With the calendar rolling into February, Valentine’s Day looms heavily; regardless of whether you are single or in a relationship. With love in the air, here at the TPM office, it seemed most fitting that I should write a post on how an effective inbound marketing strategy is a lot like making a love connection.
Skeptical? If making a love connection is about meeting the right person at the right time at the right place, then hold onto your hats, because an effective inbound marketing strategy is about your prospects finding the right content at the right time in the right place. Just like these 2 lovebirds in an episode of Love Connection from 1985.
Love Connection
When it comes to an effective inbound marketing strategy, the buyer persona is the key to content marketing. Inbound, is very much about matching up the right content with the right viewer at the right time. When all these components come together, you find the sweet spot; like a perfect love connection.
Of course, what’s important when trying to find this sweet spot is to understand your buyer persona, or your ideal customer. The process is much like describing your ideal mate to a friend playing matchmaker.
In addition to purchasing triggers, professional goals, and purchasing power, build your buyer personas a backstory. What are their values? What are they into? Know what makes them smile and what makes them tick. This will be the key component in achieving that connection and truly understanding what content will strike a chord with them during the customer journey funnel.
What you’re looking to achieve, is a seamless multi-channel experience for your customers. You want to eliminate mixed messages: no confused content and no reasons for them to look elsewhere to satisfy their needs. Does this sound a bit like some sage dating advice your mother gave you a few years ago?
So, how does this all relate to strategy? In a nutshell, all of these efforts are generating more momentum, while also making future efforts easier. You’re approaching people in a channel that they want to interact with you in. If they didn’t, they’d move on and find another brand to engage with. Here are some of the perks that go hand-in-hand with an efficient inbound marketing strategy.
Inbound Marketing is a Cheap Date
A major bonus to the inbound methodology in terms of strategy is budget. Not only will an inbound approach save you marketing dollars (with a lower cost-per-lead average than outbound marketing), it will save you time and resources. Companies using inbound marketing are 3 times more likely to see higher ROI than those using outbound marketing.
Source: The State of Inbound by HubsSpot
Whether you are on a small budget or have a multi-million dollar marketing budget, having an effective inbound marketing strategy will allow you to stretch your marketing dollars.
The power of social media, blogging, SEO, email marketing, and more, is that you can put less resources into a campaign and still reap more rewards than you would with an outbound strategy. Put your efforts into finding that sweet spot, then let your content sing. Why splurge on champagne when your date is happy with just beer and wings?
Life, Interrupted
There’s not much you can do to force a love connection on someone if the chemistry isn’t there. But putting yourself in front of those who are interested in finding a mate is sure to get you better results than sheepishly waiting for a lunch-invite at your company water cooler.
Consider this. The average attention span of a visitor to a website is just eight seconds, so make it count!
These days, people do whatever they can do avoid interruptions in life; they record their TV shows so they can skip through the ads, they put pop-up blockers on their computers, they deregister their names from cold-calling and junk mail lists, all to find some sweet relief from the continuous onslaught of information we’re all fed on a daily basis. Have you ever tried asking a girl on a date on the bus? You know how well that went.
No wonder the game has changed. With Inbound, you’re not disrupting people’s lives to broadcast your brand. They’ll be actively seeking you out, or they’ll come across you organically; either way, it’s happening on their terms, which people like.
Tying the Knot
It’s time to tie the knot and bring all of the pieces together.
- First, you need the spark; look behind doors number 1, 2, and 3 and find your perfect match – or buyer persona.
- Once you’ve found that twinkle in your eye, start creating content with that person in mind – as if you’re creating your online dating profile that would attract that ideal mate. Consider each aspect of them as you weave together content that you know will strike a chord.
- And finally, it’s time to make the connections between the four basic actions and the many channels associated with inbound marketing. Making seamless connections between your content and marketing channels will, in turn, help you make a deeper connection with your audience.
Having a customer-centric approach to your content allows you to have an effective inbound marketing strategy, and find that sweet spot you’re looking for.
Congratulations! You’ve got the right content in front of the right eyes at the exact time they’re seeking it. It’s a perfect match. We hope you and your Tweet-heart will be very happy together.
Need Help Building an Effective Inbound Marketing Strategy?
If you’d like to learn more about inbound marketing and how it can help your business better reach your audience, contact our experts at Total Product Marketing today. We look forward to playing your matchmaker!
