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Your 2021 inbound marketing strategy needs to be based around high-quality content. It should be content that's researched, well written, and well presented. The amount that's out there is staggering, so you need to ensure your content doesn't just capture a visitor's attention. It should also engage them and encourage them to take the next step. Let's go through the ways to get this done:

Integrated Voice Search Changes SEO

As people grow more and more comfortable with voice search, they make their searches in a different way. SEO has largely focused on keywords because that's how people type into a device. They might type, “Pizza place Miami.” That's short and to the point.

When people speak into their phone, and especially to digital assistants like Alexa, they tend to phrase things in complete sentences. “Hey Alexa, what's a good pizza place in Miami?”

This can change the nature of the key phrases being searched. The phrases are becoming longer. Now, search traffic that's typed in isn't dying down either, so there needs to be a middle ground. Voice search may be more useful for some industries than others. Getting ahead of this curve is key.

The best approach to cover both is to include keywords that might be typed within longer questions that might be asked.

>> More about keywords here.

Personalization Prioritizes Customers

Customers have a lot of competition vying for their interest. The experiences that are more personalized will capture their attention first. There are many easy ways of realizing this. You really should be segmenting email into lists that fit a customer's previous engagement with your business. Those emails should be personalized.

A customer should have their shopping information remembered on your site. Can they create an account in order to make a wish list that will be accessible to them across multiple devices? Will they get emailed or get an app notification when a wish list item goes on sale?

Do your chatbots save queries and product searches to a profile that sales reps can easily access? This allows much more efficient sales and customer support. It also gives the customer the impression that your entire business is handled with smooth precision centered around them.

Focus on the Conversion Path

Getting 100,000 people to visit your site may not mean as much as getting 20,000 people to engage with it. Measure what content is developing conversions.
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What layout styles encourage users to click through to your site? Inbound marketing strategy creates information that you need to measure and even test to understand.

Create calls to action that urge visitors to click to a page of new content. Prompt them to sign up. Don't be passive. That doesn't mean being pushy, but it does mean putting the things you want visitors to engage with in front of them and urging them to interact.

Utilize chatbots to help convert from your highest traffic content. The questions they ask should be friendly, focused, and oriented around a visitor's interest and needs. Your chatbots should be able to narrow down product searches very quickly, to focus on suggesting specific products and not just pointing to product lines. Have live service ready to take over more complicated customer queries.

Be Aware of Visual Searching

Visual searches allow a user to upload an image and get information about it. Perhaps it's the exterior of a restaurant they forgot the name of. It could be a type of car. Maybe they like the shirt someone is wearing in a picture and want Google to tell them where they can get it.

Visual searching isn't quite firing on all cylinders yet, but it's on the way. Let's say someone looks up a blouse in a picture. Google may not identify the exact match, but it will present a number of similar ones – and a user may be likely to simply buy one of those instead.

You can put yourself in a good position to take advantage of visual search by including clear images of your products. Utilize a shoppable platform like Instagram so that searchers who match a product to an image can easily click through and find a way to purchase it.

Practice Patience

Your 2021 inbound marketing strategy should consist of many precise tools and measurements. Any ability to assess the effectiveness of your inbound marketing strategy relies on information. A data set of a month's time can't show you trends or movement as a result of your strategy. Don't panic and make big shifts. If you took your time developing and implementing your strategy well, it will pay off.

Sometimes an organization frets prematurely. Instead of optimizing their presentation and loading times across all devices, which guarantees a seamless experience for users, they'll upend their strategy before they can even accurately measure it. They'll do something different, piling a new plan on top of an old one that hasn't yet come to fruition.

Patience isn't just a virtue, it's a tactic. You cannot live or die based on whether one post takes off or not.
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At some point, a post you thought would be a sure hit will fail to get traction. At some point, a post you think no one would be interested in will surprise you and become one of your best and most enduring performers. You can predict interest on a large scale over time, and you can measure that interest in the same way. Always choose the strategy you discussed over a knee jerk reaction that may undermine it. Inbound marketing is a long-term investment that amasses engagement and stays evergreen. 

Need help with inbound marketing? Contact THAT Agency now at 561-832-6262. We're a HubSpot partner with a wealth of experience in managing successful B2B and B2C inbound marketing programs.