Inbound marketing is a perfect program for a budget-conscious business. It’s also one of the most effective ways to market a business in our digital world!
Success with inbound marketing is more a function of dedication and commitment than dollars and cents.
Check out our insider’s perspective on the value of inbound marketing. It will give you an understanding of the process of distributing content that is valuable to your prospective customers and enticing them to deepen their relationship with your company.
Now let’s go further with a discussion of the tactics that will help you launch and sustain an effective inbound marketing campaign and fit inbound marketing into your business budget.
1. Blog Re-Purposing
Let’s say you wrote a winning blog as part of a content marketing campaign that you are particularly proud of – one that received a measurable response on social media in terms of engagement, and that attracted new leads that you converted into sales/clients.
That blog needs to be published again (and again!).
After a few months have passed, give it another go around on your social media pages. You’ll want to add an updated intro along with the link, but don’t hesitate to repost the blog itself as is.
However, if there is new information that can add value, take the time to incorporate that into the blog, and optimize it for social media as part of its redistribution.
As long as you make sure none of the information is outdated, blogs can have a long shelf life.
2. Distributing Relevant Content from Other Authors
We’ve already discussed posting (and re-posting) your own blogs to your social media pages. Another budget-neutral way to engage your audience is by sharing helpful or enlightening content from other sources.
Get to know the thought-leaders in your field and search the web for content they have published. Your audience will appreciate being turned on to new ideas and people they aren’t aware of. Add an introduction when posting third-party material to give it context and explain how the subject is relevant to your followers.
3. Email Marketing
We love MailChimp for its easy-to-use email marketing software. The free service plan lets you keep and segment an email list of up to 2,000 contacts. Larger lists require an upgrade to a paid subscription.
Not sure how to make the most of your email marketing list? MailChimp lets you create hyper-targeted segments of your contacts for email or ad campaigns, so you can send tailored email or ad campaigns to your subscribers.
Here are some examples of segments you can create in MailChimp:
- Subscribed contacts who opened any of your last five campaigns
- Subscribed contacts who didn’t click in your last campaign
- Subscribed, unsubscribed, or non-subscribed contacts who recently purchased a product
- Subscribed, unsubscribed, or non-subscribed contacts who live in a certain location
- Unsubscribed or non-subscribed contacts who spent more than $500 in your integrated e-commerce store
A long-term customer is the most valuable kind of customer. And, because it’s more cost-effective to retain a current customer than to acquire a new one, it’s absolutely worth your time and effort to reach out and engage with your customer base.
Happily, email marketing is a terrific low-cost technique for staying connected to your current customers, in addition to prospecting for new business.
Inbound marketing takes dedication and consistency, but you can develop an inbound marketing budget that fits into your overall marketing budget.
Thanks for stopping by,
Laura
Editor’s note: This blog was originally published in July 2017 and has been edited and updated in February 2022.
