Inbound Marketing Methodology | Explained
Today’s consumers are more empowered than ever before. With just a click of a button, they have access to a vast amount of information on products, industries and competition. With this in mind, it’s important to understand the influence that marketing efforts have on the decision making process of consumers. We now need to focus on marketing in a much more human way with the intent of creating meaningful relationships. This approach is referred to as Inbound Methodology.
Inbound Methodology is about attracting, engaging, and delighting people by providing value and building trust.
During the attract stage, marketing efforts focus on attracting customers through relevant and helpful content. The intent is to immediately add value during the buyer’s journey and establish yourself as a trusted advisor that they want to engage with. This involves creating helpful content and experiences that demonstrate product and industry knowledgeability.
The engage stage begins the moment someone takes a desired action such as filling out a contact form or signing up for a mailing list. During this stage, marketers may presenting insights and solutions that align with the pain points and goals of the consumer. In this phase, many marketers practice ad retargeting or implement blog posts that speak to different segments of their audience. After the consumer has engaged, the marketer can begin collecting information about the individual they’re working with. This allows for a meaningful relationship to be formed.
Last but not least, the delight stage. During this stage, marketing efforts should focus on providing help and support with the intent of empowering the consumer to find success with their purchase. The goal during this stage is to exceed consumer expectations so much that they’ll want to tell their friends and family about how your company went the extra mile to ensure you accomplished what you set out to do. This final stage brings all marketing efforts full circle.
“When customers find success and share that success with others, it attracts new prospects to your organization, creating a self-sustaining loop. This is how your organization builds momentum, and this is why the inbound methodology serves as a strong foundation.”