Do you really enjoy getting cold calls? How about marketing emails you never signed up for flooding your inbox? TV commercials interrupting your favorite show? Unless it’s the Super Bowl, these marketing messages are usually met with annoyance or ignored instead of being enjoyed.

Most people I know DVR TV shows just so they can fast forward through the commercials. My TV setup isn’t that fancy, but I usually use commercial breaks to brush my teeth or clean the kitchen. I’m already on Verizon’s “do not cold call list,” and I unsubscribe from marketing emails more often than I read them. Non-retargeting display ads (like those banner or sidebar ads we see when browsing websites) only get clicked on average 0.2% of the time, according to Double Click. These methods all fall under the category of “outbound marketing.” It might be surprising to learn that these interruptive outbound methods have a much lower conversion rate compared to inbound marketing strategies, where someone actually chooses to engage with your brand and seeks you out directly.

Image via Moz Inbound strategies are about being discovered organically instead of aggressively chasing after leads with in-your-face methods. Think about it, who is more likely to buy a house? A. Someone who received a message saying “Buy this house!” or B. Someone who searched for and found their dream home on their own? It’s pretty clear that inbound wins. “Consider the difference between a popup ad (outbound) and an amusing infographic you clicked on because you wanted to (inbound),” explains Marketo’s Johnny Cheng. “The data clearly show that people who actively choose to interact with your brand are more likely to convert.” Just look at this conversion rate data broken down by acquisition channel – you’ll notice that inbound strategies have one of the highest rates, at nearly 4%.

Are you convinced that inbound marketing strategies are incredibly effective for generating targeted leads and driving sales? Great! Here are the 5 key elements of a successful inbound marketing strategy that you need to be utilizing!

#1: SEO

You might be thinking that SEO (search engine optimization) is a difficult, time-consuming tactic with little control. You’d be wrong! SEO is all about refining your website’s content and structure to improve search rankings and get organic placements on search engine result pages, or SERPs. Having a high-quality website and SEO-optimized content ensures that Google’s web crawlers can easily find, understand, and index your site’s content, making it appear in relevant searches for free. SEO is a crucial part of your inbound strategy because if people can’t find you, they can’t do business with you.

When I think about SEO, keywords, code, website structure, and link building all come to mind. Then I start to get a little overwhelmed. It’s true that SEO can get complex quickly. So, what should you focus on when you’re just getting started? Start by pinpointing and incorporating keywords that are most relevant to your target audience. It’s also crucial to ensure that those keywords have sufficient search volume and user intent to attract the right people. “SEO encompasses various elements, from the words on your website to the way other websites link back to you. Sometimes, it’s simply ensuring that your website is structured in a way that search engines can easily understand,” explains Moz. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no SEO expert. Thankfully, there’s a ton of helpful information available online for free. To get started, I recommend checking out Moz and our very own SEO basics guide.

#2: PPC

Now we’re talking my language! You might be wondering: “Wait a minute, isn’t PPC a paid tactic, and don’t paid strategies go against the inbound approach?” Not quite! While it involves payment, paid search is still considered part of the inbound marketing family. This is because search ads appear when someone is actively searching for something, meaning those PPC ads aren’t interrupting another activity. It’s important to note that not all aspects of PPC qualify as inbound (display ads, for example), but ads on the search network are definitely a powerful component of any strong inbound strategy due to the high intent signaled by search queries.

So, what’s the difference between PPC and SEO? With paid ads, you’re essentially paying for visibility on the SERPs instead of earning it organically. You might be thinking, “Why pay when you can potentially rank organically?” Well, there are several reasons… Here’s the thing about SEO:

• You have significantly less control over when and where you appear on the search results page
• Algorithm updates can completely disrupt your organic visibility
• Seeing tangible results often takes a very long time (and isn’t always guaranteed!) With paid search, you can pay to secure those top placements where people are more likely to notice your ads. You can also bid on specific keywords to attract highly qualified visitors to your site. The beauty of paid search is that you have the control to adjust your budget, pause campaigns at any time, target mobile users specifically, effortlessly measure ROI, and so much more. The takeaway here? You should be implementing both SEO and PPC strategies to maximize the volume and quality of leads you generate.

#3: Content Marketing

You wouldn’t invite guests over without offering them a drink, would you? The same principle applies to your leads! Once you’ve welcomed them in through PPC and/or SEO, it’s time to give them something to “consume” – in other words, content. It’s common for marketers to view content as the sole component of an inbound strategy. While not entirely inaccurate, this perception overlooks the bigger picture. Without consistently fresh, valuable, and engaging content, there’s little chance of retaining those hard-earned leads and guiding them towards conversion. Your content should take on various forms, all with the shared goal of helping your audience find answers to their questions and discover solutions to their problems.
One thing to keep in mind about content marketing is that your content has to stand out. “Your content must be remarkable enough to break through the noise. It’s not enough to simply produce content,” says Entrepreneur’s Murray Newlands. “Your content must educate, inspire, or entertain your audience.” So, where do you begin?

• Launch a blog: You’ve probably heard this countless times before, but a well-written, informative, and engaging blog is one of the most effective ways to market your business. Blogging not only helps you attract new visitors but also encourages them to return for more, gently warming them up as leads. A blog acts as a central hub where you can keep your audience informed about industry trends and demonstrate your expertise. In fact, here at nexus-security, our blog drives more than half our overall traffic!

• Develop guides, e-books, and other downloadable content: By offering longer-form content, you can nurture leads more effectively and showcase how your products or services directly address their specific needs.
• Compile customer testimonials and develop compelling case studies: Case studies and customer testimonials can be incredibly persuasive for leads who are further along in the sales funnel. Hearing from others just like them can build trust and significantly increase the likelihood of conversion.
• Implement a content calendar: This ensures you maintain a consistent publishing schedule and deliver fresh content regularly.

#4: Social Media

Let’s say you’ve created some amazing content, published it on your site, and now you’re kicking back and relaxing. While that sounds nice, that approach isn’t going to generate profitable results. You HAVE to actively attract both new and returning readers by strategically sharing and promoting your content on social media. Creating the content itself is only the first step. The next, and arguably more crucial step, is getting that content in front of the right people, which is where social media comes in. Social media is considered inbound marketing because the people who choose to follow your brand are doing so because they’re genuinely interested in what you offer. It’s also a great way to boost your organic traffic, especially if you haven’t yet achieved high search rankings. These days, pretty much everyone is active on some form of social media platform. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Vine, Instagram, or Periscope, you can be sure that your target audience is spending a considerable amount of time on at least one of these channels. Figuring out which platforms are most relevant to your buyer personas is a project in itself. However, it’s safe to say that many of your leads are using social media to consume content.

Dedicate time to develop a comprehensive social media promotion plan that allows you to distribute your content to the right audience segments. Analyze which content pieces perform best and consider investing in paid promotion to drive even more traffic to content that resonates strongly with your audience.

#5: Landing Pages

In simple terms, your landing page is where your leads “land” after clicking on your call-to-action (another essential element of a successful inbound strategy). Whether it’s a product page, a form to download a whitepaper, or a page promoting your subscription service, you need to make sure your landing page is in tip-top shape. Otherwise, you risk losing out on potential conversions.
Here are some key elements to keep in mind:

• Relevancy: It’s crucial to make sure your landing page aligns with the call-to-action that brought visitors there. For example, if someone lands on your page from a paid search ad promoting birthday cakes, you wouldn’t send them to a landing page selling Christmas cookies, would you?
• Focus: What’s the primary goal of your landing page? Is it to encourage visitors to “Sign Up for this E-Newsletter!” or “Download this Guide Today”? Whatever it is, your landing page should have a singular, clearly defined purpose. Make sure your CTA is prominent, attention-grabbing, and positioned above the fold. It’s also a good idea to minimize navigation to other pages and keep forms short and easy to complete.
• Design: This element plays a significant role in keeping visitors engaged. Consider incorporating videos or images, strategically placed testimonials, and trust signals – these are all design elements that can drastically improve your landing page conversion rates. Don’t be afraid to experiment with A/B testing to determine which designs resonate best with your target audience.

Bonus Inbound Marketing Tip: Remarketing

Let’s say a lead has already visited your website and expressed some level of interest in your content, products, or services. You need a solid strategy in place to nurture that interest and keep them engaged. One highly effective tactic for achieving this is remarketing. Remarketing utilizes cookies to track your site visitors and then “follows” them around the web with strategically placed ads reminding them to come back to your site. There are various ways to set up your remarketing campaigns. For example, you can create a general campaign targeting all site visitors, show tailored ads to those who visited specific pages on your site, or even display a customized ad to someone who added items to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase.
The other day, my older sister called me completely shocked because she saw an ad on Facebook for the exact dress she was looking at earlier on Nordstrom’s website. Now, my sister is a stay-at-home mom who’s not exactly up-to-date on the latest marketing trends, but this just goes to show how effective and impactful remarketing can be. It essentially says, “Hey, remember us? Still interested?” Because it’s based on a prospect’s previous engagement, remarketing definitely falls under the umbrella of inbound marketing. By focusing on and implementing these five elements, you’ll establish a strong foundation for an incredibly effective inbound marketing strategy.