What is Inbound Marketing?

Karina López | Julio 15, 2021 | Lectura de 8 minutos

Inbound Marketing, also called attraction marketing or content marketing, aims to attract the interest of people in a non-intrusive way—as opposed to advertising or sales promotions—and accompany customers until they make a purchase.

The fact that it is non-intrusive means that instead of us looking for clients, clients will look for us, because we have designed a content strategy in which we have created and shared content for a specific target audience. When clients see our contents, they will feel drawn and grant us permission to communicate with them directly, thereby establishing a possibly long-lasting relationship. In other words, instead of disturbing potential customers through advertising or sales promotions, we will be attracting them through relevant content.

How does it work?

Remember that there are three phases in the purchase funnel. Content to attract the customer must be designed for each of these phases.

1. Awareness or learning
   In this stage, very simple contents are disseminated, such as:
   • Blog posts
   • Social media posts
   • Infographics
   • Videos
     
     
2. Consideration
   In this second stage, the client shows some interest in knowing more about the brand, so we will offer more detailed content that satisfies the need to receive further information.
   • Full blog
   • Downloadable e-books
   • Webinar invitations
   • White papers (documents that serve as a guide to explain a concept, solve a problem, or develop a task)
     
     The information developed for the “Consideration” stage should be an extension of the one used during the “Awareness” stage. If we take the blog as an example, the topic should be related to previously published posts.
     
     
3. Decision
   The good news is that, at this stage, customers have already chosen a brand, as they keep asking and investigating. The nudge they need to buy or make the final decision consists in offering them more robust content:
   • Complete cases
   • Online advice
   • Product demonstrations
   • Detailed information on how customers in similar circumstances solved their question or satisfied their need using the product
   • Pages on the website dedicated to the product: specifications, usage, etc.
   • Testimonials or recommendations
     
     

Challenges

1. Understanding customers. The better we know these individuals and the better segmented they are, the better we can serve their needs throughout the buying cycle.
   
2. Designing a strategy that ensures the creation of leads to be able to keep in touch with our audiences.
   
3. Identifying information needs, so that the contents we design satisfy all requirements.
   
4. Producing quality content, both written and audiovisual, is not an easy task and takes time.
   
5. Building the message. Develop high-quality, informative content aimed at answering the questions that potential customers ask themselves during the purchase cycle. The important thing is to educate customers to attract and maintain their attention.
   
6. Distributing content on the appropriate platforms. Today more than ever, there are countless digital media. Each one has its own market segment, with different demographics. You don’t have to use them all; select only the most useful.
   
7. Data gathering. Inbound or content marketing helps directing traffic to your website. Therefore, gathering the data of your followers or potential buyers through landing pages will enable you to integrate a database that you can then use to formulate sales strategies. Analyze the statistics you generate and update your strategy.