In this unit, we’re going to talk about one of the key marketing strategies in use today which is inbound marketing and we are going to give you three quick tips on how to succeed. What is inbound marketing? Inbound marketing is the art and science of turning strangers in the customers and how to do that? We do that by producing content, distributing it online and brining your customers back to your presence and having a nurturing and building relationship.

The three key tips for inbound marketing are:

• Defining your audience means understanding their main points, their needs, their objectives and having a clear plan to address those when the time comes. Once you understand what your target audience looks like, once you understand what they need from you, you can clearly create a step by step map of how to turn them from strangers into customers.

• Having a clear content strategy and distribution plan. You know your target audience. Now you need to produce the content that’s customized to your audience and have a plan on how you will distribute it to reach them. Where does your audience live? Are they on Facebook, are they on LinkedIn or twitter? Are they in your mail box? You can reach them in different ways and online really works well for that.

• Nurturing and building your relationships. You have your audiences, you have your content and distribution plan. Now it’s time to take people from strangers to customers through the buyers’ journey. It’s important to understand that not every customer is ready to buy, so how do we take people along that path? Well, we create content customized for people who are just exploring, you create customized content for people who are actively evaluating options and you create content customized for people who are hot leads and ready to close. Now, most companies will focus on the hot leads but if you do that, then you’re ignoring a whole huge segment of your audience who are potential future buyers.

In summary, the key tips for inbound marketing are: define your target audience, have a clear content and distribution plan, and nurture and build those relationships and don’t give up on the people who need a helping hand.

"Don’t build links. Build relationships." - Rand Fishkin