Six Steps to Successful Inbound Marketing

Here at Dowitcher Designs we we deal a lot with matters of inbound marketing — that is, when leads or potential customers come to you.

And let me tell you, success starts with careful, precise planning. After all, in order to achieve your goals you must establish them first. But being that inbound marketing is a results-focused process, it seems like many businesses just want to skip right to the results without, you know, working for them.

I get it. Planning is challenging and unglamorous. But you have to start somewhere, and strategy is where it’s at. Figure out:

• Who you want to target — who is your ideal customer?
• Where you can find customers — or rather, how they will find your business?
• What exactly you would like those customers to do — sign up for a newsletter? Visit a landing page? Fill out a contact form? Buy your product? All of the above?
• How much you can invest in your marketing plan?
• How much of a return your investment might be able to generate — your goal numbers?

Once you get your plans together, a hearty congratulations is in order! But don’t celebrate too much just yet — our work has only begun.

To help illustrate the rest I’ll turn to a nifty infographic from Impact I found via HubSpot. It describes the six steps of the inbound marketing process. Step one — the objectives — we’ve already covered. Some highlights from the content:

• A professional, clear, flexible, easily-navigable website is absolutely crucial, as it is the hub of all your online marketing and lead generation.
• A blog sends websites over 50% more traffic than websites without blogs.
• Businesses see a 63% increase in marketing effectiveness when using social media networks
• Since almost half of all daily searches are for information on products or services, using effective keywords on your site will help draw new leads in
• The most important metrics to measure are:
  • Traffic to leads
  • Leads to customers
  • Cost per lead
  • Cost per customer

Read on for all the details! And remember, it takes time and upkeep to earn your marketing successes.