What Does the Future of Inbound Marketing Look Like?
Inbound marketing is a customer-focused approach to attracting the right leads to your business. It begins by creating helpful, informative web-based content that establishes your credibility and builds trust for a long and healthy business relationship. This content adds value for your leads long before they become customers. Plus, it raises your visibility in relevant search engine results!
Over the last few years, inbound has become essential to online success. Outbound marketing techniques – like cold calling – are falling by the wayside. It’s out-dated and the spam filters on phones now make it nearly impossible to find warm leads ripe for the picking. The bottom line is that consumers today refuse to make time for old-fashioned, interruptive marketing. They want fast, reliable, and what’s on the first page of their Google search. Reputable marketing services with up-to-date digital trends focus instead on how an enterprise can craft an inbound marketing strategy for true success!
Inbound marketing led to the rapid development of content marketing and other creative marketing approaches in the last decade. In 2019 and beyond, however, new trends just keep on emerging. They promise to further transform the face of inbound while helping businesses serve their customers better. A win-win, surely.
What marketing trends do businesses need to be aware of?
Let’s take a look:
- Content Personalization
Content personalization is critical to providing a relevant marketing experience. With the right personal touches, businesses have the chance to skyrocket their web conversion rates – and, thus, their sales. Content personalization is most potent when data about individual user behaviors and preferences are used to deliver solutions, such as custom content, just in time for the searcher’s intent of why they turned to online for the answer.
- A New Focus on Content
A Content strategy requires businesses to gather personal information about web leads that they want to continue to monopolize on. At the same time, consumers are more alert to privacy issues than ever. New laws such as GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act will change how inbound marketing is done across the US. Brands must focus on maintaining trust through transparency, updated cookie scripts, and affirmative opt-in options for all marketing ventures.
- More Video Content
95% of all Americans now own a cell phone of some kind, with 77% owning a smartphone with web access. At the same time, bandwidth has exploded, making it easier to access video content on phones and play them on Ultra HD 4K compatible phone screens. Videos are fun to consume on the go, especially for those on public transport commutes, all while still helping consumers have a better grasp of what they saw and wanted to learn more about. This means video marketing will continue to grow as a tool for inbound marketing strategies.
- AI Chatbots Make Support Interactive
For customer support to be effective, it must be scalable. The conventional approach of hiring or outsourcing support agents can cause bottlenecks with growth. AI chatbots are the future and they’re here now. Not only are they interactive, but chatbots also allow users to hold a “conversation” instead of looking up dry facts. They can be tied to every information system or CRM platform you use, efficiently guiding web users on product choices, questions, and comparisons.
- Social Media Will Expand its Relevance
Social media has always been crucial in building rapport, developing a community for customers, and amplifying your content marketing initiatives. Currently, its role is expanding more than ever before. Brands must identify the social media channels where their ideal customers conduct product research, talk to users (not just at them), showcase customer satisfaction, and even offer social-based customer support.
- Content Marketing Will Increase in Importance
More and more enterprises are throwing their weight behind content marketing. Web content is how your future customers define their problems, answer burning questions, and seek solutions. It’s the foundation of any digital marketing strategy. Positioning yourself as an expert with answers to these concerns is the root of your inbound marketing and the clear path to success. To stay visible online, even small local businesses need to embrace publishing on their website, from updated service pages to regular blog posts.
Today’s web development and web design services must take inbound marketing into account from the beginning stages. When inbound marketing is integrated into your website, you have the potential to compete head to head with much larger market rivals and convert their usual customer base into your very own!
Contact the P3 Agency Today for Digital Marketing Services
Digital Marketing is moving as fast as the speed of sound, but the right agency can help you excel right along with it. For website design that unlocks the power of inbound marketing results, contact P3 Agency at 727-474-9064.