If you’re a business owner, chances are you know how important it is to create meaningful content without breaking the bank. That’s why it’s important to think about building an inbound marketing strategy for your business.
Your content draws in your audience and helps you create lasting relationships with them. When you create content, you have a chance to answer your audience’s most important questions, allowing you to build trust, generate leads, and, ultimately, build sales!
Which is why it’s so important to have an inbound marketing content strategy in place.
Not quite sure what an inbound marketing content strategy even is? Don’t worry! We’ve got your back. This post will cover everything you need to know—from the type of content you should create to how you can get started with an inbound marketing strategy.
Let’s get into it!
Table of contents
What is “inbound marketing?”
As the name states, inbound marketing is all about drawing your audience “in” to you. While outbound marketing may include content your audience doesn’t always want to see, inbound marketing focuses on sending the right message to the right people at the right time.
And how do you do that? By tailoring your content to form the right connections with the right people—and solve a problem they are facing in the process.
Inbound marketing creates valuable conversations that support the growth of your business. The process typically involves the below three steps:
Attract: you draw in the right people with content that establishes you as a trusted authority in your field.
Engage: you present clear insights and potential solutions that align with your customer’s hopes and pain points.
Support: you keep the conversation going by empowering your audience with important next steps they can take.
The bottom line: When your customer succeeds, you succeed! And having an inbound marketing strategy in place is one of the best ways to move toward that mutual success.
Examples of inbound marketing content
When it comes to inbound marketing, you want to hit all of your marks content-wise. Whatever content you create will end up touching all the platforms you decide to funnel it through. Here are just a few examples of how you can create content for your inbound marketing strategy:
- Blog posts
- YouTube videos
- Social media posts
- E-books
- Webinars
And while it’s a good idea for your content to exist across various channels, working toward a specific goal is extra important. That’s what makes it a strategy, after all!
So, before you go crazy trying to create a ton of content for your audience, make sure you narrow down a couple of key concepts that are both SEO- and keyword-driven.
What do I mean by this? As Josh states in the above video, your keyword and SEO strategies will determine the long-term success of your overall marketing strategy.
Strong keywords and SEO rankings will make your content more visible to the right people online. The more relevant people see your content, the greater the traffic to your products or services, meaning more potential customers and sales!
Quick tip: Lean on a proven keyword research tool when brainstorming concepts for your content strategy. In your research, consider “traffic potential” and “keyword difficulty” to ensure they actually rank. Check out our post on keyword rankings to dive deeper into this topic.
Once you’ve nailed down a concept and have keywords to back it up, you can create content to include in your inbound marketing strategy. One great strategy is to start with a longer blog and then restructure that content into multiple bite-size pieces you can repurpose on other platforms (more on that later).
Getting started with an inbound marketing strategy
Now that you’re clear on what an inbound marketing strategy is, let’s look at how you can implement one that works for your business.
As Josh states in the above video, the first step is nailing down your content concept. Let’s say, for example, it’s “How to collect zero-party data from your audience.” In this case, you’ll want to ensure that every piece of content you create has strong SEO keywords.
And that no longer just goes for Google search results—it goes for ALL platforms with a search engine component—which is all of them!
Your SEO will be the backbone of your content strategy, and it’s also the key component of what will organically drive traffic to your website and services over time. Because each platform works differently and will inform your content strategy in different ways, let’s break it down, shall we?
Google — This is the platform you’ll focus on for blog content. Keyword ranking is essential to ensure your article is among the first to appear in Google search results. So, let’s say your keyword is “zero-party data”—you’ll want it in your title and subtitles and sprinkled throughout your article.
Youtube — Similar to Google (as it is owned by the same company), the strategy here is almost the same. Youtube videos are essentially blog posts in video format, so include keywords in the title and description.
Podcasts — There’s a bit of a trend here! Podcasts are another digital version of a blog or article. Be sure to include your keywords in the title, description, and maybe a few times throughout the show notes.
TikTok — This platform is quickly becoming the top app for social engagement—and while no one knows how long this app will be around, it’s worth investing in as it rises to the top of the social media ladder. Use your keywords in the title and layover of the post, in the caption itself, and in the hashtags.
Instagram — This is a great audience-building platform. Create reels, stills, or short video clips to get your customers connected. Because the nature of this platform is short, bite-sized bits of content, use it to drive your audience where your more long-form content lives.
Target that audience!
Now that you understand the different platforms, let’s get clear on who you’re talking to.
Creating a successful inbound marketing strategy will depend on how succinctly you can nail down who your target audience is. Why? Because if you’re consistently pumping out content but attracting the wrong audience, is it really worth the effort?
If you’re writing content not knowing who it’s for, sure, you’ll drive traffic to your website—but if it’s not the right people, it will only make things complicated (and you frustrated).
But if you know who you’re trying to reach, your messaging will only get clearer, and you’ll be more adept at sending the right message to the right people at the right time.
So, how do you nail down who your target audience is? Do your research! Spend time talking to your customers and potential customers. The easiest way to find out who your target audience is is to go straight to the source and ask the right questions.
Check out this article on demographic questions to ask your audience to understand them better.
Hint, hint: You can easily segment and find out who that audience is through a quiz!
Another way to determine your target audience is through market analysis. Market research will tell you who your competitors are, the threats in the market, and if there are any gaps you can fill with your product or service. Knowing this information will give you more agency and insight into who you’re trying to reach. Remember that when identifying your audience, the more specific you can get, the better.
Hot tips
Let’s recap! You now know more about inbound marketing and what type of content to create. You’re clear on the various platforms and how to conduct keyword research. And you know what it takes to speak to your target audience.
What’s left? It’s time to create that content and put it into action!
Here are a few helpful tips for your back pocket when creating content:
- Keep it consistent — The more on top of your content you are, the better. Integrate it into your morning routine and hold yourself accountable. Carve out 15 to 20 minutes daily to get it out of your head and onto paper. You can always circle back and make edits where needed. The point is to continuously create as things arise.
- Keep it current — Listen to your audience! Your customers will always be the best place for sourcing content ideas. Ask them lots of questions—learn about their hopes and fears and how you can help them.
- Measure what’s working — If something isn’t working, go back to the drawing board! You can measure your content’s performance through site traffic, return visitors, customer feedback, etc. Experiment with different content strategies to see what sticks with your audience. Check out our tips for boosting your content strategy for more on that!