Surely on social networks, web articles, podcasts and networking spaces, you have read or heard about inbound marketing .
This philosophy, aimed at attracting, interacting with and delighting consumers , has played a fundamental role in multiple business contexts and has opened an important path to debate and rethink the way in which we currently sell and consume products through the Internet.
In this article, we are going to explain what this term really means, what its methodology is and why we hear it everywhere, that is, the advantages and benefits that characterize it. So, let's start with the basics:
What is inbound marketing?
Inbound marketing is a business philosophy based on helping people. Its goal is to boost business in a more human way and establish meaningful relationships with strangers, prospects and customers, depending on the context in which they find themselves and the platforms and social networks they use.
To adopt this philosophy, your company must offer value in each of the experiences that consumers have with it . To achieve this, you have to address consumers in their comfort zones, find out what they like, what their motivations, problems and needs are, in order to investigate and make available to them information that helps them solve them.
In the business world, how you sell is more important than what you sell . That is why inbound marketing does not aim to generate a disruptive experience in which consumers feel like they are being sold something they do not need. On the contrary, the goal is to know exactly what a prospect needs and help them achieve it.
How did inbound marketing come about?
Inbound marketing was born in mid-2006 after its main precursors, Brian Hallingan and Dharmesh Shah, discovered the potential that blogs have to attract readers and create communities interested in learning about a specific topic.
After that, they devised a whole methodology to turn search engines and social networks into important elements to attract consumers.
They realized something was happening: people are increasingly using the Internet and specifically search engines like Google to research their problems, find possible solutions and acquire new knowledge that allows them to grow intellectually and professionally.
All this situation, added to the fact that companies began to employ bad advertising practices such as cold calls and spam emails, where personalization was almost non-existent and mass content was sent without knowing if the person was really interested.
This served as a reason to take advantage of those new technologies that were emerging and find a more friendly, human and empathetic way to reach those users who were making a living on the Internet.
This is how they came to the conclusion that education represented an important stimulus to connect with consumers . And what did they do to materialize all these ideas? They created different software:
Hubspot CRM
Designed to centralize information on users, leads and customers according to their stages in the buyer journey and the conversion funnel.
Hubspot marketing
Designed to publish content, generate leads, create calls to action, subscription forms, email sequences (email marketing), advertisements, among others.
Hubspot sales
Designed to send offers via email, schedule calls, make appointments, close sales.
Hubspot services
Designed to offer customer service tools that will help you contact customers and provide personalized attention.
All of these softwares can be integrated with each other and with other digital platforms such as: email marketing platforms, chatbots, ERPs, project management tools, among others.
In general terms, they created an entire technology capable of providing the necessary tools to carry out a successful inbound marketing strategy.
What is the reason for the success of inbound marketing?
Some reasons behind the success of inbound marketing are:
Understand how the consumer thinks and acts
Today, consumers are more informed about the products and/or services they need, they have little free time, they are very demanding regarding the customer service they expect to receive, they have high expectations of what a purchasing process should be like and they want immediate and personalized responses.
In this sense, it is they who have shown that they have the power to boost or harm a brand, through their social networks and review websites, when these expectations are not met. Let's look at some statistics that prove it:
Consumer Statistics:
94% of consumers say they have suspended communications with a company because they received irrelevant promotions and messages. (Source: Business & Labor Magazine ).
74% consider switching brands if the purchasing process is too complex. (Source Salesforce ).
51% of customers would not do business with a company again after a negative experience. (Source: Newvoice Media ).
93% of consumers say they would buy from a company again that offers exceptional service (Source Hubspot ).
77% of consumers shared their positive experiences with their friends on social media or review websites (Source Hubspot ).
Within the conceptualization of inbound marketing , this paradigm shift was understood and its entire philosophy of thought is focused on helping companies offer exceptional shopping experiences, from the attraction stage to the delight stage.
Also, inbound marketing promotes that both the marketing, sales and services departments must align ( smarketing ) with common strategies to achieve these objectives.
By trying to find methodologies and make use of automated tools to satisfy all these qatar number for whatsapp consumer demands, inbound marketing has positioned itself as an innovative proposal that adapts and understands how relationships with consumers should be created in the 21st century, where information and communication technologies are part of people's daily lives.
It is the result of Hubspot's commercial efforts
Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, by institutionalizing inbound marketing for the first time , not only created a company that develops software to automate marketing and sales processes, they also created a global movement of allies under a “ HubSpot Partner Program ” which includes more than 3,500 agencies and companies from more than 90 countries .
This is a training experience that prepares an agency to market the HubSpot platform and thus obtain benefits from each sale.
Each of these companies represent ambassadors and promoters of inbound marketing , use Hubspot software with their clients and apply the inbound fundamentals and pillars in their own business models.
These strategic alliances have allowed this business philosophy to expand throughout the world as an attractive solution to generate sales and connect with consumers.
Benefits of being a Hubspot partner
Appear in the partner directory.
Early access to new products.
Create strategic alliances with other agencies.
Use Hubspot's recruiting tool.
Participate as editors on the blog.
Share your content through Hubspot's social networks.
Invitations to the annual #INBOUND event and Partner Day.
In addition, there is also “ Hubspot Academy,” an educational platform where any user can obtain a certification in inbound marketing for free and have access to other online courses focused on software management.
It is part of the value proposition of marketing agencies
A key element that guaranteed the growth of inbound marketing is that many marketing agencies, like ours, began to specialize in this business philosophy and offer brands services related to this methodology.
This is how marketing agencies began to spread the word about the advantages and benefits of using inbound marketing at a business level , at the same time making this term popular and achieving the visibility and impact it has today.
Its global adoption in business environments
The State of Inbound in Latin America 2018 published by Hubspost is an example of the great growth that this philosophy has had in the business world.
For the report, more than 6,200 people from 99 countries were interviewed, from industries of different sizes and different levels of seniority in their companies. Here are some figures:
74% of those interviewed said that inbound marketing is their organization's main strategy.
Of that total, 75% of professionals who implement inbound marketing think that this marketing strategy in their organization is effective.
As it relates specifically to inbound marketing projects:
a) 75% of marketing teams are focused on converting their contacts into leads.