What is Inbound Marketing?<\/h3>\n\n- Inbound marketing is like putting a pie on your bakery\u2019s windowsill and letting the delicious smell waft to customers.\n
\n- Customers who like the smell will follow it to your company.<\/li>\n
- Inbound marketing targets a specific audience. It\u2019s like having an apple pie one day, and a peach cobbler the next to attract customers who aren\u2019t in the mood for apple pie.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Technically speaking, inbound marketing is a strategy that focuses on attracting customers or leads to your company with company-created content.\n
\n- Potential customers come to you, rather than marketers vying for their attention.<\/li>\n
- This type of marketing tries to make it easier for customers, who are already actively looking for goods or services via the Internet, to find what a company offers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Examples of inbound marketing content and tactics include:\n
\n- Blog posts<\/li>\n
- Photos<\/li>\n
- Infographics<\/li>\n
- Videos<\/li>\n
- Podcasts<\/li>\n
- Presentations<\/li>\n
- Ebooks<\/li>\n
- Whitepapers<\/li>\n
- Newsletters<\/li>\n
- Ezines<\/li>\n
- Webinars<\/li>\n
- Search engine optimization (SEO)<\/li>\n
- Social media marketing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/10\/your-biggest-questions-about-inbound-marketing-answered-001.png?strip=all&quality=95\")
<\/img> <\/p>\n
What are Examples of Inbound Marketing?<\/h2>\n
Think again about the example of the pie that brings hungry customers to your door. What exactly is that pie that will bring excited customers to your website or store?<\/p>\n
This is where inbound marketing gets exciting. Your company\u2019s pie can be almost anything that would be of interest to your customers. Think of your pie as a treat to engage customers that also aligns with your company\u2019s mission, brand, service, and products. The connection doesn\u2019t have to be direct, but it shouldn\u2019t be so abstract that customers don\u2019t link it to your business.<\/p>\n
Here are some great inbound marketing goodies that you can prepare in your marketing kitchen:<\/p>\n
\n- Whitepapers<\/li>\n
- Blog posts<\/li>\n
- Infographics<\/li>\n
- Social media posts<\/li>\n
- Podcasts<\/li>\n
- Webinars<\/li>\n
- Videos\/a YouTube Channel<\/li>\n
- SlideShare presentations<\/li>\n
- eBooks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Seth Godin is a famous business executive with a cadre of fans among the MBA crowd. He\u2019s written plenty of books that he wants to sell, but he also passes on his wisdom and burnishes his brand through a blog<\/a> where he dispenses nuggets of wisdom every day.<\/p>\nThis blog is one of his pies. It helps him maintain his status as a thought leader in business and marketing while turning casual readers into fans who are happy to pay $12.99 for his latest book.<\/p>\n
Maybe you don\u2019t have the time or the patience to write a blog post every day. That\u2019s fine. There are plenty of different ways to develop an inbound marketing campaign.<\/p>\n
How to Measure Your Inbound Marketing Strategy<\/h3>\n\n- Ask yourself these questions:\n
\n- How engaged are people (customers, fans, and prospects) with my brand?<\/li>\n
- How many people are taking the action I want them to take?<\/li>\n
- Is my organic traffic improving?<\/li>\n
- Are high authority sites linking to my site?<\/li>\n
- Who\u2019s talking about my brand?<\/li>\n
- Am I getting the best and most relevant results with the time and resources my team is investing?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Keep an eye on these metrics:\n
\n- Conversion rates<\/li>\n
- Website and blog traffic<\/li>\n
- Engagement metrics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/10\/your-biggest-questions-about-inbound-marketing-answered-002.png?strip=all&quality=95\")
<\/img> <\/p>\n
How does Inbound Marketing Compare to Outbound Marketing?<\/h2>\n
One of the best ways to understand inbound marketing is to focus on what it is not. The opposite of inbound marketing is outbound marketing, and the names say it all. The entire ethos of inbound marketing is to create something that will draw customers to you and make them excited to interact with your company.<\/p>\n
Outbound marketing focuses on pushing an advertising message outward and trying to snag the limited attention of potential customers. Common forms of outbound marketing include:<\/p>\n
\n- Generic email blasts with a purchased list<\/li>\n
- Billboards<\/li>\n
- Television and radio commercials<\/li>\n
- Direct mail<\/li>\n
- Flyers handed out on the street or put under windshield wipers<\/li>\n
- Google and Facebook ads<\/li>\n
- Pop up banners<\/li>\n
- The sign spinner on the corner busting some serious moves<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The challenge of outbound marketing is that it may annoy people. Most of us don\u2019t look forward to receiving junk mail or checking our email spam folder. We may appreciate the dancing sign spinner\u2019s moves, but we probably won\u2019t remember the business or message plastered on the sign.<\/p>\n
The beauty of inbound marketing is that it is specifically designed to be useful. It is something that customers generally want to engage with. Unsurprisingly, this means that inbound marketing often requires more time, effort, and patience. It may also require guiding your prospects through a longer buyer\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n
Is there a place for outbound marketing in today\u2019s hyper-speed world? Yes. Outbound marketing offers its own benefits, including simplicity and, sometimes, faster conversions. Ideally, inbound and outbound marketing are used together. Depending upon your unique customer journey and customer experience, you need a combination of inbound and outbound marketing to guide leads to purchase \u2014 and keep current customers happy. <\/p>\n
How Do You Create an Inbound Marketing Strategy?<\/h2>\n
If you\u2019re ready to start rolling out pie dough, you\u2019ve gotten a little ahead of yourself. Before you can start making your inbound marketing pie, you need to figure out who\u2019s in your audience. It also doesn\u2019t hurt to ensure that you have the time and ingredients to make the best pie possible.<\/p>\n
A successful inbound marketing campaign starts with a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy. Step one is to identify your target audience. Patagonia, for example, focuses on people who love the outdoors and have the disposable income to invest in high-quality gear. For certain inbound marketing campaigns, they may zero in on an even more specialized audience: Their \u201cWorn Wear<\/a>\u201d campaign, for example, encourages people to repair damaged outdoor gear instead of throwing it away. A message like that likely appeals to today\u2019s growing group of millennials who care deeply about throwing less stuff into landfills.<\/p>\nWhy is Inbound Marketing Important?<\/h3>\n\n- It has four big benefits:\n
\n- It\u2019s lasting and permanent.<\/li>\n
- It serves two masters: customers and search engines.<\/li>\n
- Content gains trust, and trust gains customers.<\/li>\n
- It speaks to skeptical millennials better than advertisng.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Potential goals for your inbound marketing campaigns include:\n
\n- Brand awareness<\/li>\n
- Thought leadership<\/li>\n
- Increasing the number of marketing-qualified and sales-qualified leads<\/li>\n
- Improving conversion rates<\/li>\n
- Lowering the cost of customer acquisition<\/li>\n
- Enhancing customer service<\/li>\n
- Better customer retention and up-sell<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/10\/your-biggest-questions-about-inbound-marketing-answered-003.png?strip=all&quality=95\")
<\/img> <\/p>\n
Seth Godin\u2019s audience, on the other hand, is completely different. He gears his blog toward midlevel and executive level business leaders and marketers. Anyone who has their eye on the corner office is someone who can benefit from his blog.<\/p>\n
Who is your audience? If you don\u2019t know, ask your sales and customer service teams. They know more about what your ideal customers care about, the major problems they face, and how your products or services affect (and improve) their lives.<\/p>\n
Once you know your audience, brainstorm what content will really speak to that buyer persona. Any company can develop an exciting inbound marketing campaign. Are you a bank that wants to turn young college grads into lifelong customers? One idea might be creating a graphic novel about how to buy your first car.<\/p>\n
As you brainstorm ideas, make sure you have the time and resources to properly make your pie. Writing a blog or starting a YouTube channel is a big endeavor, and it may take months (or even years) to grow your audience and get the word out. You\u2019ll also need to put in effort to market your pies. Yes \u2014 that means marketing your marketing. If you don\u2019t, no one will know your blog, graphic novel, or podcast exists.<\/p>\n
Next, make sure your campaign serves a higher purpose. Seth Godin\u2019s blog builds incredible loyalty among his readers, many of whom will buy any book he writes. Patagonia\u2019s entrancing Pinterest boards remind their followers how much they love travelling and camping. Soon, they\u2019ll be planning their next trip and picking up new gear from their favorite provider: Patagonia.<\/p>\n
As you create your pie, figure out how it fits in with the rest of your marketing. This is the time to hook together your inbound and outbound marketing efforts. For example, perhaps you\u2019ll ask your audience to fill out a form in order to download your free graphic novel. You can then create an automated email campaign to tell those prospects about your bank\u2019s low interest rates on car loans, or credit cards designed for new college grads who need to build credit.<\/p>\n
Finally, make sure you can track the success of your inbound marketing campaign and related efforts. Not every pie will come out perfectly. If no one is reading your blog after a year of weekly posts, it may be time to try something different. Analytics, trackable links, email signups, and more can all be used to determine how much attention and love your inbound marketing pie is garnering. <\/p>\n
What are Some Inbound Marketing Examples?<\/h2>\n
Patagonia\u2019s Pinterest page and Seth Godin\u2019s blog are just two examples of great inbound marketing. Once you start looking, you\u2019ll find plenty of others. For example, American Express does a brilliant job of providing an incredible array of useful content for business owners with its OPEN Forum<\/a>. Likewise, check out the Starbucks Facebook page<\/a> when you get a chance, and you\u2019ll see pictures, stories, and useful features such as job postings, store locators, and fun contests. Even Lyft is getting into the inbound marketing game with its new podcast \u201cPick Me Up<\/a>,\u201d which features stories about its drivers. Those who listen may just tap their Lyft app instead of another option next time they need a ride.<\/p>\nStart looking for inbound marketing campaigns to get some fresh ideas for your own marketing. Check the social media pages, websites, and forums of your favorite companies and brands and see what inbound marketing campaigns they\u2019ve been baking up. <\/p>\n
Time to Get in the Kitchen<\/h2>\n
Inbound marketing is time intensive. It requires you to develop a deep understanding of your customer, and you may spend weeks or months creating something that doesn\u2019t directly sell your products or talk up your services. Welcome to the world of inbound marketing. When done right, it\u2019s a great way to attain something that most of your outbound marketing dollars will never buy: a loyal, informed customer.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
- \n
- Customers who like the smell will follow it to your company.<\/li>\n
- Inbound marketing targets a specific audience. It\u2019s like having an apple pie one day, and a peach cobbler the next to attract customers who aren\u2019t in the mood for apple pie.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Technically speaking, inbound marketing is a strategy that focuses on attracting customers or leads to your company with company-created content.\n
- \n
- Potential customers come to you, rather than marketers vying for their attention.<\/li>\n
- This type of marketing tries to make it easier for customers, who are already actively looking for goods or services via the Internet, to find what a company offers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Examples of inbound marketing content and tactics include:\n
- \n
- Blog posts<\/li>\n
- Photos<\/li>\n
- Infographics<\/li>\n
- Videos<\/li>\n
- Podcasts<\/li>\n
- Presentations<\/li>\n
- Ebooks<\/li>\n
- Whitepapers<\/li>\n
- Newsletters<\/li>\n
- Ezines<\/li>\n
- Webinars<\/li>\n
- Search engine optimization (SEO)<\/li>\n
- Social media marketing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/img> <\/p>\n
What are Examples of Inbound Marketing?<\/h2>\n
Think again about the example of the pie that brings hungry customers to your door. What exactly is that pie that will bring excited customers to your website or store?<\/p>\n
This is where inbound marketing gets exciting. Your company\u2019s pie can be almost anything that would be of interest to your customers. Think of your pie as a treat to engage customers that also aligns with your company\u2019s mission, brand, service, and products. The connection doesn\u2019t have to be direct, but it shouldn\u2019t be so abstract that customers don\u2019t link it to your business.<\/p>\n
Here are some great inbound marketing goodies that you can prepare in your marketing kitchen:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Whitepapers<\/li>\n
- Blog posts<\/li>\n
- Infographics<\/li>\n
- Social media posts<\/li>\n
- Podcasts<\/li>\n
- Webinars<\/li>\n
- Videos\/a YouTube Channel<\/li>\n
- SlideShare presentations<\/li>\n
- eBooks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Seth Godin is a famous business executive with a cadre of fans among the MBA crowd. He\u2019s written plenty of books that he wants to sell, but he also passes on his wisdom and burnishes his brand through a blog<\/a> where he dispenses nuggets of wisdom every day.<\/p>\n
This blog is one of his pies. It helps him maintain his status as a thought leader in business and marketing while turning casual readers into fans who are happy to pay $12.99 for his latest book.<\/p>\n
Maybe you don\u2019t have the time or the patience to write a blog post every day. That\u2019s fine. There are plenty of different ways to develop an inbound marketing campaign.<\/p>\n
How to Measure Your Inbound Marketing Strategy<\/h3>\n
- \n
- Ask yourself these questions:\n
- \n
- How engaged are people (customers, fans, and prospects) with my brand?<\/li>\n
- How many people are taking the action I want them to take?<\/li>\n
- Is my organic traffic improving?<\/li>\n
- Are high authority sites linking to my site?<\/li>\n
- Who\u2019s talking about my brand?<\/li>\n
- Am I getting the best and most relevant results with the time and resources my team is investing?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Keep an eye on these metrics:\n
- \n
- Conversion rates<\/li>\n
- Website and blog traffic<\/li>\n
- Engagement metrics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/img> <\/p>\n
How does Inbound Marketing Compare to Outbound Marketing?<\/h2>\n
One of the best ways to understand inbound marketing is to focus on what it is not. The opposite of inbound marketing is outbound marketing, and the names say it all. The entire ethos of inbound marketing is to create something that will draw customers to you and make them excited to interact with your company.<\/p>\n
Outbound marketing focuses on pushing an advertising message outward and trying to snag the limited attention of potential customers. Common forms of outbound marketing include:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Generic email blasts with a purchased list<\/li>\n
- Billboards<\/li>\n
- Television and radio commercials<\/li>\n
- Direct mail<\/li>\n
- Flyers handed out on the street or put under windshield wipers<\/li>\n
- Google and Facebook ads<\/li>\n
- Pop up banners<\/li>\n
- The sign spinner on the corner busting some serious moves<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The challenge of outbound marketing is that it may annoy people. Most of us don\u2019t look forward to receiving junk mail or checking our email spam folder. We may appreciate the dancing sign spinner\u2019s moves, but we probably won\u2019t remember the business or message plastered on the sign.<\/p>\n
The beauty of inbound marketing is that it is specifically designed to be useful. It is something that customers generally want to engage with. Unsurprisingly, this means that inbound marketing often requires more time, effort, and patience. It may also require guiding your prospects through a longer buyer\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n
Is there a place for outbound marketing in today\u2019s hyper-speed world? Yes. Outbound marketing offers its own benefits, including simplicity and, sometimes, faster conversions. Ideally, inbound and outbound marketing are used together. Depending upon your unique customer journey and customer experience, you need a combination of inbound and outbound marketing to guide leads to purchase \u2014 and keep current customers happy. <\/p>\n
How Do You Create an Inbound Marketing Strategy?<\/h2>\n
If you\u2019re ready to start rolling out pie dough, you\u2019ve gotten a little ahead of yourself. Before you can start making your inbound marketing pie, you need to figure out who\u2019s in your audience. It also doesn\u2019t hurt to ensure that you have the time and ingredients to make the best pie possible.<\/p>\n
A successful inbound marketing campaign starts with a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy. Step one is to identify your target audience. Patagonia, for example, focuses on people who love the outdoors and have the disposable income to invest in high-quality gear. For certain inbound marketing campaigns, they may zero in on an even more specialized audience: Their \u201cWorn Wear<\/a>\u201d campaign, for example, encourages people to repair damaged outdoor gear instead of throwing it away. A message like that likely appeals to today\u2019s growing group of millennials who care deeply about throwing less stuff into landfills.<\/p>\n
Why is Inbound Marketing Important?<\/h3>\n
- \n
- It has four big benefits:\n
- \n
- It\u2019s lasting and permanent.<\/li>\n
- It serves two masters: customers and search engines.<\/li>\n
- Content gains trust, and trust gains customers.<\/li>\n
- It speaks to skeptical millennials better than advertisng.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Potential goals for your inbound marketing campaigns include:\n
- \n
- Brand awareness<\/li>\n
- Thought leadership<\/li>\n
- Increasing the number of marketing-qualified and sales-qualified leads<\/li>\n
- Improving conversion rates<\/li>\n
- Lowering the cost of customer acquisition<\/li>\n
- Enhancing customer service<\/li>\n
- Better customer retention and up-sell<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/img> <\/p>\n
Seth Godin\u2019s audience, on the other hand, is completely different. He gears his blog toward midlevel and executive level business leaders and marketers. Anyone who has their eye on the corner office is someone who can benefit from his blog.<\/p>\n
Who is your audience? If you don\u2019t know, ask your sales and customer service teams. They know more about what your ideal customers care about, the major problems they face, and how your products or services affect (and improve) their lives.<\/p>\n
Once you know your audience, brainstorm what content will really speak to that buyer persona. Any company can develop an exciting inbound marketing campaign. Are you a bank that wants to turn young college grads into lifelong customers? One idea might be creating a graphic novel about how to buy your first car.<\/p>\n
As you brainstorm ideas, make sure you have the time and resources to properly make your pie. Writing a blog or starting a YouTube channel is a big endeavor, and it may take months (or even years) to grow your audience and get the word out. You\u2019ll also need to put in effort to market your pies. Yes \u2014 that means marketing your marketing. If you don\u2019t, no one will know your blog, graphic novel, or podcast exists.<\/p>\n
Next, make sure your campaign serves a higher purpose. Seth Godin\u2019s blog builds incredible loyalty among his readers, many of whom will buy any book he writes. Patagonia\u2019s entrancing Pinterest boards remind their followers how much they love travelling and camping. Soon, they\u2019ll be planning their next trip and picking up new gear from their favorite provider: Patagonia.<\/p>\n
As you create your pie, figure out how it fits in with the rest of your marketing. This is the time to hook together your inbound and outbound marketing efforts. For example, perhaps you\u2019ll ask your audience to fill out a form in order to download your free graphic novel. You can then create an automated email campaign to tell those prospects about your bank\u2019s low interest rates on car loans, or credit cards designed for new college grads who need to build credit.<\/p>\n
Finally, make sure you can track the success of your inbound marketing campaign and related efforts. Not every pie will come out perfectly. If no one is reading your blog after a year of weekly posts, it may be time to try something different. Analytics, trackable links, email signups, and more can all be used to determine how much attention and love your inbound marketing pie is garnering. <\/p>\n
What are Some Inbound Marketing Examples?<\/h2>\n
Patagonia\u2019s Pinterest page and Seth Godin\u2019s blog are just two examples of great inbound marketing. Once you start looking, you\u2019ll find plenty of others. For example, American Express does a brilliant job of providing an incredible array of useful content for business owners with its OPEN Forum<\/a>. Likewise, check out the Starbucks Facebook page<\/a> when you get a chance, and you\u2019ll see pictures, stories, and useful features such as job postings, store locators, and fun contests. Even Lyft is getting into the inbound marketing game with its new podcast \u201cPick Me Up<\/a>,\u201d which features stories about its drivers. Those who listen may just tap their Lyft app instead of another option next time they need a ride.<\/p>\n
Start looking for inbound marketing campaigns to get some fresh ideas for your own marketing. Check the social media pages, websites, and forums of your favorite companies and brands and see what inbound marketing campaigns they\u2019ve been baking up. <\/p>\n
Time to Get in the Kitchen<\/h2>\n
Inbound marketing is time intensive. It requires you to develop a deep understanding of your customer, and you may spend weeks or months creating something that doesn\u2019t directly sell your products or talk up your services. Welcome to the world of inbound marketing. When done right, it\u2019s a great way to attain something that most of your outbound marketing dollars will never buy: a loyal, informed customer.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
- It has four big benefits:\n
- Ask yourself these questions:\n
![\"Turn](\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/10\/THIN_CTA_marketing-cloud-demo.png?strip=all&quality=95\")
<\/img><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n