In the last several years we’ve seen inbound marketing rise in popularity among small businesses. It really is not a new concept but more of a revived effort for small businesses to build trust through delivering great content to generate leads.Inbound marketing used to be thought of as a way to increase traffic or visibility. It has since morphed into a more complete way of thinking about driving new visitors and leads to your business that relies primarily on content. Social media like Facebook and Pinterest have helped expand this network considerably.Some common examples of inbound marketing include blogs, whitepapers, video and eBooks that don’t necessarily sell your product or service but demonstrates your expertise and ability to meet your customer’s needs. The most important factor in any inbound marketing effortis content, and not just any kind of content. It needs to be remarkable. The reason is this: your best content is the kind that pulls new customers in, brings old customers back and builds a reputation as a resource for solid, valuable information.
Some like to think of inbound marketing as “free,” but cultivating great content and placing them on social media pages, your blog or even third party sites that accept submissions, still take time and money. Your best bet for using inbound marketing wisely is to have a plan.
One of the benefits of this type of marketing is the ability to attract more traffic to your business. Define what kind of audience you would like to focus most on and how you will use content to change new visitors into customers and customers into repeat business.
Now, where to cultivate great content? One avenue is a content creation platform like Scoop.it. These kinds of platforms help you collect relevant content and share your insight to attract an avid audience.
You can also create your own based on your expertise. Populate your website with multiple forms of content and package the content in multiple ways. Such as an eBook that users download from your site in exchange for their contact information or a weekly newsletter with valuable information and discounts. The possibilities to stretch your creative muscles with inbound marketing are endless and the payoff is that you become a resource for customers and drive more business because of your expertise.
