The primary goal of inbound marketing is to draw prospects to your website by distributing valuable content and then convert them into leads through the use of premium offers and nurturing campaigns.  Content has a part in nearly every marketing function including traditional techniques such as teleprospecting and direct mail.  The inbound process involves providing a clear path for qualified prospects through the purchasing process.  A focus on educating your audience has been the dominant trend, with the personalization of brands and connecting with your audience on a social level becoming increasingly important.  As Google and social media platforms continue to alter their newsfeed algorithms, supplementing organic efforts with paid advertising will be necessary to command the same type of reach once expected through posts to company pages.  Having a flexible and detailed plan that outlines every aspect of your inbound marketing strategy will keep your campaigns consistent and organized. 

Distribution:

Content Calendar:

“Content calendars are exactly what they sound like: a way to plan and organize upcoming content. There are, of course, different types. An editorial calendar is specifically for planning content assets such as blog posts and videos, while a social media content calendar—the primary focus of this post—is for planning content for social.” - Hootsuite

Organization is quintessential to the success of any inbound marketing campaign and content calendars provide the perfect tool to keep your writers, publishers and distributors in line.  Content calendars help you map out the buyer’s journey, assign tasks, schedule posts, set deadlines and avoid repeat content.  Accountability and organization of your inbound campaigns begins with a shared content calendar.

Social Media:

“According to HubSpot, 92% of marketers in 2014 claimed that social media marketing was important for their business, with 80% indicating their efforts increased traffic to their websites.” - Forbes

When it comes to content distribution there is no greater tool than social media.  Determining which platforms your audience uses and the type of content they like to consume is the first step in developing your social media marketing strategy.  Consistently posting a variety of content that educates and entertains your followers will drive engagement and ultimately lead to sales.

Email Automation:

“Automated emails perform 3x better than other types of email. Because they’re triggered based on lead actions, automated email is a seamless way to sustain conversation with prospects and turn them into customers.” - SharpSpring

Nurturing your prospects through the buying process is one of the main goals of inbound marketing and email workflows aid in automating that process.  Strategic workflows put relevant content in front of a segmented audience at the right time.  They keep your company at the top of the mind of your prospects and continue to communicate the value you can provide to potential customers.

Premium Backlinks:

“Generally speaking, the more high-quality websites that link to you, the more likely you are to rank well in search results.” - Moz

With inbound marketing if you are doing everything else right SEO will take care of itself, with one key exception, quality backlinks.  Consistently obtaining links to your content from authoritative websites is a challenging and time consuming endeavor and requires networking with the right connections.  Google’s algorithm weighs authoritative backlinks heavily when determining search rankings, so regardless of its tedious nature, it is a must have for inbound marketing.

Teleprospecting:

“While clicks and downloads provide some information about a lead, a one-on-one conversation allows you to ask open-ended questions and gain deeper insights into someone’s needs and how you can help them. It also provides an opportunity to answer a prospect’s queries and, if appropriate, counter their objections.” -Salesforce

One of the criticisms of inbound marketing is that the leads it produces are not as qualified as those mined using traditional marketing techniques.  Depending on your product and industry, this can hold some truth.  For these cases incorporating teleprospecting as a means to qualify your leads before being passed to sales can save time and money, all while providing valuable insights on your target audience.

The First Stop On The Road Through Inbound Marketing: Research

The Second Stop On The Road Through Inbound Marketing: Content

The Third Stop On The Road Through Inbound Marketing: Distribution

The Final Stop On The Road Through Inbound Marketing: Analytics