We provide an overview of the inbound marketing process.
Inbound marketing has a distinct process for attracting prospects and converting those prospects into leads and ultimately paying customers.
This process is illustrated in the graphic above from Hubspot which succinctly explains the stages:
ATTRACT
First off you want to attract strangers to your website so that they become visitors. To do this you need to:
- provide them with great, engaging blog content that speaks to them, for example, dissecting issues they may have and providing solutions
- make sure your website is optimised for search engines so that it is being returned in relevant keywords searches
- ensure you are consistently posting your content to social media
CONVERT
Then you want to convert these visitors into leads. To do this you need to collect information on your visitors by offering free content, for example, e-books, checklists and guides that provide solutions to those problems you've described previously.
This content needs to be relevant and enticing so your visitors are willing to sign up on a form or click a “Download Now” button for the price of an email. The amount of information you collect needs to be proportional to the value of your giveaway; don't be asking for their life story for a simple checklist - it won't work.
CLOSE
Once you’ve got contact information you can start to provide your lead with more valuable, personalised information. Using your CRM to collate, track and analyse lead information, you can nurture them, supporting them with pertinent information and knowledge as they need it. You can send emails and use workflow processes to follow up, never missing an opportunity to add value and support. This personal approach and valued service, builds trust meaning your leads are more likely to sign on the dotted line and turn into a paying customer.
Once you've got a paying customer, though, the work doesn’t end.
DELIGHT
You always need to keep your customers happy. Firstly, it's more cost effective to retain an existing customer than find a new one. Secondly, a happy customer will become a promoter of your business. If you continue to ensure you are providing added value, they will help to bring new strangers to your business - then the cycle starts again with your customer base ever growing. And that’s what we all really want!
LINKS
All of this information and much much more can be found on the Hubspot website.
Check our other posts in this series.