Inbound marketing is an effective way to generate leads, by providing your clients and potential clients with the kind of content they want.  In order to capitalise on this lead-generation tool, you need to follow an inbound marketing process. This ensures your content is used most effectively, allowing you to target your key audiences. Here are Springboard’s six steps to creating an inbound marketing process that works for your business.

AUDIENCE RESEARCH

All good marketing begins with good market research. Creating and targeting content can be better achieved when you know your audience. Using qualitative and quantitative data , you can gain an understanding of your target audience’s desires, values, interests, motivations and their online browsing behaviour.

CREATE ACTION PLAN

Based on the initial research, you can now create a campaign concept and plan tailored to your target audience and business objectives.

MARKETING AUTOMATION

Before implementing your lead generation campaign, you need to put in place the tools your team will use on a daily basis to capture leads and manage customers.

Read our blog on marketing automation here.

INBOUND MARKETING

With the framework in place you can begin to create the lead generating content through inbound marketing. At Springboard PR & Marketing we advise our clients to utilise some of the following lead-generating tactics:

• Blogging
• Social media posting
• Landing page creation
• SEO and keyword development
• Webinars
• Case studies
• Video
• Email marketing

DEMAND GENERATION

By incorporating your inbound tactics into an overall, comprehensive demand generation strategy, you can begin to build brand awareness and produce qualified leads for your sales team.  This demand generation strategy ensures that you funnel consumers down the conversion path, from an interested audience to a brand ambassador. The end result is increased sales.

REPORT AND ANALYSE

Once you have established a process that delivers more direct sales or qualified leads to your sales team, you need to start the evaluation.  At Springboard PR & Marketing, we advise our clients to monitor the various stages and track a variety of analytics. Using these insights, you can review your performance and make tweaks to deliver better results.

To read more about the top metrics you should be using, click here.

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Post by Susie Horgan

Susie founded Springboard in 2011, and has developed the business into a leading, director-led communications agency. She has worked for over 20 years in senior marketing and public relations roles.