Impulse Creative
When was the last time you really watched a commercial, read the advertisements in a magazine, or actually kept a piece of direct mail? Old school, interruptive marketing techniques are out, and a new, less interruptive style of marketing is in.
It's called inbound marketing
As a small business owner, you're probably looking for ways to attract visitors to your website, generate new leads, and then turn them into customers. That's where inbound marketing comes into play. But if you're new to this whole inbound marketing thing, it can be overwhelming. If you're looking for ways to implement inbound marketing in your business, here are five inbound techniques to get you started.
Create optimized content
When creating content for your website or blog, it may be tempting to rush and get something published online. Don't do it. If your content isn't optimized for your audience, it's not going to help you bring in new business. Always think about your top customers (we call them buyer personas) when writing content. What questions do these personas have? What problems are they looking to solve? How can your product/service help? Remarkable content draws people to your site, keeps them there, and ultimately results in growth for your business. Spend extra time writing your content. We promise it will be worth it.
Wait...what about keywords? When writing content, it's important to be mindful of the keywords you want to rank for, but you should always write for humans first. In fact, Google can tell if you stuff your content with keywords, and it can hurt your rankings in the long run. Never write for search engine crawlers. Always write for your buyer personas.
Engage on social media
Well, my customers aren't on social media.
We hear that one a lot, and we can almost guarantee that it's not true. People of all ages are on social media. Even if your audience isn't incredibly tech savvy, there's a good chance that they're still using social media.
It's not enough to just have a presence on social media. You actually need to engage on social media. After all, social media is social. Don't forget that there are real people behind every like or follower. In order to connect with these people, you need ask questions, answer questions, respond to tweets, and be fully engaged on your social media sites.
But what does it mean to be engaged? It doesn't mean trying to sell your product or service. It means sharing helpful information (such as blog posts), posting fun pictures of your team, and interacting with your audience every chance you get. Social media is an opportunity to have fun, so make sure you take advantage of it.
Utilize visual content
The average attention span is eight seconds. So, that lengthy social media post you just wrote probably won't get you a ton of engagement. Instead, go visual.
Taking advantage of visual content is a great way to break through the clutter and stand out from the pack. If you aren't a designer or don't have one on your team – don't worry. Canva is a great online tool that can help you create stunning visual content for your website, blogs, and social media. Share pictures of your office, team, customers, or product, and add videos to the mix as well.
Give away a free eBook or whitepaper
Approximately 85% of the people who visit your website are considered "learners" – meaning they're not ready to buy yet. These people are in the research phase and are trying to find a solution to their problem.
Giving away a free guide, such as an eBook or whitepaper, is a great way to provide helpful information to these visitors. Even though they may not buy from you right away, you're ultimately nurturing them down the funnel. Plus, you're giving them the information they need to better understand their situation, and you're helping them make an informed decision. It may seem counterproductive to give something like this away for free, but having a resources section on your website provides value to your visitors.
Always have a strategy
No matter what you do, always make sure you have a solid strategy in place. If you're writing blogs just for the sake of writing blogs or posting on social media because you think you should, you're going to end up disappointed.
Before implementing any new inbound marketing techniques, it's important that you set goals and create buyer personas. If you don't know what your goals are, how will you know if you're successful? Having a strategy in place will give you direction and focus, and it will help ensure that your entire team is on the same page. If you're ever unsure as to whether something is a good idea, just ask yourself, "does this fit into my strategy?"
There are tons of different ways to implement inbound marketing in your small business, but these five techniques are a great place to start. Creating optimized content, engaging with your audience on social media, using visual content, and giving away free resources are great ways to fuel your inbound marketing fire. Regardless of what techniques you choose to implement, always make sure they fall in line with your strategy.
