Inbound Marketing

Paid traffic stops when the budget does. A well-ranked guide can keep attracting visitors for years after it is written. As the library grows, the average cost of getting a lead tends to fall, which suits a business without a large ad budget.

Inbound also reaches buyers at a good moment. Someone searching for an answer has already admitted they have the problem.

The trade-off is time. Results usually take months, and the effort stalls when publishing stops.

• List the questions buyers ask at each stage, from noticing a problem to comparing suppliers.
• Publish honest answers, organised around a few content pillars, not thin pages made only to rank.
• Offer something worth having in exchange for an email address, such as a content upgrade.
• Follow up with a short email sequence, not an immediate sales call.
• Track which pieces bring leads that become customers, then write more like them.

Inbound marketing works by publishing things buyers actually look for, such as guides, comparisons, tools, videos and answers to specific questions. A buyer searches, finds the page, learns something and, if the fit is right, gives an email address or books a call.

The term was popularised by HubSpot. The classic description is four stages: attract strangers, convert them into contacts, close them as customers and keep them happy afterwards.

It contrasts with outbound marketing, such as cold email, cold calls and display ads, where the business starts the conversation with someone who has not asked.

• Judging by traffic instead of leads and revenue.
• Writing for search engines first and readers second.
• Stopping after a few posts because the first month showed nothing.