Your presence here suggests that something piqued your interest and pulled you in. Welcome to Content Shifu, where we explore insights that attract and engage.
Attracting discovery of content is one of the fundamental steps in Inbound Marketing. Furthermore, this marketing approach encompasses many more details that we are eager to share with you.
If you’re not sure what this term means right now, don’t worry. We’re here to explain it to you.
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What is Inbound Marketing?
Inbound Marketing is about creating attraction that draws people in and makes them want to engage with you. This is achieved by delivering valuable content that benefits your audience, establishing you as a trustworthy authority. Over time, you nurture these prospects until they are ready to become customers who are excited to purchase your products or services.
Inbound Marketing, conceived by HubSpot, a renowned marketing company, has increasingly gained recognition, particularly among marketers. Many businesses are now diving into the realm of Inbound, embracing this innovative marketing approach that stands out and is well-suited to the modern era.
Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing
What is Outbound Marketing?
Outbound Marketing is a push-based marketing strategy, which means delivering messages in an interruption-based manner. It involves directly reaching out to target audiences, potentially interrupting them while they’re engaged in other activities. Examples include cold calling, emailing cold leads, television ads, billboards, Facebook ads, email marketing, direct calls to customers, hiring celebrities or influencers for promotion, and running various marketing campaigns.
Different from Inbound Marketing, which is Permission-Based, meaning you ask for the recipient’s consent before sending any messages. To get people to give their permission, you need to create marketing that attracts them to come to you on their own.
Compare Inbound vs Outbound Marketing: Which is Better?
From the concept above, we can clearly see the differences between Inbound and Outbound Marketing. We can outline the key differences as follows:
- Outbound Marketing focuses on pushing messages, actively seeking to reach customers and maximizing visibility for products and services. In contrast, Inbound Marketing is about attracting customers by delivering value to them.
- Outbound Marketing tends to center around the brand’s story and needs, while Inbound Marketing listens to customer needs to create content that addresses their problems.
- Outbound Marketing aims to reach a large audience through promotional advertising and discounts. Inbound Marketing, on the other hand, focuses on building a strong foundation by publishing quality blogs on websites and sharing educational content on Social Media.
- Outbound Marketing emphasizes selling to customers (Sales Cycle), whereas Inbound Marketing is about encouraging customers to buy (Buying Cycle).
However, in reality, neither marketing approach is inherently better or worse than the other. It all depends on the context, the goals of your business, and the characteristics of your products and services.
On the other hand, if you’re aiming for sustainable business growth in the long run and are ready to invest with the understanding that the returns may take months or even years to materialize, or if your product falls into the B2B category focusing on niche markets, then inbound marketing will likely be a more appealing strategy.
Here’s the additional explanation: If you aim to make short-term profits because you need to generate cash flow for your business, or if the products you sell are general commodity products that focus on reaching a large audience, then outbound marketing may be a better option.
However, in today’s marketing landscape, it’s essential to combine two approaches: leveraging Inbound marketing to deliver value to customers and focusing on long-term business growth, while using Outbound marketing as a complementary strategy to help both existing and potential customers recognize the value you provide.
Inbound Marketing Framework
To truly grasp the principles of Inbound Marketing and apply them effectively, we recommend that you explore the Inbound Marketing Framework.
The Inbound Marketing Framework is a structured concept or operational framework for attraction marketing that has been systematically developed and endorsed by many leaders in the field. It is recognized for its simplicity and effectiveness in real-world application.
HubSpot has continuously evolved its Inbound Marketing Framework, ensuring it stays up to date. As a result, there have been two revisions to the framework so far.
Inbound Marketing Framework Version One
The Older Version of The Inbound Marketing Framework
This is what the Inbound Framework looked like before the updates. We decided to include it in the article because this version of the Framework is easy to understand. Just by looking at the diagram, you can grasp the concept on your own. Readers can also compare the differences between the two versions of the Framework, which will help you understand the thought process behind Inbound Marketing from the very beginning.
The first version of the Inbound Marketing Framework starts with the Attract stage, turning strangers into visitors. Next, we Convert those visitors into leads, guiding them towards the Close stage where we seal the deal with potential customers. Finally, the Delight stage ensures customers fall in love with your products or services, leading to repeat purchases and referrals.
This framework is easy to understand, clearly mapping the customer journey from start to finish, and effectively helps attract new customers to your business.
However, the clear beginnings and endings of your offerings prevent you from seeing the momentum of your work. There’s a disconnect between your products or services and the customer experience, and you haven’t created opportunities for customers to actively participate in driving your business forward.
HubSpot recognized this vulnerability and developed the Inbound Framework version 2.
Inbound Marketing Framework Version Two
Inbound Marketing Flywheel
HubSpot developed the Inbound Framework version 2 in late 2018, evolving it into a Flywheel model. This framework features a continuous cycle focused on putting the customer at the center of everything.
The Inbound Marketing Framework Version Two includes detailed steps across various stages, such as
1. Attract
Start attracting your target audience by transforming strangers into visitors. These aren’t just any strangers; they are individuals we have identified as our ideal target audience through the creation of buyer personas.
This article is similar… You may have never heard of Content Shifu before, but you might have come across our content through a Google search, seen us on social media, or perhaps through other media outlets. Examples of channels we use to attract you include various social media platforms, effective SEO for the right keywords, and blogging.
2. Engage
This phase encompasses everything from attracting visitors to successfully closing sales. Once we draw in our target audience as visitors, we will open their minds to our message and guide them through the buying process. There are various creative techniques and methods employed to enhance visitor engagement and ensure they develop a genuine appreciation for our brand.
For example, presenting insights or special techniques that can help solve Pain Points for your target audience. When we can resolve problems for customers, they begin to like the brand and want to engage with it (we refer to this group as prospects or leads).
Then we move into the process of nurturing leads to transform them into customers who purchase products or services from the brand.
This step combines Convert and Close from the first Framework, as many businesses, especially in the B2C sector, find that the processes of conversion and closing often occur in a similar manner and close time frame.
3. Delight
This stage is the process that follows successfully acquiring customers. Here, we will gradually nurture a deeper connection with them, making them fall in love with our brand even more, and encouraging them to promote our brand to their friends.
We provide after-sales support to assist our customers, ensuring they maximize the benefits of the products and services they purchase. After all, customers are one of the best promoters you can have. When they find value, they will promote your brand to others for free. Believe it or not, people tend to trust customer recommendations more than brand messaging.
One of the most powerful pieces of content that leverages customer feedback is reviews. Sharing product and service experiences directly from customers is a format that people trust the most. Reviews represent genuine experiences and emotions derived from purchasing our products and services.
Therefore, not only should you engage customers and make sure they love your products enough to choose you, but you should also find ways to encourage them to become advocates for your brand. This can include asking them to share on social media, conducting interviews for testimonials, or creating a community for your brand enthusiasts to express their thoughts. This way, they can amplify your message and help spread awareness of your brand to a wider audience.
From Funnel to Flywheel
One clear distinction between Inbound Marketing 1.0 and 2.0 is the shift from a well-defined funnel model to a Flywheel model, characterized by an endless circular cycle.
In a Funnel framework, the roles within an organization are distinctly divided. Marketing is responsible for Attracting and Converting, Sales handles Closing, and Customer Service focuses on Delighting. However, this model has its drawbacks: no single department truly takes ownership of the customer experience once their specific tasks are complete.
The new framework shifts from a Funnel to a Flywheel, symbolizing a continuous loop where the starting point and endpoint converge. This design emphasizes a customer-centric approach, meaning that the effort to delight customers never ends. It creates opportunities for existing customers to return, transforming them into new customers once again.
Examples of Inbound Marketing from Real Cases
It is widely known that inbound marketing puts the customer at the center. To achieve success in inbound marketing, it’s essential to follow the framework in order, from Attract to Engage, and ultimately to Delight.
To illustrate this, let’s take a case study from Content Shifu itself, which has implemented the Inbound Marketing theory by offering valuable content to those searching for answers related to specific keywords. This is achieved through writing informative articles and sharing experiences on the website’s blog, along with utilizing social media as another channel to reach the target audience.
After visitors have read the blog, we will use the lead generation technique to exchange valuable resources for a few basic details from the visitors. This information may include their name, email, job function, and business category in exchange for an eBook or informative content in a style that Content Shifu excels at.
After we gather contact information from those who filled out our forms, we will nurture these subscribers or strangers into genuine leads and ultimately, loyal customers. Through effective email nurturing, we deliver value and benefits, introducing the right services at the right time when they truly understand their importance.
The process of inbound marketing isn’t about interrupting with ads; it’s about providing value upfront so that your future customers are ready to buy or choose us as their solution to a problem.
Read: Sales Closure Case through Email Marketing
Disadvantages of Inbound Marketing
While the principles of Inbound Marketing are appealing, focusing on creating value for customers before receiving anything in return, there are important points to consider.
1. Websites need to be continuously managed
The key to successful Inbound Marketing is having your own website, along with a blog that serves as your content production hub. However, what many people don’t realize is that building a home comes with costs. Maintenance is essential, and you need to possess some level of website skills. If you choose to hire someone, there will be associated expenses as well. The price will vary depending on the size and functionalities of your business website.
Website maintenance, including security systems, requires programmers who actively defend against and monitor potential threats from cybercriminals or hackers who can access your site and compromise your data at any time.
Additionally, when compared to social media platforms where you can start using them right after signing up, with no hassle involved, it’s like a condominium that has amenities making everything convenient. Everything is simple and intrinsically appealing.
Unlike creating a website in general, especially a good one, visitors enjoy a positive experience when visiting your site. This involves a perfect blend of elements such as content, color schemes, and aesthetics, as well as easily understandable, readable, and searchable content structure.
2. You need quality content and posts consistently.
Inbound is centered around delivering value, and creating quality content is a crucial way to provide that value to your target audience. This is especially true for writing content that people can discover through Google Search.
For most businesses, just the act of blogging is a major undertaking. Whether it’s entrepreneurs or employees, they may not be skilled in writing or simply lack the time to do so (even though we always recommend it). Many companies don’t even have a content team in place, necessitating the search for suitable talent and the establishment of a dedicated team.
It takes a lot of effort to produce a single article. At Content Shifu, writing an article can take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours, up to a whole day or even longer.
not including investments in SEO knowledge as well as investments in other content formats like videos
3. The inbound process involves many important considerations
While Inbound may seem straightforward with its three core steps—Attract, Engage, and Delight—there are numerous intricate details to consider within each stage.
When it comes to content creation, it’s important to tailor your approach based on where your audience is in their journey. For the Attract stage, where potential customers are not yet familiar with your brand, focus on creating shareable content for social media to increase visibility. In the Engage stage, shift to Know How content that showcases your value, fostering an affinity for your brand. Finally, in the Delight stage, implement Email Marketing, CRM strategies, and testimonials to transform customers into promoters of your brand.
If we were to identify the most challenging step, it would undoubtedly be the Delight stage. Cultivating and nurturing customers to become promoters who eagerly share your brand or business is no easy feat. It requires a clever strategy and effective tools to create an unforgettable experience that inspires customers to spread the word and return for repeat purchases.
4. You might have to wait for a year or longer to see results
If you expect that simply creating a blog, writing content, setting up forms, and organizing everything perfectly will lead to an immediate influx of customers, you might be misunderstanding the process. The magic of SEO takes time to showcase its effects, typically around three months, before you start seeing a steady flow of traffic. However, once that traffic starts coming in, it’s essentially free—no money spent at all.
In terms of conversion, HubSpot statistics reveal that on average you can double your leads in six months and increase them sixfold in about a year.
Give your heart to people first – that’s the essence of Inbound
In every stage of Inbound Marketing, the most important principle is to focus on the customer. This means that everything we do should prioritize the benefits for people, ensuring they gain value from our products or services. Here are the detailed steps:
1. Attract: Introduce people to valuable insights and beginner-friendly knowledge that benefits them.ต้นแก่พวกเขา
2. Engage: Deliver value through in-depth knowledge while offering solutions that address the pain points and challenges faced by your target audience.
3. Delight: Make people fall in love with your brand, leading to repeat usage and organic promotion.
Inbound Marketing is the marketing philosophy that we have embraced and practiced since our inception. Today, Content Shifu reaps the rewards of our investment and effort. We encourage everyone to start adopting Inbound Marketing as well.
Should you do Inbound Marketing?
If you have read this article up to this point, it means you are likely starting to become interested in inbound marketing. The beauty of inbound marketing lies in its low-cost nature, enabling you to create attraction by consistently delivering value and building a credible identity. This approach encourages people to come to you naturally.
We have summarized three suitable business models for implementing Inbound Marketing as follows.
1. A B2B (Business to Business) model
2. A business that provides solutions to people’s problems
3. A business with high value per item/order
