In line with many inbound marketing agencies, we share the belief of 'inbound methodology', as it's known, which is a cycle following four key marketing stages: attract, convert, close and delight.
This has been the most effective method of marketing since 2006, when marketeers really embraced modern technologies and accepted that the old 'outbound' ways, just weren't up to scratch any more.
The main goal with inbound is that by creating content that is suited to the reader's interests, you will naturally attract the traffic you'll need to convert and close over time. On top of that, you don't just end there, but continue to delight customers with continuously great content.
Previously, we’ve blogged in this series about “What makes an inbound marketing campaign?” and introduced you to the first and second stages in the inbound cycle ("attract" and "convert"), so today introducing “close”.
“Close” is when we organise all of those leads and truly fulfil their needs - they've become customers. Of course, every business owner loves customers, which is why it is great to see them organised into a database and be able to communicate with them through campaigns at the touch of an automated button.
Attract, Convert, Close & Delight explained...
Stage Three: Close
If there's a stage where you're getting into the "nitty gritty", this would be it. The "close" stage of inbound is getting the leads to become customers.
Not easy.
However, the methodology and capabilities of inbound and inbound software / guidance / support can have a brilliant effect on the ease of this stage.
- LEAD SCORING: Which of your contacts are ready to start the process in to becoming a customer? A numerical representation creates an indication of whether a potential customer is just that or if they need more time.
- EMAIL MARKETING: Email campaigns have not gone out of fashion or lost their impact - not if implemented correctly. We use email to keep in touch or remind a contact of what we offer. An interesting, engaging email is better than letting them wander into the database of a competitor.
- MARKETING AUTOMATION: Putting email marketing and lead nurturing tools into a tailored campaign which is dependent on the needs and lifecycle of a user. Using the lifecycle stages and lead scoring we can email a lead relevant content through email, but we can change the messaging if their needs develop.
- CLOSED-LOOP REPORTING: This is a great tool for marketing - how do you know which efforts are doing well and which of your marketing efforts are not having a desired impact? Our CRM system allows you to analyse just how well your marketing, sales and content creation efforts are integrating and impacting on your customer.
In the final blog of this series we'll discuss the last stage in inbound marketing methodology – "delight".
Inbound Marketing For You
We passionately believe in the advantages of inbound - we've seen the results for ourselves and now we're offering it to customers. As our former companies, Au Fait and Echo Graphics, we delivered a lot fo these services, just without the title. Now we have the title and a new title for ourselves (thrive), we want to pass it onto you.
If it's not right for you, we wouldn't offer it. Although, at least some of the key marketing methods are right for everyone - content creation is paramount for searchability, brand awareness and customer engagement. Any customer-facing business should already be aware that social media is key to success.
Plus, we still offer our creative services - branding, graphic design and website design - as part of, or separate to, an inbound marketing strategy - few companies can offer the whole package, but our expanding team can.
Next Monday will see the release our final blog, highlighting the effects of "delight" – that is the final (and exciting) stage of inbound marketing methodology.
