Inbound marketing vs. outbound marketing

Inbound marketing strategies

Inbound marketing strategies are subdivided into three key phases: attract, engage and delight.

Let’s take a peak at each of these stages and clarify the role they play in attracting and retaining customers. 

• Attracting strategies

The first stage of inbound marketing is all about building an audience of potential customers. At this point: 

• The people you engage with will often be unfamiliar with your brand
• They will also likely be in the early phases of figuring out exactly what problem it is that they need solving 

Your focus during the attraction stage is to provide content that acknowledges this problem. Addressing their needs with empathy will:

• Elicit an emotional response and build customer rapport
• Develop curiosity about your products
• Encourage your audience to find out more about your brand as a whole

To ensure your content can be ‘found’, you need to target your potential customers on the platforms they’re already using (social media channels, news outlets, etc). 

You should also ensure you rank highly on the search engine results pages (SERP) for any important topics and search terms related to your brand’s offering.

• Engaging strategies:

The engagement stage is when you have the chance to turn your new prospects into customers. Your aim is to guide them through the ‘consideration’ and ‘decision’ phases of their customer journey. You can do this by providing insights and expertise relevant to their challenges. 

This is also an excellent opportunity to help them navigate the different solutions the market has to offer. You should always maintain a neutral stance and favour factual accuracy and quality of information over the approach of a ‘hard sale’. This will help build brand trust and convince potential customers you offer an honest solution to their problems.

• Delighting strategies:

Last but not least is the stage of delighting your customers. This is when you strive to exceed the expectations of those who choose to buy from your business. Ideally, they will transition from being one-time customers to loyal brand ambassadors who come to you again and again. 

To make this scenario a possibility, you need to provide excellent ongoing service and demonstrate that the relationship does not end once they’ve spent their hard-earned money. This may include: 

• Providing additional information and support that helps them get the most from their purchase
• Re-contacting them to alert them of ways that new products and services can help in the future