Angelfish Marketing Blog

As we enter 2019, how is digital marketing changing? And how will this impact your inbound methods?

In this blog, we highlight what’s influencing the marketing industry, and how you can leverage digital marketing changes...

If the term ‘topic clusters’ sounds more like a breakfast cereal to you than an inbound marketing term, there’s no need to worry! This article will take you through the fundamentals you need to structure your web content.

To build a strong website presence, it’s important to have a strong SEO and content strategy. But where do you start? Let’s start by breaking down the jargon first…

In a world of increasingly stretched budgets and advancing marketing methods, you may not know which strategies to use to boost your business’s brand and reputation.

However, inbound marketing could help you to reach your target audience and get more customers in a highly cost-effective manner.

Inbound marketing is simply a marketing method based on attracting customers through content and interactions. The key to a successful inbound marketing strategy is that this content and these interactions are relevant and helpful to your customers, which builds your brand, creates true customer loyalty and transforms your customers into brand advocates.

But how much of your inbound marketing budget will have an impact on your marketing strategies cost?

It’s a fair question and one that many businesses are keen to answer.

Inbound marketing is a highly effective marketing solution. On average, businesses spend significantly less on their inbound marketing compared to traditional outbound techniques. However, over 50% more leads come from inbound marketing services.

Inbound marketing is also a long-term and ongoing solution. There are a range of inbound marketing services and strategies available to your business. For example, you may decide to invest in a blog or create a series of targeted landing pages. As a result, its cost can vary greatly depending on the extent and range of strategies you decide to adopt.

At the Inbound 2018 conference earlier this year, Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot, announced that the inbound marketing methodology is changing. As marketers, we have become very accustomed to using the marketing ‘funnel’ model when devising and managing our marketing strategies. We know how it works; the process is simple: attract, convert, close, delight. The focus in recent years has been on the attract stage; creating valuable content to pull customers in has been the best way to generate new leads and grow your business. But now, 'cracks' are starting to appear in this funnel.

Inbound marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. While some inbound marketing services can manifest quickly into tangible business benefits, others can take time to plant the right seeds, build your brand reputation and get more users to your website.

It all depends on your approach. It may take just a few months for your initial inbound marketing strategies to kick in and for your website to start rising up the search engine rankings. And you may not reap the initial rewards of creating great content for many months as you build your long term digital assets.

However, in our experience, it is possible to accelerate your inbound marketing efforts so you can start to realise real results faster. Here are a handful of inbound marketing services that could help you to see such results more quickly:

In today’s fast-paced world, the way people buy is changing - and therefore the way we market to customers is changing too. Tired traditional techniques are being cast aside, with new digital methodologies such as inbound marketing services taking centre stage. You can find out more about inbound here - but in a nutshell, it’s all about using clever content to attract prospects to you and build lasting relationships. However, as well as appealing to clients, inbound has a number of benefits for your marketing team too - including increased efficiency. Read on to discover how inbound can help make your team more efficient… 

So you’ve decided to embrace inbound marketing as part of your digital marketing strategy - great! You’ve identified your personas, created a content strategy and are busy writing and sharing informative content that delivers value to your customers. And you know it’s working, too: there’s a definite increase in leads, and more and more people are converting to customers. So far, it’s all heading in the right direction!

The way people buy is changing. For example, did you know that 60% of purchase decisions are now made before customers even talk to a sales rep? As a result, traditional marketing methods are on the decline. In fact, just 16% of marketers say that outbound provides them with the high quality leads they need - which means inbound is becoming more popular and is now being described as the future of marketing. So if you want to think smarter and grow faster, it’s time to get onboard with an inbound marketing agency.

Inbound and outbound marketing services are two fundamentally different marketing types that you can use to increase traffic, leads and sales for your business.

If you’re interested in signing up for our Growth Plan, we’re assuming that you already know a bit about inbound marketing. But just in case, here’s a quick recap before we get started…

The inbound methodology is essentially a new way of marketing that came about due to the changing habits of buyers. In today’s world, people like to do the research themselves before they make a purchase. Due to modern technology, it’s now easier than ever to research, find and buy products and services. Plus, with the rise of social media, the focus has shifted from print advertising and cold calling to online blogging and digital marketing. The inbound methodology takes all of this into account and sets out four stages of the buyer journey: attract, convert, close and delight. Your Growth Plan is a critical piece of your digital marketing jigsaw and will help you to align your business objectives and growth goals. It will help you set actionable monthly tasks that need to be completed in order to achieve your marketing goals and of course, ultimately, your business and growth objectives.