Is anyone else Team Gryffindor? Have you taken the Sorting Hat quiz? During the first part of week 3 in #wwudigimark we’re talking about and answering your questions that have to do with inbound and content marketing. Stay tuned to learn more about I’ve learned about inbound and content marketing and how it will help you and your business.

Inbound Marketing

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing is a business methodology that attracts customers with valuable content created and tailored to them. It forms connections and solves problems that the consumer might have by using an inbound marketing strategy. Broadly, inbound marketing is built on the foundation of the idea that it’s not enough to just attract people to your website but you have to ensure that they continue to feel supported and valued to keep them as customers.

How to Use Inbound Marketing

You can use inbound marketing to control your online presence. According to a blog written on Marketo, through content, inbound marketing focuses on keeping customers engaged and creating a brand for themselves while potentially creating up to three times the amount of exposure than a regular marketing strategy could.

Inbound Marketing Used in Blogs

Did you know that the most successful blogs are not only informational, but they are also informative too. Blogs should answer the readers questions. In fact, when trying to use blogs as content in the inbound marketing strategy, it is important to answer all of the questions a potential customer might have. The most effective blogs are those that have identified the audience that may be interacting with them. They have assessed and determined all of the different types of questions that customers may have and attempt to successfully answer them throughout the blog. It is also important to engage readers in the blog. They should be engaged by hooking them in the introduction. They should also have interactive pieces in the blog or additional information for visitors to click on that is linked throughout so that they can supplement their knowledge.

Content Marketing

What is Content Marketing?

As Bill Gates would say, “Content is King!” Content marketing is the strategic approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience – and, ultimately to drive profitable customer actions.

Goal of Content Marketing

The goal of content marketing is to encourage engagement with consumers in hopes of developing a relationship that ends in a conversion. Content marketing is actually a popular tactic often used in inbound marketing because content is used heavily when performing inbound marketing.

Content allows for so much exposure for a company. The exposure of a company is vital to its success and creating multiple different types of content provides the ability to attract and convert multiple different types of people. Content marketing is used by leading brands in the industry. It also helps organic search.

What Makes Content Marketing Successful?

Content marketing is successful because of its ability to show the customer just exactly what the brand is. It shows the customers what to expect and what they can be getting from each brand. It is also the new form of marketing that almost all companies and businesses are using because of today’s tech industry. It is successful because it is too valuable for consumers and businesses and the maintenance of the relationship created between them. Every great brand has a wealth of valuable and relevant content that connects with the company’s audience. It creates a trust because consumers can see what they are getting and the content that is provided is actively being created to convert the customer.

Hubspot Academy and Harry Potter

Through the Hubspot academy inbound marketing course, I learned that it is important to use the three important steps in an inbound marketing campaign. Those steps are:

• Attract

• Engage

• Delight

One way to do this is through content. In the Hubspot content marketing course, it teaches about the ability for content to tell a story.

Does taking the Sorting Hat quiz make you as nervous as it does the characters in Harry Potter? Does it seem like this quiz will define who you are after you are assigned a house? The quiz asks a series of questions that ultimately almost create a character for you. The end goal assigns you one of the four houses in Harry Potter:

• Gryffindor

• Hufflepuff

• Ravenclaw

• Slytherin

The questions that you answer will decide your strengths and weaknesses and also describe the type of person you are; brave, humble, courageous (all characteristics of a member of Gryffindor). This will then create a character profile that is used to describe what type of house you belong in. This content connects visitors to the characters and gives them a deeper connection to the story of Harry Potter. They now can align themselves with the characters in the book and feel a deeper connection to the story line. This content has the power to convert the average fan into a loyal fan or even a person who has never seen or read the books into someone who actively can now go and seek that connection.

Conclusion

Ultimately, we live in a world full of content and inbound marketing, and whether you know it or not, you too have been influenced by it. Companies are using these strategies to connect with their consumers and create bonds that will last in the long-term. I hope that through this blog you were able to understand the importance of content and inbound marketing and how it is being used by businesses to create connections with you in your everyday life. Stay tuned for the second half of week 3 in #wwudigimark and I’ll see you next time!