Inbound marketing

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Inbound marketing ( English inbound "incoming") is a marketing to be method that is based on found by customers. It is in contrast to classic outbound marketing , in which messages are sent to customers, as is common with direct mail , radio advertising , television advertising , flyers , spam , telephone marketing and classic advertising . In addition to content marketing methodologies, inbound marketing also uses measures for customer acquisition and customer loyalty such as e-mail marketing, CRM and lead nurturing, which can be supported by marketing automation.

authorization

Inbound marketing is described as cost-effective in the long term, assuming that you create your own network of intrinsically motivated readers who publish the content. It is also assumed that one's own reputation can grow. This creates the idea of ​​increasing independence from z. B. paid advertising space. This means that inbound marketing can make sense in the long term, especially for small businesses and companies. However, there are costs for creating and maintaining the content.

potential

Inbound marketing has the potential to inherit banner advertising and pay-per-click as the most widely used marketing tool, as it costs less and addresses potential customers more elegantly than outbound marketing.

Instruments

Inbound marketing includes the following sub-disciplines and instruments that work together:

method

Chad Pollitt suggests a five step method:

  1. Traffic win
  2. Convert visitors into leads
  3. Convert leads into sales
  4. Convert customers into returning customers with higher margins
  5. Optimization through continuous analysis

Gain traffic

In order to increase the number of visitors (traffic) to a website in inbound marketing, the following steps are used, which are identical to the methodology of content marketing:

  1. Create content , publish it in a search engine-friendly manner and make it known via social networks and PR. Content is the tool to attract the attention of potential customers. They should be interesting and relevant to potential customers. In addition, content should be prepared in a search engine- friendly manner so that it can be picked up by search engines and thus found by potential customers via search engine.
  2. The presence in social networks increases awareness of the content. This makes sense because users mostly spend their free time on the Internet in social networks.
  3. By seeding multipliers such as bloggers, journalists and opinion leaders via targeted PR , the independent or, in the best case, viral distribution of the content is initiated.

Gaining leads & orders

  1. Through conversion optimization (CRO), the visitors gained through content should be converted even better into leads such as B. Specification of contact details, specific inquiries or direct sales can be converted.
  2. The next step is to verify the leads that have arisen and convert them into orders as best as possible.

Turn customers into promoters

  1. Existing customers should be animated by the product experience, the service, further help and advice to promoters in order to spread word-of-mouth or the meaning of recommendation marketing information about the brand or products.

Marketing automation and lead management

Inbound marketing is also used to enable concrete lead generation. That is, useful content is provided. However, these are not freely accessible. Interested parties must provide their contact details. Often they only get access to the desired content after a double opt-in procedure. In addition, the interested party is encouraged to subscribe to the newsletter. In some cases, leads who are interested in such content are followed up over the phone to make the product attractive to them. The advantage of such an approach is that it is relatively easy and inexpensive to acquire leads from a specific target group. Because only those for whom it is really interesting will provide their contact details voluntarily. On the other hand, the procedure can also deter interested parties who attach great importance to data protection or who fear spam. In addition, it is possible that incorrect information is provided in order to be able to read the content.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Dev Basu: Inbound marketing: The customer finds you . In: The Globe and Mail , June 29, 2011; Retrieved May 15, 2012.
  2. Olaf Kopp: Inbound Marketing: Sales-oriented content marketing . May 1, 2016; accessed on May 18, 2016.
  3. ^ A b Rick Burnes: Inbound Marketing & the Next Phase of Marketing on the Web . November 18, 2008; Retrieved May 18, 2012.
  4. Chelsi Nakano: Infographic - The Decline of Outbound Marketing . October 31, 2011; Retrieved May 18, 2012.
  5. ^ Chad Pollitt: The New 5 Step Inbound Marketing Methodology . October 21, 2011; Retrieved May 18, 2012.
  6. PARK 7: Internet use in Germany . October 7, 2015; accessed on September 22, 2016.