Inbound marketing has revolutionized how companies connect with customers

In the world of marketing, content has always been king. But in the age of email, social media and search engines, intelligently connecting with your target audience is more important than ever.

The businesses that are most effective at communicating with their potential customers in the digital age have mastered the concepts of inbound marketing: attracting customers to you by talking about what’s important to them. HubSpot provides a great overview of inbound marketing that is certainly worth checking out. In this article, we’ll highlight 5 things that every company should know about inbound marketing.

1. Engage meaningfully
It’s not enough to write articles about your business and tweet it to people who mention your industry. You need to take the time to truly engage with your audience. Build your reputation by being a source of reliable, honest information. Be comfortable giving away valuable information without ever expecting reciprocation of any kind. If your intent is to truly engage with your audience, be sincere in your communications.

2. Focus on the problems, not your solution
Too often, companies start content marketing by simply putting out information about the features and benefits of your particular service or product offering. Unfortunately, getting people interested in your product in the digital age requires more than just a billboard advertising what you’ve got. You need to educate your potential customers on the issues that are important to them. Rather than talk about your solution, talk about the problems your service addresses without directly mentioning your product. This builds your credibility and makes you a reliable source of information, not simply a distributor of sales materials.

3. Be patient
The most successful way to grow your business through digital marketing is by slowly but surely building your audience and consistently developing trust. It takes time to build your reputation and make your brand one with which potential consumers want to engage. Just because you wrote one great article doesn’t mean that people will automatically want to buy from you. Be patient and stay focused on your long-term goals. Truly wanting to give valuable information to your audience consistently will ultimately determine your success.

4. It’s not always as easy as it sounds
Once a company learns about the incredible potential inbound marketing has to turbocharge their business, it seems all-too-easy to just start churning out content and see the dollars roll in. The truth is that a successful inbound marketing strategy requires expertise, practice and a lot of technical skill. Partner with an experienced professional agency to help develop campaigns and content for your business. You’ll get better results than you could likely accomplish alone.

5. Starting the conversation is just the first step
The process of inbound marketing only begins when someone is engaging with your content. To turn an interested prospect into a customer typically requires you to engage with that prospect several times. The most effective way is through targeted, customized communications. Lead nurturing and marketing automation programs are an ideal way to help convert your inbound prospects into a paying client. Make sure that when you capture a lead you have a plan to intelligently follow-up and convert them.
Inbound marketing has the potential to exponentially grow almost any business. Before you develop a strategy and launch any campaign, be sure to consult with an expert to help ensure sure your efforts are successful.