Business to Consumer marketing (B2C) has been around for years. But what is the most effective way to grab the attention of your target audience? In this article we explore inbound marketing for B2C businesses: what it is and the benefits that it brings.
Inbound Marketing involves creating and sharing quality content that captures your target audience’s attention and ultimately influence their buying decisions. This can be in the form of insightful blog posts, interacting with customers via social media channels and creating personalised promotions and marketing emails for your customer base.
The key to successful inbound marketing for B2C companies is to make sure that content created provides valuable and fun information that customers’, in-turn, will want to share with theirfriends online. Essentially you are creating quality content that will attract new and existing customers to your business, bringing them ‘in’ to your site.
Marketing experts HubSpot.com understand the important role that inbound marketing plays in successful B2C businesses:
‘Inbound allows you to attract visitors, convert leads, close customers, and delight them into promoting your business to others.’
According to their 2013 State of Inbound Marketing report, 58% of B2C businesses are primarily customer focused and take advantage of the benefits that Inbound Marketing brings.
So, the question is: Are you making the most of what inbound marketing has to offer?
How to reap the benefits of B2C inbound marketing
Ecommerce intelligence website, InternetRetailer.com, found that around 83% of consumers use the internet to research a product before they make a purchasing decision. So, in order to be in with a chance of winning their business you need to be visible online: this is where inbound marketing comes in.
A successful inbound marketing strategy will allow your business and products to be found online by potential customers. It is also a great tool for brand management, as you are able to see what others are saying about your business online and respond accordingly.
If you have a B2C business, inbound marketing holds many benefits, such as increasing brand awareness online, helping to improve your visibility in search engines, thus increasing website traffic and sales, as well as defining your business as an industry leader.
Below are two insider tips that will help you to get started:
Begin Blogging
If you haven’t got a blog already then it is a great idea to start one. You can use your company blog as a platform to create a community, build relationships with your customers and to become the ‘go to’ voice in your industry niche. You can do this by answering customer questions and addressing pain points, which will in-turn, build the customers’ confidence in your expertise and products.
Regular blogging will also provide your website with fresh, new content that will increase both brand awareness and help with your visibility across search engines.
Use Social Media for Reputation Management
Make the most of social media channels by connecting with existing and future customers on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc. Use these accounts to share quality content, promotions, discounts and other shareable content to help further build your brand presence and social following online.
The other great advantage of using social media is that it helps you to build a bond with your customers and also to see what others have been saying about you. For example, if you happen to spot an unhappy customer on Twitter with a tweet about ‘poor’ customer service received, you can respond to this quickly and apologise for the situation and see how their order can be resolved. This helps customers to retain their trust in your business and also discover suggestions on how you can further improve your business.
Use Inbound Marketing to your Advantage
With the marketing world evolving online and more than 80% of consumers checking out the internet search results prior to making a purchasing decision, integrating inbound marketing with your traditional marketing efforts has never been more important.
Make sure that you are not missing out on attracting new customers to your business and converting their visits into sales, by creating quality and personalised content that can be shared online. Connecting with consumers and responding to their queries and complaints will build their trust in your business and services; inbound marketing will also help to establish your business as an expert in your industry niche.
Now it’s your turn
Have you implemented inbound marketing into your online strategy? We would love to hear how it is working out for your B2C business or if you have any further questions on the topic.