Inbound marketing utilizes many different forms of pull marketing such as blog posts, social media, content marketing and events to create brand awareness and attract new business as opposed to outbound marketing, where marketers seek out customers directly.

Inbound marketing is often found to be more lucrative while costing less, providing a higher return on investment (ROI). Ironpaper.com reports that 46% of marketers gave inbound marketing a higher ROI, while just 12% stated outbound did, and 59% noted that inbound produces higher quality leads for sales. 

The question is, is your inbound marketing strategy making you money? If not, you might want to make sure it contains these elements. Whether you’re a real estate agent putting up houses for sale on the market or hope to increase sales in just about any industry, good inbound marketing is a must.

Strong Web Design

Your website needs to be easy to use, rapid fast, simple to navigate and informative, as the entire brand’s reputation is determined by visitors in less than a second after the homepage loads. A positive first impression is something that must be accomplished in even less time than most people get at in-person networking events. 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO, the process of optimizing your site’s structure and content in order to get a higher ranking (organically) on the search engine results page, is just as relevant today as it ever has been. When your website features quality content that’s been optimized for SEO, the Google web crawlers will be able to identify and index it so that it appears free for those who are searching.

Social Media

Social media is critical to any inbound marketing strategy. Companies across the globe use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn to attract, interact and retain quality customers. All branding efforts can be dramatically enhanced by taking advantage of social media as a platform to engage with anyone, anywhere in the world. When you create great content and use SEO to get more visitors to your site, social media can amplify those efforts. By sharing content from your websites and valuable information from others, your followers are not only likely to share it with others, but to remain loyal to you.

If you’re just starting out, don’t spread yourself thin by spending time on too many different social media sites at once. Pick one or two social media sites and spend time building authority on them. 

Lead Generation

Lead generation is all about offering direct value, helping to guide prospects toward becoming customers. It’s what happens after traffic is attracted to your website and remains interested thanks to a strong web design and great content. These people have shown interest in your product, now you’ll need to keep lines of communication open, by email, social networking and blog posts, so that even if they aren’t ready to buy now, they may become paying customers in the future.  For example, someone who isn’t sure how your product can help them, may need to learn more about it in a detailed blog post or an eBook.