At one point or another, most businesses realize that inbound marketing is superior to traditional direct advertising. Driving qualified leads to your website tightens your marketing strategy and ensures that you don’t waste your money on ads that will fall on deaf ears.
However, many marketers struggle to get inbound marketing right. As it’s more of an umbrella term than a concrete strategy, there are many tactics to experiment with. And switching from one to another all the time can be quite exhausting.
So, are you looking for some fresh ideas that will drive results? Here’s half a score of highly effective strategies you may want to try.
1. Run Social Media Giveaways
Giveaways have been a popular inbound marketing strategy for a while now. And there are many good reasons for this. They’re straightforward, affordable, and capable of quick results.
Besides, a report by CallRail shows that 78% of new buyers come to a small business through their social media channels. With this in mind, you can see why this strategy is so widely used.
You can offer a product that your audience will find interesting in exchange for an action that will drive more visitors to your website. For instance, you can ask them to visit your blog posts and share their thoughts under them. You’ll then pick a random winner and announce them on your social media channel.
While the reward can be anything of value, you should stick to items that have some connection to your brand. In this way, the participants can learn more about you and become more interested in visiting your site regularly.
2. Publish Case Studies
Many people are hard-wired not to trust anything salesy. If you keep talking about how incredible your offer is, they’ll grow pretty skeptical. Even if your product really is that good, a big chunk of your audience will assume that you’re just trying to get them to buy. It takes a massive amount of trust for someone to buy based solely on your word.
But if you show people the results instead of talking about them, the reaction will be completely different. According to a Nielsen survey, 83% of customers turn to their peers for advice when they see an ad.
Once you develop a buyer persona, share a real-life client story that speaks to it. Talk about the struggles that the customer had before they took your offer. And then showcase the results that they got.
Let’s say you posted this on your Instagram with a “Learn more” CTA. If you’re targeting the right audience, a good part of it will click on the button and go to your website. Some will proceed to buy, which means more client stories to draw in even more people. Post these case studies regularly and you can position yourself as an authority in your niche.
3. Create Quizzes
People love learning more about themselves. They certainly prefer it to being served yet another ad while looking for the information that they need. If you want to draw more people to your website, you can create something engaging and interactive, such as a quiz.
Now, you can create quizzes solely for entertainment purposes. BuzzSumo’s report showed that 82% of people try a quiz that they see on their feed.
But if you can relate the quiz to your offer in some way, you could be hitting the jackpot. Not only will people visit your website and spend more time on it, but they’ll also qualify themselves. You’ll get a chance to boost your search engine rankings and generate hot leads.
Ensure that the quiz doesn’t contain too many questions though, as it’s supposed to be enjoyable and easy to finish. Also, don’t go overboard with pitching or selling. Let people have fun and develop a positive first impression of your brand.
4. Run a Video Series
There’s no doubt that written content is invaluable in inbound marketing. It offers SEO opportunities, allows you to develop a unique brand voice, and does many other beneficial things. But this doesn’t mean that it should be the main content form to focus on.
Instead, you need to be more visual. And right now, publishing video content is among the most effective ways to do it.
According to Statista, 85% of Americans watch video content at least once a month and on at least one of their devices. This is more than enough reason to start putting out videos.
If you’re not sure what kind of videos to post, series are among the best options. They keep people engaged and drive a consistent stream of traffic, provided that you have a good CTA at the end. Plus, a video series allows you to explore the topics that your audience cares about in great depth. At the same time, they’re inherently more entertaining than most other content forms.
Do some research and find the topics that you could build a series around. To keep it simple, you can outright ask your audience about this through a survey (which is another fantastic inbound marketing tool, by the way).
Once you have your topics, make sure that your videos are nicely filmed and provide lots of value. This value can be in the form of entertainment or education. Stick to a publishing schedule and always leave your viewers wanting more.
5. Include Pop-Up Forms in Your Pillar Content
Pillar content is an excellent way to position yourself as an expert on a matter. If you’re still now doing it, you should start posting a pillar piece every once in a while. These long-form posts will keep your audience engaged and show them how much value you can offer.
But that’s not all. To bring more traffic to your website, you should add a pop-up form that a reader will see as they scroll down the article. To boost the number of sign-ups, you can put the form somewhere in the second half of the article. By the time they reach it, the reader will already become engaged and more likely to give you their email.
With that accomplished, you can send out regular emails that will lead the recipient to your website.
Now, there’s a chance that you’re already using pop-up forms. But if you do it like most businesses, most people are probably ignoring it. Pop-ups can be quite annoying if they’re the first thing that someone sees. But if you build engagement through pillar pieces first, you can expect the effectiveness of your forms to improve drastically.
While this strategy is a bit more elaborate, it’s one that you don’t want to overlook. Your email list is among the most valuable marketing assets, and its value only grows with its size. Over time, you can generate tons of traffic and new customers through your list alone.
6. Have Multiple Landing Pages
Effective landing pages are crucial to inbound marketing. But what does “effective” mean in this context?
When someone reaches the landing page, everything that they see needs to resonate with them. And as your business grows, your audience will diversify. Even if you’re sticking to your core niche, your audience will inevitably evolve.
At some point, you may notice a cap on your conversions from a specific landing page. Either that or your conversion rate may be too low. In most cases, the reason for this is that the new visitors don’t find the page convincing enough. Consider this a clear sign that you need more than one landing page.
Every once in a while, revisit your target audience to observe how it changes. As soon as you notice any significant differences, create a new landing page that accounts for it. You’ll be able to clearly segment your audience and target each segment with a campaign that leads to the corresponding page. Make these updates regularly so your conversions can grow uninterrupted.
7. Post Behind-the-Scenes Content
People aren’t into receiving messages from an institution of business. They need real human connections. Your brand must have a personality to reach your audience and enhance your marketing efforts.
Incidentally, there are many ways to humanize your brand and develop a more meaningful relationship with your audience. But few are as effective as behind-the-scenes content.
Your business consists of people, and your audience needs to see this. It makes you more relatable and provides exclusive insight into what goes on in your company.
You can post Instagram Stories or go live with your team to engage with your audience. Don’t hesitate to show the inner workings of your processes and the making of your products. This level of transparency appeals to more and more people nowadays, and those who can provide it stand to capitalize.
Furthermore, reaching out to your audience in this fashion offers plenty of opportunities to attract them to your website. When you let people in, they’ll be more motivated to visit you and come back.
8. Offer Web-Based Tools
Irrespective of your marketing strategy, providing lots of value will always be key to more traffic and conversions. Your audience appreciates the effort that you put into offering a valuable something for nothing through your marketing.
One of the best ways to build this value into your campaigns is by offering free tools. For instance, if you’re in the property niche, you can offer mortgage calculators. And marketing companies can offer templates and checklists.
Whatever you do, there’s always a tool or two that your audience will find valuable and convenient. Any such free tools would make great lead magnets. This is especially the case if it’s a tool that someone will use more than once, as it ensures higher engagement and traffic.
It pays to think about useful tools and resources related to your business. Offer them, and your website will instantly become more valuable to your target market.
9. Run Loyalty Programs
Loyalty programs help you build trust and attract new customers strategically. They build on your existing relationships and create others through brand advocates.
You can offer rewards to your customers, leads, and even employees for completing certain tasks. These can include posting testimonials, sharing your content, and otherwise spreading a positive word about your business.
You can even gamify the strategy through badges and achievements. This will present the program as a community-building initiative rather than an actual marketing strategy.
As more people join the program, the ripple effect of your loyalty program will expand. You’ll be broadening your reach while maintaining strong relationships with your current customer base.
10. Cross-Promote
If you can’t seem to expand your current audience, why not tap into a new one? Cross-promoting with other brands that share similar audiences can unlock new opportunities.
You can reach out to a business that isn’t a direct competitor but still markets to your audience. For example, if you sell printers, you can partner up with companies that specialize in printing paper. In this case, both of you could benefit greatly from a partnership.
You can cross-promote in a variety of ways, from social media outreach to discounts and limited offers. Both of you can expand your reach and generate hot leads in the process. Moreover, it’s always a good idea to partner up with other businesses, not the least because the next connection may add profound value to your business.
Get Creative with Inbound Marketing
Thanks to modern technologies, inbound marketing opportunities are truly endless. And with every new advancement come more ways to draw in high-quality traffic.
Have you tried any of the above strategies? If not, you’ll want to give them a shot. Many of them are very low-cost and they can generate outstanding results.
Make sure to leave enough time for a strategy to start working. This isn’t likely to happen overnight, so don’t give up too soon. Continue to tweak your strategies and experiment until you find what works for your business. At some point, you’re bound to find a system that works, and your traffic and conversions may skyrocket as a result.