The term inbound marketing has been firmly established in the marketing and corporate world since 2006. For example, today’s marketing activities distinguish between inbound marketing, in which you direct the user (and indirectly yourself) by creating high-quality content and bring them to your home. The term outbound marketing, on the other hand, refers to the tried and true, classic marketing with direct customer contact such as 1-2-1 activities, cold and warm canvassing and classic advertisements, where message and advertising are communicated to the customer to the outside world.
Over the past decade, more and more companies have shifted their external communications from outbound marketing to inbound marketing. Because the times of the Internet and information overload have also changed consumers and users. These days, for example, our long-established target groups only absorb information that is of interest to them and helps them move forward in terms of content. Uninteresting advertising messages are simply read over and no longer noticed.
Therefore, it is important today to create good content. The days of good, but text-only content are also over. Today, a good content source demands multimedia content. That’s why in the marketing world and external communication of companies, brands and products, sharing images and especially videos with their customers and consumers have become immensely important.
But you also need a long-term strategy to succeed in inbound marketing.
Thus, inbound marketing distinguishes between different levels of customer contact – through customer segmentation.
How to achieve good inbound marketing using an explainer video, with a good contact loop and purposeful transformation of customer communication, we describe in four steps:
1.attract the attention of potential new customers
-The goal is to turn them into regular visitors to your website, social media channels, and blogs.
-With a successful explainer film and the right keywords, your message has up to 70% better chances of landing on the top rankings in Google than in pure text form. Because Google’s philosophy is to offer visitors the best possible content. The algorithms are designed to show you exactly that. And what customers love now are videos – because they are easy to record and can get the most information in a short time.
Example explainer video:
-An explainer video with a story of Max Muster, a person who resembles your potential customers, is anchored in a blog article or distributed directly through other portals, blogs and websites. You can also place a video ad on Facebook, Google and other portals.
-Include a call-to-action at the end of your videos that directs customers to your website, landing page, or social media channels.
2. convert visitors into leads
-The goal now is to turn visitors into solid leads: so that you have your contacts and stay in the contact loop with you on a regular basis.
-because most customers buy only after they have heard about the product and the brand several times. So first take it in the loop and diligently stay in dialogue about it with your potential leads; with topics that don’t interest YOU, but the TARGET GROUP.
Example explainer video:
-Normally, a customer stays on a web page or landing page with plain text on the home page for about eight seconds. However, if you include an explainer video of about two minutes that is interestingly designed, you will increase the time spent on your pages (engagement) by up to 1500%.
-Again, include a call-to-action at the end that asks your readers to sign up for the newsletter, download an eBook, or participate in your Facebook campaign with their Like. This way you have your visitor permanently in the loop.
3. turn leads into customers.
-After a few emails and Facebook posts, potential customers may be ready to buy from you.
-To do this, you should provide good content in these emails and posts that customers can relate to. Similar stories from other customers, customer reviews, how-to guides, helpful tips and good ideas that customers can put to work for them.
-In addition, you monitor your customer. Use Google Analytics or professional software like Hubspot to measure customer behavior. This gives them a better sense of which content the customer is more interested in.
Example explainer video:
-Build short clips with a customer story told like a story. From customer to customer at eye level. So he gets the feeling, his problem is understood and others had good experiences with your product.
-Visualize customer reviews with short videos. Build in the benefits and use them nice, appealing characters.
-Create helpful tips with short clips: For example, “Ten tips on how to best decorate a cake” (bakery), “Five practical tools for the do-it-yourselfer” (construction company), etc.. These can be shared well virally later and have great potential for a viral effect (see next step).
-Create a product video that explains without being showy. “Understatement” is the motto here. Tell the story of the product from his point of view, for example: “I am a cell phone”. Or a story where the product makes the customer a hero.
4. turning customers into marketing ambassadors
-If your customer is satisfied or even delighted with your product or brand, they will recommend it to others. We hereby create a viral effect where the customer becomes a brand ambassador and shares your product with his community and network.
-But to get there, you need a continuous brand presence. This must be honest, with a service and content that the target audience wants.
-The extreme example is the so-called “heavy users”: The target group loves your product, praises it constantly and does not buy any other product than this one. Sounds like a dream? Then follow the marketing strategy of Mini the car, Apple with their iPhones and MacBooks, or Thermomix with their food processor. Their customers even put stickers on their cars and devices, wear T-shirts, and share any communication that comes from their favorite brands.
Example explainer video:
-If they’ve done the previous steps and have great video content, this step should come automatically. Your content is so good that customers start sharing it. And what better way than to share a good video with your friends and acquaintances?
-But don’t sit on your laurels either. Continuously create new content so that your satisfied customer remains a customer.
Google, Facebook, YouTube and Co. rely on good content and love good videos. The better the content, the higher in the ranking. Therefore, start creating good content now if you haven’t already.
