Inbound marketing is increasingly being used by small businesses and green industry businesses alike in place of or as a compliment to traditional marketing. Inbound marketing by definition is; marketing activities that bring visitors in, as opposed to marketers going out to get a prospects attention. Hence the name- inbound. It is a way to bring potential customers to your door and allow them to get to know your brand before actually purchasing anything. It is a wonderful concept to master and it can skyrocket your brand if done right. Here are a few tips on how to master the delicate art of inbound marketing for small business.
1. Research
Research is number one for a reason. Without it, you have nothing to go off of. If you haven't dabbled much with inbound marketing yet, jump right into researching now. Specifically, researching 3 aspects will set you above the competition:
- Your target customer: Who are you producing your content for? Who do you want reading and viewing your messages? If you know exactly who this person is and what they want, you will be able to tailor your messages and spark their interest much easier.
- Your Industry: Where are other businesses in your industry posting their content? What businesses are seen as resources?
- Your Business: What are your objectives? What does your sales process look like?
2. Publish Customer Testimonials
If you don't have anyone to vouch for you, you're doing something wrong. Reach out to your most loyal customers and ask for some testimonials. Post them on your website and link to them on social media so that prospective customers can see that people like you! Inbound marketing is really the opposite of advertising yourself, but customer testimonials are a big help when customers are looking for a service or product.
3. Produce quality content
Publishing content isn't enough, it needs to be quality content that your audience will engage with. This is where research will come in handy. If you, for example, own a landscape company, publish content that will help your customers keep a pristine-looking lawn between services. Help your customers out by giving them sound advice that they are looking for. Inbound marketing is afterall, about the consumer and not the business. Focus on quality over quanity but post consistently and enough to actually make a dent in the void that is the internet. When you have quality content, publish it in places that your audience doesn't have to dig for it.
4. Nurture your leads
Having a large number of leads is great, but if they just sit there stagnant, they become useless. If your content is bringing you in new leads, great! You have accomplished something just with that, but that's only step one. In order to convert these leads into customers, you must follow-up with them and find out what they're looking for.
5. Measure and monitor
Keep track of your numbers. They will help you to tweak your content and get it to a place with the most engagement. Pay attention specifically to shares and clicks on social media and blog posts, if your audience is taking time to share your work, it was probably pretty helpful for them. This is the kind of content you want to aim for, and there is more than one way to get your content up to this kind of quality. The biggest way, is research. Set some goals for your content to reach that will allow you to grow the quility of the content; like clicks.
Check out the 2014 Buyer Report to see what the green industry is up to.
