The 4 phases of Inbound Marketing
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 4:02 am
How do you turn strangers into customers? The answer to this question is the key to any successful business. You need a process to guide your potential customers along their journey to convert them into buyers and thus generate new business. This process is summarized in the 4 phases of the Inbound methodology . We tell you what they are!
Attract
Convert
Close
Fall in love
Every step of the way, from attracting prospects to turning customers into bitcoin email address lists brand advocates, employs its own set of tactics and metrics to measure results.
Attract - Turn strangers into visitors
inbound-marketing-attraction-phase
The first goal is to make prospects aware of your company and the services and/or products you offer. Attract people to your website through various online channels, such as social media. Through these channels, your company can offer valuable content that addresses common problems and answers questions your potential customers have.
If you are a B2B company , LinkedIn would be a perfect channel for your prospecting/attraction efforts. If you are interested in how, you can read our post about what social selling is here .
Some of the topics that work best for almost any vertical include lists of who the best companies are in the sector, product or service reviews, comparisons… Many companies are hesitant to publish this type of information, but we have found that it builds trust and also weeds out potential customers who are not a good fit for your products or services.
Outside of these common questions, there are countless industry-specific questions you can address with content marketing . Let’s say you’re a senior living facility. Does your website clearly explain contract options, the levels of care you provide, and the living environments available to residents, including images and ideally videos?
Maybe you have already produced some of this content but it hasn’t worked for you because it hasn’t attracted customers? Don’t worry, all is not lost and there are many ways to “activate those assets”. For example, promote that content to traditional media (if you can find your buyer persona there), bloggers, social media influencers and then distribute the rest of the content on other channels that your company controls. Try to get the most out of your assets!
Unlike outbound marketing, which often reaches a broad audience, inbound marketing focuses on specific groups of prospects: what we call buyer personas. The key to success is to target the people who are most likely to be interested in your product and to leave out those who are probably not interested at all. If your buyer persona is wholesalers with revenues between 1 and 5 million euros in Spain, the type of content you produce, where you publish it, when you publish it, etc. to reach these companies in a compelling way, has to be more than clear and defined. You won't get qualified leads from a post on BuzzFeed, but you will get qualified leads from highly optimized content on LinkedIn.
Your secret weapon to attract visitors : relevant content optimized for search and promoted in key places online.
2. Convert: Turn visitors into leads
phase-conversion-inbound-marketing
Once you’ve attracted qualified prospects, it’s time to convert them into leads and sales. In this phase of the inbound methodology, you need to obtain your visitors’ contact information: their email address, phone number, or some other way to reach them. Once this happens, congratulations – you officially have a lead!
The problem is that no one in their right mind is going to give you their email address just for the fun of it (we've all been spammed at some point, right?). You need to offer something useful to get your website visitor to agree to the exchange. A good example would be an offer for a free quote or an invitation to a x-minute consulting session.
It is important to make offers throughout the buyer journey to generate leads and help them move down the sales funnel.
Attract
Convert
Close
Fall in love
Every step of the way, from attracting prospects to turning customers into bitcoin email address lists brand advocates, employs its own set of tactics and metrics to measure results.
Attract - Turn strangers into visitors
inbound-marketing-attraction-phase
The first goal is to make prospects aware of your company and the services and/or products you offer. Attract people to your website through various online channels, such as social media. Through these channels, your company can offer valuable content that addresses common problems and answers questions your potential customers have.
If you are a B2B company , LinkedIn would be a perfect channel for your prospecting/attraction efforts. If you are interested in how, you can read our post about what social selling is here .
Some of the topics that work best for almost any vertical include lists of who the best companies are in the sector, product or service reviews, comparisons… Many companies are hesitant to publish this type of information, but we have found that it builds trust and also weeds out potential customers who are not a good fit for your products or services.
Outside of these common questions, there are countless industry-specific questions you can address with content marketing . Let’s say you’re a senior living facility. Does your website clearly explain contract options, the levels of care you provide, and the living environments available to residents, including images and ideally videos?
Maybe you have already produced some of this content but it hasn’t worked for you because it hasn’t attracted customers? Don’t worry, all is not lost and there are many ways to “activate those assets”. For example, promote that content to traditional media (if you can find your buyer persona there), bloggers, social media influencers and then distribute the rest of the content on other channels that your company controls. Try to get the most out of your assets!
Unlike outbound marketing, which often reaches a broad audience, inbound marketing focuses on specific groups of prospects: what we call buyer personas. The key to success is to target the people who are most likely to be interested in your product and to leave out those who are probably not interested at all. If your buyer persona is wholesalers with revenues between 1 and 5 million euros in Spain, the type of content you produce, where you publish it, when you publish it, etc. to reach these companies in a compelling way, has to be more than clear and defined. You won't get qualified leads from a post on BuzzFeed, but you will get qualified leads from highly optimized content on LinkedIn.
Your secret weapon to attract visitors : relevant content optimized for search and promoted in key places online.
2. Convert: Turn visitors into leads
phase-conversion-inbound-marketing
Once you’ve attracted qualified prospects, it’s time to convert them into leads and sales. In this phase of the inbound methodology, you need to obtain your visitors’ contact information: their email address, phone number, or some other way to reach them. Once this happens, congratulations – you officially have a lead!
The problem is that no one in their right mind is going to give you their email address just for the fun of it (we've all been spammed at some point, right?). You need to offer something useful to get your website visitor to agree to the exchange. A good example would be an offer for a free quote or an invitation to a x-minute consulting session.
It is important to make offers throughout the buyer journey to generate leads and help them move down the sales funnel.