Inbound Marketing for Business a Bulls Eye for Business Success
Inbound marketing for business is a bulls eye to business success in this day and age. Customers have tuned out old forms of marketing such as direct mail, television ads and telemarketers.
Today, customers want content they can use, engage with and then, ideally, share. Inbound marketing for business fits this bill. But, with so many inbound marketing for business strategies out there, where should businesses begin?
There are few best practices for inbound marketing for businesses we would like to share with you to get your inbound marketing plan started off right.
Social Media
First and foremost, you must establish a social media presence. Venues like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and more have the power to connect you with your customers and potential customers in new and exciting ways.
Through social media, you can create links with the public and develop a level of trust and transparency with your customers that leads to more business for you.
Several social media management programs and firms exist to help get the most out of your social media inbound marketing. But, social media is the place to start when it comes to inbound marketing for businesses.
Blogging
A business blog is another great way to leverage inbound marketing. Blogs optimized for search engines drive people to your site where they can find useful information not just sales pitches. Your blog should seek to inform and educate people about your industry.
Strong keywords and excellent content they can use will hook customers into your company much more than overt sales talk. As a bonus, make sure your blog automatically posts to your social media sites and that potential clients can share your posts within their social media circles.
White Papers
White papers were once the sole purview of government and academia. But increasingly, businesses use white papers to educate consumers. Inbound marketing for businesses should include white papers that provide clear, logical and factual reasoning that make a business case for a technology or clearly explain a product or technology.
As with blogs, white papers’ sole function isn’t as a sales pitch but as an educational tool that draws customers to your company.
Video Content
Online videos increasingly must become part of an inbound marketing strategy. After all, YouTube is searched about two billion times per day for video content.
Developing video content as part of inbound marketing for businesses has the potential to bring a new generation of customers to your business.
Like blog posts, videos also regularly get shared within social media circles and have the ability to become viral content, content that spreads around the Internet the way the common cold rages through a daycare center.
Developing an inbound marketing strategy must be at the top of the list for any business looking to see success in the 21st century. Using these best practices will help get you started on creating high quality, useful and educational content your customers will want to read and, most importantly, share.
Flickr photo by schoeband
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