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If you do any reading about marketing, you will run into the concept of inbound vs. outbound strategies early on. They are pillars of the marketing world.

Outbound marketing is what you traditionally think of when you hear the word “ad.” It's companies sending messages out to consumers. Inbound marketing, though, is very different. The goal with inbound is to use value-added content to bring consumers in. One of the most common places this happens is online. You want to attract visitors to your website and turn them into customers.

There are a number of inbound marketing strategies you can deploy to make this happen:

Site Optimization

It all begins here. If you don't already have a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy in place, it's time to start building one. If customers can't find you, they're not going to know about your products or services, so deploy a solid strategy that keeps you at the top of the search engine listings for various keywords as soon as possible. The content strategies in the next section help with site optimization.

Content, Content, Content

Nothing is more powerful in the world of inbound marketing than a healthy mix of strong, authoritative content. Here are a few of the various types of content you may want to deploy:

The Blog

You've probably heard about the benefits of blogging for your business, and there's a good reason for that. Blogging has the power to increase conversions in a big way.

The goal here is to create helpful blog articles that deal with the concerns of your target audience. These pieces boost overall traffic numbers and attract good leads. Keep in mind, though, that results aren't an overnight guarantee. It usually takes a year before you see real traffic growth.

Additional Content

Blogs aren't the only way to host your content. You could also offer whitepapers, how-to guides, and even eBooks customers might want to help increase your authority in the field.

Inbound marketing examples in this arena might be eBooks that help your customers learn more about how other companies have deployed your product or white papers that look at the hard data behind your product.

Video Content

YouTube currently has a billion users. Everyone loves a good online video, and Facebook and Instagram have recently bolstered their video games, too. There's no time like the present to deploy video content as one of your inbound marketing strategies. Use it for product demos, case studies, how-to's, interviews, behind-the-scenes, or even video blogs to help attract the attention of your audience.

Social Media

Many more companies are using social media on a daily basis, and it can tie in with other strategies like the blog or your videos. You can use your Facebook page, your Instagram profile, or any other account to promote your blog articles or upcoming events. You can also share relevant third-party content to help build your brand online.

Email Marketing

Email marketing was incredibly popular in the mid-nineties, then interest slowly began to wane. It's sad that many companies today don't even consider it part of their strategy. They should. Good email marketing can land lots of customers, but it has to be a well-crafted campaign that is targeted at the right people. It could allow you to promote your content pieces or just get the right people moving through your sales funnel.

Marketing Automation Systems

A shocking 80% of all companies have suggested that marketing automation is the most powerful form of inbound marketing they do, which translates to some pretty serious profit numbers. Automated inbound marketing examples as simple as lead-nurturing workflows could mean great things for your sales team.

Growth Driven Design

It takes time to plan and launch a website, but it becomes obsolete as new technologies and marketing techniques are revealed. Growth driven design, though, analyzes user behavior and lets you know, almost constantly, what improvements and updates need to be made to your site.

Ready to flesh out these inbound marketing examples? Contact THAT Agency today -- and don't forget to get your free copy of our guide to proving the value of your marketing efforts: