The competition is tough for every business. Brands are always looking for the most efficient way to market their services and products.
Inbound marketing and outbound marketing strategies are two commonly used marketing strategies.
In short, outbound strategies are like screaming out your company name from a rooftop. And hoping to get the attention of pedestrians. There is no specific target or goal.
Since it lacks direction, the content is usually vague. There is often little value-adding information. The sole purpose is to get your company name out there.
Outbound strategies can end up yielding little return in the long term as they shoot at the bull’s eye blindfolded. Whereas for inbound marketing strategies, the gameplay is much more complex. You will get a much more prominent result.
What is an Inbound Strategy?
An inbound strategy refers to targeting and nurturing audiences interested in your niche, thus turning them into paying clients organically.
According to HubSpot, it reduces marketing costs by 62% as compared to outbound marketing like paying for ads on TV. The ROI is high. An inbound strategy yields immediate results that are quantifiable and calculable.
Companies, especially startups, adore an inbound strategy because it’s user-friendly. You don’t have to outsource it to an agency. Even if you are starting from scratch, you will figure it out fairly easily.
Most email marketing platforms come with an analytic tool for you to review and adjust your campaign. You can simply eliminate elements that are not working and replace them. It offers a clear look at which style, content, or visual, will generate the most purchases.
What Type of Businesses is an Inbound Strategy Suitable For?
All businesses! Every business should do an inbound strategy. Marketing is essential for a business to be seen and recognized. Finding the right strategy can make the difference between being a small-town shop and an industry leader.
Whether you are selling a physical product or offering a virtual service, inbound marketing allows you to reach clients on the other side of the world. As the internet takes off in the recent decade, establishing an online presence is key. It is the most cost-effective way to position yourself as an expert in your field.
Traditional ways of marketing, like handing out leaflets, are time-consuming. It is time to embrace the benefits of an inbound strategy.
Email is here to stay. Social media platforms are too volatile for quality performance. Users’ habits change frequently. Besides, the user pool of all social media platforms combined still cannot be compared to the 4 billion email users worldwide. You can reach people in each corner of the world.
Regardless of the industry you are in, the competition will only be higher as globalization takes place. Unless you have ties with industry giants, otherwise, it is difficult to build up your brand from scratch without any leads.
An inbound marketing strategy is what you need for your business. Even if you have never been trained for this before, you don’t have to worry. It is fairly straightforward to do inbound email marketing. Each niche would require slightly different tactics in creating their email marketing campaigns but there are several steps to follow.
Follow these simple steps to draft up a great start for your email campaigns. Make edits and adjustments as you go.
How To Do Inbound Email Marketing?
Basically, an inbound strategy can be broken down into 4 steps.
1. Define your audience
First, to attract new audiences interested in your services and products. This step is crucial in growing your company. You don’t want to be holding a speaker blasting out promotional junk at people who don’t care. Instead, spend the time to identify your audience.
Think about who would be interested in what you can offer. Group your audiences together. Categorize them. For example, if your target audience is mature professionals like CEOs, seasoned bankers, experienced doctors, etc., then your email campaigns need to sound formal and informative as they cater well to this group.
But if your target audience is young college students, you might want to make your email campaigns sound and fun. Use slangs that are trending, make the fonts funky and colorful to be eye-catching.
2. Nurture and convert
The second step is to nurture and convert them into paying clients. Now that you have a loyal audience base. It’s time to take it to the next step. You want them to see the value in your business and thus buy something from you.
A big difference between the inbound and outbound marketing strategies is that outbound marketing is mostly promotional in a forced manner. It does not nurture the audience. On the contrary, inbound marketing focuses on feeding clients valuable information so they know how they can benefit from your company. It may take a much longer period but they will be your long-term customers.
Let’s say you want to sell dentures to dental clinics. Then ideally, in your email campaigns, you would include the latest medical trends in this field, what is happening, and how dentists can stay on top. To end the email, you would not introduce how your product covers everything a smart dentist would need.
This way, you are offering your readers critical information about their businesses. At the same time, you are selling your products.
3. Close deals
You have hooked them in. Here comes the third step, close the deal. Target users who have opened at least three to five of your previous emails. Send them a separate sequence of emails with more frequent promotions and discounts. Those are already interested in buying your products so sending them more emails can push them to take the action and buy.
Increasing the frequency of your emails works fantastically for those who already have shown an interest. It’s a reminder that they need to take the deal before it’s gone.
4. Maintain relationships for long-term clients
Finally, maintain this relationship and make them your long-term clients. You will keep sending our regular newsletters to your followers so they stay up to date with your latest products. Having a stable relationship with them is much better than sourcing new clients every time.
Building an email marketing strategy does not have to be difficult. To start with, you can find all the email leads by location, company size, revenue, and more. LimeLeads is your trusted lead-generating tool with hundreds of happy clients from all the major industries. We are here to help you stay competitive.
Generating new leads boosts your business by a large margin. It speeds things along and reduces the risk of partnering with the wrong people. By accessing a secured data vault, you have the contact information of the decision-makers in each company.
To give your brand an advantage, LimeLeads is here to help business owners successfully market themselves. We have served clients across the country and overseas. Having been in the industry for years, our experienced team members know the tricks in compiling the most useful lead lists as per your request.
How To Build Your Email List?
So you want to add email marketing into your inbound strategy. You have defined your audience. But now you need quality leads on your list.
You can capture leads using a lead magnet. This is usually a free piece of content, discount or offer that you offer in exchange for an email address. The offer will be relevant to your industry or niche so the leads who sign up are likely to be interested in your company.
You can also build out a list by buying targeted lead lists from lead databases like LimeLeads. First-hand information should be the only way you find leads. Repurchased data and second-hand information are risky and unreliable. A lot will be lost in translation.
Here at LimeLeads, we build our data exclusively from primary sources.
Getting a Customized Email List on LimeLeads
Register on LimeLeads to get your fresh email list by any requirement you want. Export the lists and invite your team members to perform unlimited targeted searches simultaneously.
Choose from our various pricing plans. You will be sure to find one that suits your business goals. Credits last a lifetime. Come back anytime to perform more searches. Should your business needs change and you no longer need our service, walk out anytime. We have a flexible cancellation policy.
We guarantee a full refund for leads that do not perform on par with industry standards. Join LimeLeads and get instant access to our database. Get your customized email list on LimeLeads with our affordable pricing. Here is the complete Guide on How Much Does Email Marketing Cost?