Inbound Marketing: How to attract clients in a new era

The Scariest Word in Business – Change

If you run a business you know that the Internet has changed everything. The question is, how do you manage the change?

Consider just the aspect of marketing. Traditionally, communication to the consumer was one-way only. Your message went out via print ads, television, radio, mail or telephone calls. Some messages were better than others, but it seemed that the constant bombardment of information would attract customers to your product. However, traditional advertising also is expensive and it is often difficult to measure return on investment.

Inbound vs shouting_w_megaphone Crest Consulting

The Answer is Inbound

Marketers are now working with a new way to engage potential customers. It’s called “inbound marketing,” and it attracts clients by satisfying their needs with information they are already seeking. In addition, you can tell whether your marketing dollars are effective by keeping track of your communication to customers, and their actions.

Whether you provide a service or a product, today’s consumers are able to educate themselves like never before about a potential purchase before they buy. They investigate and compare before they walk into a store, make a call or send an inquiring email. You can take advantage of this behavior by:

  • Attracting customers to your own website
  • Demonstrating who you are
  • Why you are better than the competition
  • Inviting them to communicate with you

Inbound goes beyond creative marketing. With Inbound Marketing, everything is designed to improve marketing results and entice consumers to act.

You attract them in the first place by optimizing your website to make it easier for search engines to find your content. Simply, this means you must provide information that reflects how people search on the Internet if you want more high quality business opportunity leads.

When they arrive, you need to tell your story: Who you are, what you do and, whether you compete by quality or price, why you provide more value than others in your field. This approach requires layers of content, because buyers will arrive at your site at different points in the purchasing cycle.

Your content will contain examples of what you sell and stories about how you have served existing customers. It might include detailed descriptions of your work and how clients have used your service or product to improve their situations. The information could be presented in a combination of lists, photos, videos, blogs, and customer testimonials. Done correctly, you build trust and position yourself as a leader in your field.

(Blogging is one area where traditional and inbound marketing work the same way. They both use emotion to tell their stories – not to manipulate but through storytelling to increase the connection with your brand and product.)

What to do about it

With Inbound Marketing, you provide content that informs and educates customers, who are now empowered to make the best decision. To truly understand how to get more from your marketing dollars, download our white paper 5 Reasons Your Marketing Isn’t Working and What You Can Do About It now.

Beyond Creative Marketing

Let us know what you think in the Comments section below.

Crest Marketing teaches small and medium sized businesses how to position themselves as subject-matter experts in their field and attract higher-quality leads for less money. For more information, contact David at (203) 403-1013 or djarcho@crestconsultingllc.com.