An Introduction to the Inbound Marketing Funnel • Lake One ®

Picture this, you’re scrolling on social media and see a random post on your feed about a new product. One catches your attention. You click through to get to the main post, read the caption, and inspect the picture. Feeling compelled to learn more, you navigate to the company’s website. From there, you hop on a landing page to read about this insanely attractive product you didn’t know you needed. You’re hooked. 

Welcome to the first two stages of the inbound marketing funnel – you’re not alone in this journey. Marketing gurus in this digital era use various strategies to capture their target audience’s attention. They want their audience to act and then somehow develop a long-term relationship with each of their customers. 

That’s the goal – not just to get sales and increase profits, but to build a meaningful relationship. In short, inbound marketing is a non-invasive approach to marketing for the right people at the right time in the right place. 

Discover more about the inbound marketing and the funnel experience below.

The Basics: What is the Inbound Marketing Funnel?

In 2005, HubSpot introduced the concept of inbound marketing in response to the failing effectiveness of the outbound solution. Outbound marketing is a more traditional approach to marketing. It involves sending a message out to the masses with high hopes that it resonates with your audience. Where’s the control or effectiveness in that? 

HubSpot can define a more definitive definition of inbound marketing –

Inbound marketing: The business methodology that attracts customers by creating valuable content and developing customized experiences. 

This approach emphasizes cultivating relationships and garnering personal connections. This makes the marketing processes more impactful right out of the gate. 

The Importance of the Inbound Marketing Funnel At Every Stage

There are a few critical components to the inbound methodology: 

• Attract – This is where you want to catch the right people’s attention through offering valuable content. This content establishes you as a trusted authority in your industry.
• Engage – Here, you present insights and solutions that align with your customer’s pain points and provide valuable solutions.
• Delight – In this stage, you are to provide support to empower your customers further to find success in their journey. 

When you fully understand the buyer’s journey, you can effectively create content for each stage. This turns visitors into happy customers of your business. You build trust and credibility with your audience. Even more, you get the opportunity to gain quality leads while evolving as a business to fine-tune your brand image.

Creating An Effective Full-Funnel Strategy

There are many different ways to execute an inbound marketing funnel plan. Let’s break down the various stages to see how you can effectively get the most out of the funnel. 

Attract

When you attract visitors, you want to make them aware of your business, what you offer, how you stand out from the crowd, and why they should learn more about your business. This stage involves creating valuable content that provides irrefutable value and ensuring it reaches them in the best way possible. 

Some great avenues include:

• Targeting Content Creation – Good pieces of content to create can include blogs, videos, case studies, e-books, guides, and additional resources. 
• SEO – Optimizing content for search engines is your best bet for optimal success. The goal is to get on the first page of Google. SEO is how you know your content will show up in front of the right audience at the right time. Typically, we start with conducting keyword research and then implementing those keywords naturally into your content. 
• Social Media – Obtaining a cohesive online presence with strong user engagement is crucial for your inbound marketing strategy. This is an excellent way to get your content visible while growing a following organically or for a tiny budget. Social media also allows you to showcase your brand voice and build credibility with your audience. 

Engage

The engage stage lets you convert visitors to leads, like strategically placing a gated form on a well-mapped-out landing page. Here are some ways to get the most out of the Engage stage for your visitors:

• Landing Page Copy – Compelling landing page copy paired with an enticing offer, like a free trial, is excellent for converting visitors into leads. 
• Call-To-Action – Utilizing call-to-actions (CTAs) is non-negotiable. CTAs are visual components to add to a website, email campaign, etc., to encourage visitors to take action strongly. This action could be to schedule a free consultation, sign up for a free trial, download a resource – you name it. Ideally, you want these placed in a few places to drive more conversions.

Delight

This is arguably one of the more critical stages for your inbound marketing funnel. After all, it’s easier to maintain and nurture leads than to win them over in the first place. As an authority in your industry, your responsibility is to convince prospects you are the best company to do business with. So, here’s how you can do just that:

• Email Marketing – This approach carries weight with being one of the more effective ways to reach out to your leads. While often, people get many emails each day, you can still find a way to stand out from the clutter. Keep in mind that when visitors subscribe to your email list, they want to hear from you. You need to find out what they are looking for and convince them that you have the answers to their challenges. 
• Marketing Automation – The combined marketing automation and CRM efforts effectively save time and efficiency when managing your marketing campaigns. Utilizing this option helps you drive leads, develop automated workflows, and gain insights into their engagement with your business.  

Remember that inbound marketing doesn’t end with a sale; you want to ensure you’re constantly engaging with your audience to continue developing those relationships and leaving a positive impact. The more you delight your customers, the more they are likely to return, leave great reviews, and generate a positive referral to their friends and family. 

Get Started On Your Inbound Marketing Strategy with Lake One

Stand out from the crowd. Gain meaningful relationships. Learn to grow your business with the right approach, the right timing, and for the right audience. 

Inbound marketing allows you to achieve all those acts while growing your business (and pockets)! You have the power to focus on building long-lasting relationships while managing a positive, cohesive brand image for all stages of your customer’s journey with the inbound marketing funnel. 

Interested in getting a custom strategy? Lake One can offer assistance. Reach out to our marketing experts today to get started on your full-funnel journey.