15 Inbound Marketing Strategies to Build an Everlasting Customer Relationship

Inbound marketing, if done right, can surpass your expectations when it comes to generating high-quality leads. Many Fortune 500 brands have benefited from it, and it can work for your business, too. 

We will explore 15 effective inbound marketing strategies in the article and three inbound marketing examples. Before that, let’s brush up on the basics of inbound marketing. 

What Is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing is about building lasting customer relationships through SEO, content marketing, social media, video marketing, and more. You do not advertise to your customers (like outbound marketing) but give them reasons to come to your brand.

We can divide inbound marketing into four stages: 

• Attract
• Convert
• Close
• Delight

Source: neilpatel.com

Delivering value via content is one of the best ways of attracting and retaining customers. Marketers who do it consistently may notice growth, such as repeat visits and higher user engagement.

In a nutshell, you need to establish yourself as a subject matter expert in your field. If you cannot afford the time to do that, we suggest you hire content writing service providers. They will create an authoritative voice for your brand.

3 examples of successful inbound marketing campaigns

Understanding how other brands use inbound marketing strategies can help you create your marketing blueprint. Go through the following examples.

Uber

Yes, the brand you use to move around uses inbound marketing to attract riders! Uber adopts a personalized approach to email marketing that uses geographically segmented lists to target customers and retain them. The email messages make the user feel appreciated as a customer.

Source: rakacreative.com

Here is a list of some other strategies Uber uses to keep its customers engaged for a lifetime:

• Personalized greeting messages.
• Emails signed by employees.
• Embedded personal promo codes that help users earn credit for referring their friends.
• Follow-up emails after the ride in the form of ride summaries.

If you run a service-based business, the above strategies can help you get new customers. 

Groove

Source: rakacreative.com

It is a productivity app and provides valuable business advice through blogs. You can find tips on entrepreneurship, content marketing, and business growth. Groove’s blog also explores deeper topics such as customer service and leadership. 

Here are the reasons why this blog works:

• The blog posts are data-driven and conversational. It is full of examples, charts, and graphs to provide readers with a better understanding of the topic.
• They design many original images to reduce text and illustrate concepts.
• The posts tell a good story.
• Groove experiments with different content offers and CTAs that drive user engagement.

Social Print Studio

It is a digital photo printing service that offers images in different formats, including wood prints and sticker sheets. The majority of its email campaigns are about how customers can use the service. Take a look at the subject lines in the following image. 

Source: rakacreative.com

Social Print Studio uses the following tips to convert email subscribers:

• Use seasonal and holiday-themed campaigns.
• Keep subject lines short and creative.
• Use eye-catching images and animation at the start of the email.
• Include links to products in the images.
• Show subscribers something new in every email.

You may wonder that Social Print Studio converts leads by using fancy images and emojis. But there is more to it. The brand encourages users to download its app and print a few photos or Christmas cards. Then the brand upsells and focuses on returning customers. 

Thus, email marketing is an inbound marketing strategy if used in the right way.

Inbound Marketing vs. Content Marketing

Many amateur marketers confuse inbound marketing with content marketing. But they are not the same. We can say that content marketing is a subset of inbound marketing. 

For example, if you write a blog post about social media marketing that appeals to marketing managers, it is content marketing. 

But, if you complement the blog with pop-ups, effective CTAs, and embed an incentivized newsletter signup form, it is inbound marketing.

You must understand the difference between the above approaches to marketing. Else, you may create valuable content, but it will not yield the desired results.

So that is all with the basics of inbound marketing. It is time to go through the inbound marketing strategies you can use for your brand immediately. 

15 effective inbound marketing strategies 

Survey your existing customers and leads

The easiest way to understand your target audience is through a survey. 

If you have an email list, send your customers and leads a simple feedback form through a platform like SurveyMonkey.

In the survey, you can ask them about their daily struggles, likes, dislikes, and so on. Your goal is to figure out their problems. Then you can create compelling content that solves them.

Tell the best stories through your content

The best content creators or marketers are usually the best storytellers. Even if you write about a technical topic, you can still create exciting stories. 

Storytelling works because it creates an emotional connection with your audience. Moreover, it results in brand recall. Research by Stanford University shows a 63 percent chance that people will remember a story compared to a statistic.

Startups can benefit tremendously from the art of storytelling. You can weave in real-life stories when talking about your products or services. It can help you close the sale and grow your startup further through inbound marketing.

Use keyword optimization to succeed in SEO

SEO can go a long way in shaping your brand’s future in today’s search-driven marketplace.

You have to direct your focus to basic on-page SEO and getting backlinks for your site and content. And you can do that by keyword optimization.

Find specific long-tail keywords and target them in your content. Why? Because long-tail keywords have low competition and high conversion rates. Check out the below image: 

Source: monsterinsights.com

You can do SEO all by yourself using online tools and resources. But the better alternative is to hire one of the leading SEO service providers. You will benefit more from their expertise and vast knowledge base.

Do guest posting consistently

Data suggests that guest blogging is an effective inbound marketing strategy.

It can get you backlinks, authority in your niche, and relationships with top influencers.

If you want excellent results, you need to write guest blogs consistently. And post them on sites with higher DA (Domain Authority). 

Pitch to sites with engaged readers

We spoke about posting on sites with high DA. Many entrepreneurs who use guest posting for inbound marketing do not pitch to such sites. 

We are aware that every guest post requires effort. So it does not make sense if your hard work does not pay off in the form of visitors or leads.

If you post on a blog that does not have a loyal audience, you will end up wasting your time.

Besides metrics like DA, it is a good idea to look at the comments on your chosen website. 

For example, the guest blogs on WordStream get many relevant comments. It tells you the readers are engaged. So a blog post on the site can get you leads who may convert at a later stage. 

Source: neilpatel.com

Conduct in-depth interviews to improve your inbound marketing efforts

You can do inbound marketing better by getting insights from your potential customers. Start by shortlisting a few individuals from the pool of leads.

You can ask the individuals if they are okay with a 10-minute phone call or a video chat about their current struggles. Tell them you might have a solution for their problems.

When you are on the call, try to dig deeper into their struggles. Just having a general idea will not help your inbound marketing strategy. Get as specific as you can and use the answers to create content.

Host a free webinar

Free webinars can help your customers find solutions to their problems in real-time. On the other hand, offering a free guide may compel people to download it. But they may never read the same.

If people sign up for a webinar, they get to understand your personality. Also, you will know if they watched the whole thing.

Finally, a webinar is a great way to increase your leads. Interested visitors will have to enter their first name and email address to access it. And you know how to use the data as an inbound marketer! 

Promote your content to get quality backlinks

Backlinks can influence your search engine results to a large extent. In layman’s language, backlinks are other sites linking to your site or content. 

There are many ways to increase the number of backlinks to your content.

You can promote your content to other relevant influencers related to your industry or niche.

The exact number of backlinks needed to succeed on the search engines varies with the keyword, topic, and competing sites with good rankings.

You can easily outrank pages on popular sites with more authority through excellent content marketing.

If you are not sure where to start with backlinks, take the help of a good company providing digital marketing services.

Acquire inbound marketing leads with free content

If you want to convert your visitors into leads, create bulletproof strategies that compel people to give you their email addresses.

You can offer free content to visitors in exchange for contact information.

For example, if your enterprise operates in the B2B sector, you can create an in-depth analysis of trending topics. A free download of the report can be an effective lead magnet.

Launch an email course

Teaching your audience something helpful is a great way to grab leads. But you may not have the time and resources to create live courses every time. So there is another form of content that can get you many new customers.

The best part is that it will not require extensive research for a report or the backend software necessary for a webinar.

You can create an email course and provide extra value to the subscribers.

For example, you are giving away an e-book that is not converting well. So break down the content of the e-book into sections. Then send each section as a separate email. Most importantly, encourage the readers to connect with you if they cannot understand something in the course.

A real example is that of AWeber’s Everyday Email 30-day email course. It sends you effective tactics you can apply in your email course. They also tell you what to expect after signing up for the course.

Source: podia.com

Try creating an email course yourself and let us know the results in the comments section at the end of this article.

Start an influencer marketing campaign

You can get people excited about your brand if you get influencer marketing right. So let us understand how you can make the best of this strategy. 

First and foremost, ensure you are appealing to the right influencers. Sometimes your preferred influencers may not be persuasive to your target audience.

How can you find the right influencers to promote your business? You can:

• Search on Google for the top influencers in your niche.
• Identify hashtags on Instagram related to your domain and then hunt for top influencers.
• Use the various influencer platforms to connect with creators.

We also recommend not to stick to a single influencer if you can afford more of them. It will expand your reach to a larger audience.

Develop strong relationships with top influencers

If you have identified which influencers are best for your brand, it is time to approach them.

Some business owners try to attract the attention of influencers by spamming them with requests for content promotion. But it will irritate them and ruin the relationship.

Instead, you should gradually build a genuine relationship with the influencers.

You can reach influencers through targeted communication on social media. For example, you can tell them how they inspired you to create a specific piece of content.

Last but not least, try to have personal or video interactions with the influencers. It gives you a chance to explain about your products or services better.

Build effective email campaigns

We already know that email marketing is critical to a successful inbound marketing campaign. 

But the question is if you are using it effectively. 

You can get an average ROI (Return on Investment) of $36 for every $1 spent on email marketing.

Be strategic when promoting your brand through email. Also, be in the email marketing picture for the long term. Use DMARC checker to make sure your emails are securely encrypted and don’t end up in spam.

We recommend creating a sequence of emails instead of pitching your product immediately after signing up. It will build interest among your potential customers. Finally, you can ask them if they are interested in buying your product or service. 

Make your website mobile-friendly

The primary goal of any inbound marketing strategy is to drive visitors to a specific website or content.

But if you cannot convert people once they arrive at the site, it is a waste of your time and resources. 

Your website should be ready to convert your traffic into customers. And one of the ways to increase its chances is to make your site mobile-friendly.

If your startup’s site is not mobile-responsive, you will struggle to make sales.

Run a check on your website today and make sure it is responsive and works well on mobile. Take advantage of Google’s mobile-friendly test. You can enter a page URL and see how it scores. 

Install a Hello Bar

Installing the Hello Bar can increase your inbound marketing leads. It is a simple tool that can add a signup form at the top of your website. The best part is that it does not impact the user experience.

Source: hellobar.com

Thus, you can use such inbound marketing tools to get new leads every day.

Summary of inbound marketing strategies

We saw 15 inbound marketing strategies that can skyrocket your business growth. Also, the three inbound marketing examples are awe-inspiring. But do not expect such success overnight!

Consistent testing and execution are the recipes for success in any form of marketing. Monitor your results regularly and tweak the different components of your campaign.

If some things do not work as expected, refine those strategies and experiment with something new. You can keep an A/B split-test running at all times to make small but consistent changes to your marketing strategy. In the realm of SEO, Link Gathering can be a pivotal component, so consider incorporating it into your tests to gauge its impact on your site’s performance.

We wish you all the very best for your next inbound marketing campaign!

Leave a comment below if you liked the blog and share it with your peers.