What is Inbound Marketing?

At Hollinden, we are big fans of HubSpot. As some of you may know, HubSpot is an all-inclusive marketing hub that can be used to manage inbound marketing programs. The system fuses elements of a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) and a Content Management System (CMS). It provides an organized framework for inbound activities and detailed analytics to help refine marketing strategy.

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing refers to all the activities a firm does to attract potential clients. Online, this includes Search Engine Optimization (SEO), content marketing, and social media marketing. Rather than interrupt potential clients, like traditional advertising, inbound strategies aim to reach people when they are searching for answers to their questions or looking for solutions to their problems.

Inbound strategy takes digital marketing to the next level. The approach encourages firms to produce relevant content that offers solutions, answers questions, or addresses potential client's pain points. Such content is more likely to rank well in search engine results and more likely to attract click-throughs on social media.

HubSpot also ties different actions to different stages in the buyer's journey. The buyer's journey model includes the following stages:

• Awareness: During this stage, a "buyer" identifies a problem or a need and starts to research options. It helps to think of the buyer as a potential future client. This client may use Google to search for local resources and find an article on your firm's blog at this stage.
• Consideration: The potential client committed to solving the issue identified during the awareness stage but hasn't committed to any particular product or service. Such a client might find your firm's website through a social media post or a search for more specific details about a service.
• Decision: During this phase, the client is specifically looking to hire a firm, retain a service, or buy a product.

A potential client in the early awareness stage has different interests than one who is ready to make a decision. By attracting people early on, a firm can develop credibility and trust before the client is ready to make a decision. HubSpot's framework involves building a lead collection strategy in the early stage to facilitate this relationship building. Once a potential client voluntarily shares contact information and interest, it is much easier to convert them from a prospect to a client.

How HubSpot Helps Manage Your Inbound Marketing

HubSpot enables you to manage inbound activities through one unified platform. This includes:

• Email: Capture email newsletter subscription sign-ups, create newsletters, and manage your firm's email mailing list.
• Website management: HubSpot's website platform allows users to create professional looking, mobile responsive websites. The platform also integrates with some other popular web building tools.
• SEO: The platform integrates SEO and prompts you to on best practices for each page.
• Marketing automation: Most successful firms use some marketing automation tools to ensure consistent and efficient implementation of their inbound strategy. For example, if a visitor requests your free worksheet, you set up an automated process to add the prospect to your email list, deliver the worksheet, and to schedule a follow-up email.
• Landing pages: HubSpot integrates promotion specific landing pages.
• Analytics: The built-in analytics offer insight about how your website content and social media content performs.
• Social media: Create, schedule and post social media posts on most major channels. HubSpot also offers features that help with social listening, responding to comments about your firm, and generating leads.
• Blogging: The HubSpot system includes a sophisticated blogging system and also can integrate popular blogging CMS like WordPress.

HubSpot offers a sophisticated, integrated framework for inbound marketing activities. The inbound system can be coordinated with traditional outbound marketing tactics like cold pitching and advertising. Many firms find the framework, emphasis on strategy, and comprehensive hub saves time and boosts their marketing effectiveness.

Are you interested in learning more? Reach out! We’d love to help. And don’t be overwhelmed if it seems like a lot of work. Hollinden can manage the system for you.