The Ultimate Inbound Marketing Formula
We talked about Why Your Small Business Needs and Inbound Marketing Strategy, now we’re going to go into the ultimate inbound marketing formula. Before we just dive right into planning your strategy, we need to have an understanding of how the inbound marketing process works.
Here is an overview of how the inbound marketing process works.
This is known as the Inbound Marketing Series.
The Attract Stage
Think of this as the first step in trying to attract the man or woman of your dreams. In order to attract that person who is a complete stranger to you, it requires effort and some type of action on your end. When you’re trying to attract a man or woman, you may do things like post an engaging post on your social media platform that may appeal to him or her. After posting and engaging, the two of you meet, and you’re starting to get to know each other.
In the attract stage of inbound marketing, you’re trying to bring strangers to your website by creating engaging content using your blog, social media post, keywords, and website optimization. In the attract stage you want to be sure you’re proving educational content that adds value to your potential customers. You potential customer has now came across your brand and website and is interested in learning more about the problem they are having within their organization. They are now considered a visitor.
The Convert Stage
Now we’re at the stage in dating we’re you’re actually going out on dates, and learning more and more about the person you may possibly spend the rest of your life with.
In the convert stage of inbound marketing, the strangers that visited your website are not considered visitors. They are going through your website to continue to receive valuable information that they feel can solve their problem. In the convert stage your website should have well designed call to actions, forms, and landing pages. If your website is well designed and responsive and your visitor wants to move further into the process, your visitor will now become a lead.
The Close Stage
So far dating is going well, both parties have come to the conclusion that they want be in an exclusive committed relationship with each other. So the decision is made, and now you’re one step closer to the big day.
In the close stage of inbound marketing, you continue to nurture your lead with personalized emails, workflows, and conversations as needed. Your visitors have received enough information from your website and they know that based on this information that they can trust your company to add value to their business. Your lead is now a customer!
The Appreciation Stage
You’re both in love, and during this stage of dating you’re so happy you’re now sharing your feelings with your family and friends. You both continue to grow and learn more about each other.
In the appreciation stage of inbound marketing, you continue to nurture your lead with tailored emails, call to actions, surveys, and workflows. You continue to provide educational value and check in with your customers and be responsive.
You’ve completed the inbound marketing formula. This process allows you to follow your potential customers through their buyer’s journey, and while you may receive many leads by following this process step by step and being consistent just keep in mind only 79% of marketing leads never convert over to the being a customer.
Now apply the ultimate inbound marketing formula into your marketing plans and watch your growth over time.