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Do you know that the world’s leading calculator company increased its Leads by 496%?
Or that a global HR services company quadrupled its leads within a year? Moreover, that company represents more than 90% of the global HR services market.
Before you suspect both the above-listed facts. I disclose that the respective companies are Casio and Randstad.
Both these companies shifted their focus from traditional means to a new one. They incorporated Inbound Marketing Tools in their arsenal to improve their results.
For the uninitiated ones, Inbound Marketing relies on pull tactics instead of push. It lays its focus on Permission marketing instead of being obtrusive.
A marketing methodology that does not disturb its audience sounds unusual. That is why it operates on the pull techniques instead of the push ones.
Inbound Marketing Methodology
To make optimum use of Inbound Marketing Tools. It is essential to understand the philosophy of Inbound Marketing.
Inbound Marketing works on the principles of providing essential information for the customers. The information exists at every stage of the customer’s journey.
How to Get Awesome Sale Results With Free Inbound Marketing Tools
The stages of providing information fall under these 4 categories:
1. Attract
The Content in this stage brings the audience to the company’s website. The most common forms of such content include blogs.
The first time visitors land to a website through organic search. Thus, the higher a Content ranks in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). The higher is the probability of attracting new visitors.
Appropriate Keywords optimized content plays a crucial role in topping the organic results.
2. Convert
It makes sense to turn a first time visitor to your website into a regular audience. That process is Conversion.
This happens when the interaction with the Content compels the reader to take an action. If the initial step of Attracting the visitor goes well. Then, the Conversion becomes much easier.
Most of the times, Content Upgrades to the regular content leads to conversions.
The rate of conversion is an important metric for Inbound Marketing. It lets you know how well your Content resonates with your target audience.
3. Close
When a Lead makes a sale, it becomes a ‘Close and Won’.
It is important to have a healthy (Close and Won) : (Leads) ratio. The higher this ratio, the more optimized is your website for making profits.
Revenue increases when a Lead makes a Sale. That is why it is imperative to increase Leads in both quantity and quality. The better a Lead, the higher the chances of increasing the bottom line.
4. Delight
Unlike traditional forms of marketing, Inbound Marketing is an ongoing one. It works even after a lead converts into a paying customer.
Since it involves enriching customers post purchases. Thus, this marketing methodology builds up strong bonds with its customers.
This leads to happy customers that look forward to hearing more from the business. That is the reason Inbound Marketing lays emphasis on delighting customers. Hence, this leads to trust that goes beyond the realms of financial interactions.
Once the guiding principles of Inbound Marketing strategy are in place. Then, you can move on to the inbound marketing tools to automate your marketing.
Making Sense of Inbound Marketing Strategy
As Content generation is at the heart of Inbound marketing. It is important to deliver the appropriate content at the appropriate time.
Therefore, one type of Content does not fit for all the 4 stages. That is why a professional Digital marketer excels in creating variations of Content. Thus, 4 forms of Content for the 4 stages of the customer journey.
It is a no-brainer that the Content irrespective of the stage must be of high quality. You can incorporate various content writing techniques to improve its quality.
After the Content generation, the next step is to —–
Utilize Inbound Marketing Tools for Content Delivery
There are various products that serve the purpose for individual Inbound Marketing stages.
As per the functions, they help achieve. I have categorized them as below:
ATTRACT
1. Kwfinder – I am sure you know a lot many brands/business that post a lot of content. But they never find traction on their hard work.
In part, the reason for the same is little to no time spend on Keyword Research. Unless you optimize your articles for relevant untapped keywords. Until then you will never get search engine rankings.
2. HireWriter – Getting the basics of good content writing is not difficult. It is a skill that hones with experience.
But if time is what you struggle with. Then, it is better to outsource your content.
3. Buffer – Facebook, and Pinterest are my highest performing social media channels. They both come with their internal schedulers. Thus there is no need for an external one.
But if you need an omnibus social media scheduler. Then, this one resource is a good deal.
CONVERT
1. Mailchimp – A robust email platform is the foundation of online business success. There are many options available for the same. This one provides most of the services at a lesser price than its competitors.
2. Mail Munch – It is an enhanced email capture service. They have nice pop-ups, embedded forms, and landing pages. I use them in tandem with Mailchimp.
3. Sumo – This is a bouquet service that gives a lot of apps to run an online business. It has various options for lead generation, email capture, as well as analytics.
CLOSE
1. Zoho CRM – If you understand what does your customer want. Then, you have got half the puzzle right.
In order to get what your customers want. It is important to get an overview of their interactions on your website. Zoho CRM does that for you with its intuitive interface.
2. Gum Road – Most of my digital products host on this service. It is a good service to let your customers buy your products.
3. Thinkific – If your product is a course. Then, Thinkific is the best resource available. It is easy to use and has tons of beautiful features.
DELIGHT
1. Fresh Desk – After sales service is as important as the one before purchase. For the same, Fresh Desk is perfect for small business and Solopreneurs.
Hubspot Marketing Platform
All the above-mentioned tools are free inbound marketing tools to run your business. Despite being free for beginners, they deliver professional results. The lone drawback is that you have to use all of them to run your website.
Using so many tools together could bring in chaos and a little overwhelming. If you wish to use all the services through a single Inbound Marketing Software. Then, you need to know about Hubspot Growth Suite. It is a free Inbound marketing platform. It is by the company that pioneers this marketing philosophy.
You can start using their free CRM to test waters and then move on to their other services.
The platform is easy for beginners. Plus, you can also request their free demo for further clarification. Using HubSpot software is the stepping stone to imbibe Inbound Marketing. The growth of your business will be evident after its application on your business.
Conclusion
If you need to leverage the magic of Inbound Marketing for your startup. Then, you have to adhere to the 4 principles of this marketing strategy.
To get those 4 methodologies to work, you need tools for execution.
There are numerous individual tools available that meet these purpose. You can go back and forth with them to achieve your business goals.
But if you want a simple tool that does all the Inbound Marketing for you, then you need a holistic software. That tool is an Inbound tool stack by HubSpot that delivers impactful results.
It has proven to work in varied industries and geographies. You can start using it for free, till you decide which plan works best for your business. You can do so by clicking on the image below.
Have you used HubSpot before? What are the phases for the Inbound service framework that you are stuck with?
Inbound Marketing Tools ~ Free CRM
Let me know your experience.
