Every business is trying to grow their customer base.  They all need new sales and customers to continue growing, and many of them are finding them online.  They are finding them online because they've figured out how to attract them.  They've figured out how to position their business in a way that allows people searching for information and resources online to discover them first.  You can do this first, you just need to figure out how.

The Goal: Attract Strangers And Turn Them Into Customers Who Promote Your Business

So if this is the goal, how do you get there?  To get there, you have to understand the inbound marketing methodology.  You have to figure out where your potential customers are, what they're looking for.  You have to figure out how they make buying decisions, and what it takes to make them happy.  Simple enough right?  Beyond that all you have to worry about is proper execution, monitoring, analyzing metrics, and improving. If you'd like to understand how to prepare for an inbound marketing assessment, I've written the definitive guide to preparation. 

Here's an illustration of the entire path you'll need to take visitors down:

With this many steps and so many elements to execute within it can be hard to understand.  Let's break this down into each step and provide some bullets to apply.

Step 1 - Attracting Strangers To you

People don't visit your website by accident, and they're rarely browsing.  They come to your website for a reason, and from a source.  First, you need to participate on and around the sources they'll likely be referred to your site from. Second, they're looking for something and you need to have your assets positioned to give it to them.

1. An active blog is one of the best sources of website traffic, you should be blogging on topics of interest and positioning yourself as an expert.
2. Social media outlets are where your prospects hang out, let them discover you there on their time and don't spam them.
3. Google is where they'll go when they're looking for what you do, better have a keyword strategy and active campaign if you want them to find you before your competition.
4. Web pages aimed at your visitor's needs, interests, and desires optimized for both conversions and search engines give strangers the answers they're looking for.

Step 2 - Converting your Visitors into Leads

Visitors are looking for something, that's why they're visiting.  Some end up on your site by accident, but what about the ones looking for answers?  You need to put together a plan, based on who they are, what you offer, and what solution you represent.

1. Calls To Action advertise resources, tools, and guides you've created to answer their questions.
2. Landing pages feature your offers in more detail, presenting a compelling reason to buy.
3. Forms are vital and must be present on all landing pages, controlling what information you require will affect your results as much as the quality of the offer.
4. Contacts are created on form completion and should include all of the intelligence you require to continue telling the story.

Step 3 - Turning your Leads into Customers

Most visitors aren't ready to buy (massive misconception uncovered).  They have interest but they're looking to do some homework.  They may be looking for information on your industry or general solution or they may be trying to figure out if you're honest and capable.  You need to figure out where they're at in the buying cycle and give them what they want when they want it. 

1. Email marketing is alive and well, just not with mass messaging, sending personalized emails with the right message really works.
2. Workflows structure messages to ensure leads are nurtured through the buying cycle. 
3. Scoring your leads for authority, need, and timing will help results.
4. Integration with sales tools helps to ensure the transition from qualified lead into a qualified sale.

Step 4 - Delighting your Customers makes them Promoters

Customers are great, but happy customers are even better.  They generally trust you more and certainly don't mind spreading the word.  After all, everyone has pride in sharing good news and resources with their friends.  You should try to be one of them.

1. Use social media again, to promote your clients and growing relationship.
2. Intelligence can be used to present custom content and offers for your current customers without blocking new visitors.
3. Email still plays an important role, presenting them with ongoing tools, resources, and valuable information.
4. Workflows tie right in, helping you measure your message frequency and customization to stand out from other vendors.

I hope this gives you a clearer picture of both the goal and the path to reach it.  I hope this gets you motivated to evaluate all of your assets and figure out exactly where you can improve.  If you need additional resources or have questions along the way please reach out.  We love to talk marketing and love to help businesses grow. 

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