since the ultimate goal is to make a profit. In this phase, the highest visit / potential customer conversion rates should be obtained.
- Convert potential customers into customers: the next step is to achieve the sale, which clearly affects the design and navigability of the website.
- Measure the results of the entire campaign using the corresponding and previously established metrics. Thus, you can identify the actions that work and those that do not. Only then can improvements be prepared to optimize the overall process. For this, there are free tools such as Google Analytics or paid tools (and therefore more specialized) such as Hubspot.
Womenalia is a success story for combining outbound with inbound marketing. The founder of the network María Gómez del Pozuelo summed up the power of inbound marketing with the message, “Don’t buy from customers, win them over.” According to Pozuelo, this type of marketing is an excellent methodology for attracting leads. Nowadays, having a small budget for a good communication strategy is no longer a problem – it is time to unleash creativity. Womenalia has opted to disseminate its highly valuable content through the video format (3 to 5 daily videos), social networks, press releases (on professional women, innovation and technology …), or by publishing multiple studies and infographics of great interest for every enterprising woman. Thanks to this high-quality and interesting content, users remain in permanent contact with the company. This is where the second essential step is put into practice – measurement: cost per registration, unique visitors, page views, average visit duration … Both strategies, outbound and inbound, have been carried out by InboundCycle, a company specialized in marketing digital, getting more than 150,000 new users.