Four key steps that should be in every inbound marketing strategy

If you’ve decided that your business needs inbound marketing to achieve its goals, the next step should be to develop a strategy to accomplish this. Many organizations make the mistake of confusing strategy for tactics and dive right in to tactics such as creating a content plan or a cross-channel social media posting schedule.  

A strategy is the overall plan to achieve a big goal, such as generating enough leads to make your sales goals. Tactics are the specific measures you use to achieve your goals. If you don’t have a cohesive inbound marketing strategy in place, there’s a good chance any tactics you use are not going to be as effective as they should be.

Since every business has different needs and goals, it follows that any business’s inbound marketing strategy is going to be unique. However, there are several fundamental steps that should always be included.

Here is what to do when forming an inbound marketing plan

Businesses who run successful inbound marketing campaigns typically start with a strategy that includes these four steps:

  1. Fully audit your existing marketing efforts — Finding out what is working and not working in your current marketing and communications is absolutely critical. Skipping this step could mean missed opportunities for an inbound plan or the potential to cannibalize traditional outbound efforts that are succeeding.
  1. Identify gaps and opportunities — What’s missing from your current marketing plan? Do you have a large social media following but it’s not converting to traffic on your website? Are you updating your company blog regularly but aren’t getting traffic? Knowing your weak spots means knowing where to focus more of your resources and efforts.

  2. Find out who your target audience is — Use customer profiling and audience segmentation to find out who your potential customers are and how to reach them through various inbound marketing channels.

  3. Create an action plan — Now that you have all the information you need, it’s time to get down to tactics. Set realistic goals for lead generation and conversion for each channel you pursue and build a marketing and content plan based on those goals.

By following these steps, any business — small or large, new or old — can create a successful inbound marketing strategy. Another step the most successful businesses often take is enlisting the help of marketing experts.

Your partner in the digital marketplace

The modern digital landscape is complicated, but you don’t have to go it alone. From helping you create an effective strategy for your unique business needs, to implementing the tactics that can get you there, the experts at Burg & Co. Marketing will be your partners. We can help you achieve a return on your marketing investment with proven search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, content marketing and social media strategies.

Contact us today to find out more about how we can help you achieve your inbound marketing goals.

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