INBOUND MARKETING, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

My passion for graphic design began to grow during my time as a promotions director for my campus’s student-run broadcast television station, TealTV. I entered into the role with a blank slate to work with; there was no website, no Facebook page or Twitter (with known login information) and absolutely no strategy in place to set up any of these platforms. I was excited! It was a chance to put my creativity to good use.

It turned out to be a roller coaster ride, of course, but I learned the ropes fairly quickly. I did my research and I began to discover tactics that I could use to draw people to my website. As a graphic design squire at Hüify, I now know these tactics were a part of something revolutionary to the marketing world called inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing can help a business/freelancer/frightened promotions director to understand how to set up SMART goals, create effective landing pages, develop engaging content, develop buyer personas and so much more. There is a lot about inbound marketing that I didn’t know then, but I now know. What I did know helped me immensely and what I didn’t know probably hurt me (or the organization rather).

So, let’s go over how different aspects of inbound marketing can be used to attract and engage your buyer persona and turn those personas into leads and even customers (or viewers of your show).

• Success = a SMART goal. Do you know what you’re actually aiming for with all of your efforts? No? That’s dumb, get SMART! SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-able (ok, that last one is not a word, bear with me). It is important to specify a goal that you can measure and attain before planning any plan of action. Then ensure that it’s realistic (to all you silly daydreamers out there). You also want have a time-frame to work with so that you can go back and adjust your goal. You can visit Hüify’s blog to gain a better understanding of the stops required.

• Create Personas. As a promotions director I thought I was simply targeting the student body. This mindset harmed my organization because I failed to brainstorm ways to target specific groups of students. Developing personas can allow you to segment a large group of people so that you can discover effective ways of targeting them. For example, if our show covered a story about a party in the campus library, then I could have targeted this information towards the group of students that planned campus events by creating content that explains how a party in a library can boost student moral. Personas help you to brainstorm and plan!

• Develop Engaging Content. Once your SMART goal is devised and you understand your buyer personas, you can compose engaging content on your website and social media pages. Engaging content that helps your personas solve a problem, educates or entertains them will cause them to keep coming back (even if they don’t buy or subscribe at first). It will lead them towards taking the action you want them to take. It may even cause them to share your content or talk to their friends about you.

If you stay on the path of inbound marketing you will soon find that more and more people will become interested in what you have to offer. Why? Because they will relate to the values you exhibit through your content and they will view you as more than a brand because that’s what inbound marketing does, it humanizes your brand. For a great example of how one humanizes their brand, visit Hüify.

Best of luck to everyone!