Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing position the company as a target that consumers are searching for.

Why Inbound Marketing:

the diminished influence of advertising
the rise of consumer search

Inbound marketing is a way to engage consumers by creating content, including blogs, podcasts, white papers, and search engine optimization (SEO), so that a company - its brand, products, and services - is found when consumers search for information.

Getting Found

Achine higher ranking in search engines - How google works?

Index page on the internet
Ranks web pages on the bases of relavence

Two key factors for ranking:

Relevance: Match with consumer’s search query
Authority: The number of web pages that link to it

Two kay actions for inbound marketing:

Ensure its website has the content, keywords, and meta tags that improves its relevance to a particular search query.
Find ways to garner inbound links from other websites to build its autority.

Creating Content

Goals and solution:

Answer consumers’ questions and needs beyond basic product information -> Customer-centric view of the world
Create Trustworthy, original, and interesting content that improves its authority -> Create original contents that encourages other websites to provide links to it

Optimizing Land Page

User experience (Design: colors, button shapes, position, wording, fonts, images, and logos)

Also need to consider devices (mobile-first mentality for website design)

Listening to social conversations
Paticipating in social discussions
Leveraging and amplifying messages
Measuring social media effectiveness
Managing the impact of social media

Mobile Technology

The size matters. Smaller screen -> less long-period reading.Mobile devices are most suitable for visually rich content, such as video, maps, video, and games.
Location infromation provided by mobile devices
Easy access to competitors’ prices. Customers may look up for prices online when they shop offline
Apps instead of browsing the internet

Key Terms

A/B testing

Experiments in which the impact of single variable is tested. A/B tests are commonly used to test ad copy and landing page copy or designs to determine which version better drives the desired result.

click-through rate (CTR)

Click-through is the process of clicking through an online advertisement to the advertiser’s destination. Click-through rate (CTR) is the average number of click-throughs per hundred ad impressions, expressed as a percentage. The CTR is a way of measuring the success of an online advertising campaign for a particular website as well as the effectiveness of an email campaign.

content-curation website

A type of website that supports the gathering, organizing, and online presentation of content related to a particular theme or topic. For most companies, content curation is being used to drive search engine optimization (SEO). A company that links multiple pieces of content about a specific subject increases its exposure when that topic is searched. A particularly collaborative subtype of content curation is called social curation.

A type of website that supports the posting or publishing of a user’s own material (content). Content sharing can be used as a way to target an audience with a specific niche interest or professional expertise.

Information stored on a computer by a website that remembers user’s preferences. Cookies enable marketers to customize web pages for identified users, but privacy advocates raise concerns about tracking cookies that compile long-term records of individuals’ browsing histories.

cost per click (CPC)

An Internet advertising metric that can be defined simply as “the amount spent to get an advertisement clicked.” Cost per click is used as a billing mechanism in the pay-per-click advertising model.

customer lifetime value (CLV)

The dollar value of a customer relationship, based on the present value (PV) of the projected future cash flows from the customer relationship. It represents an upper limit on spending to acquire new customers.

display ad

Graphic advertising on the Internet that appears next to content on web pages, instant messaging (IM) applications, email, and so forth. These ads come in standardized ad sizes and can include text, logos, pictures, or, more recently, rich media (videos).

earned media

Media spread when customers, the press, and the public share a company’s content or discuss a company’s brand through word of mouth. It is stimulated by viral and social media marketing.

going viral

The rapid spread of a popular image, video, or link through a population by its being frequently shared with a number of individuals through electronic mail and social networking sites. Virality refers to the degree to which a piece of Internet content has been or might be shared in a short amount of time. Viral marketing refers to a marketing approach that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message.

impression

A single instance of an online advertisement being displayed. Many websites sell advertising space by the number of impressions displayed to users. Also known as view.

micro moments

Google coined this term to describe an intent-rich moment when a person turns to a device to act on a need—to know, go, do, or buy. This identifies moments of decision making, often in just a few seconds, throughout the consumer journey (e.g., a search such as “find a restaurant near me”).

mobile technologies

Technologies that are not desktop/laptop based, such as web-enabled phones, smartphones, tablets, wearable technology (e.g., Google Glass and smart watches), and hybrid devices (e.g., phablets).

moment-based marketing (or moment marketing)

The strategy of sending appropriate ads or messages at the moment when the consumer is about to make a decision about a relevant product or service. For example, some airlines include ads for Uber in their mobile boarding passes.

offline conversions

A metric that tracks the transactions that occur in a physical business or retail location, and in other offline channels (e.g., phone orders), after a customer sees or engages with offline or online campaigns.

owned media

Media or channels created and controlled by the brand, such as its websites, blogs, and mobile apps, or its social presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.

paid media

The media for which a company pays an online search engine or publisher to attract potential customers.

perceptual map

A map that shows consumers’ perception of various brands. Brands that are close to each other in this map are pereceived by consumers as substitutes for one another, and therefore these brands compete more intensly with each other.

review website

A website on which reviews and ratings can be posted about people, businesses, products, or services by either website users or writers employed by the website.

search ad

A type of contextual advertising through which website owners pay an advertising fee, usually based on click-through rate or ad views, to have their ad shown on search result pages.

search engine optimization (SEO)

The process of using features that make a company website rank higher in the organic link on a search engine without paying any money.

search engines

Programs that search the web for documents containing specified keywords and return a list of findings. A search engine is really a general class of programs; however, the term is often used to describe specific systems such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo!

test-control methodology

A controlled experiment in which subjects are randomized into either test or control groups.

word-of-mouth marketing

A marketing method that relies on consumers spreading information about a product or service.