The 6 Inbound Marketing Terms Every Small Business Owner Should Know

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Inbound marketing is one strategy for spreading the word about your business by drawing customers to you. We recently explained the basics of Inbound Marketing. Now, let’s look at two more aspects of Inbound Marketing: the types of content you can use and some terms to know.

Types of Inbound Marketing Content

Inbound Marketing requires content in a variety of forms — something for your potential customers to read, watch, or hear that will pique their interest. What type of content you choose depends on a variety of factors, but it’s OK to think beyond blog posts.

Here is a useful list of some types of content you can create. As you can see, content takes many forms. Some of these forms are more sales-focused, while others are true content marketing, meant to inform and educate without persuasion. Ideally, your business will create a mixture of the two.

Articles/Blog Posts/White Papers
Books/eBooks
Brochures
Case Studies
Demonstrations/Presentations
Email
Images/Infographics/Photos
Information Guides/Manuals
Web Sites/Landing Pages
Online Courses
Podcasts
Videocasts
Press Releases
Data Sheets/One Sheets
Surveys
Radio
TV
Videos/Live Streaming
Webinars
Workbook

Inbound Marketing Dictionary

Like most things, Inbound Marketing comes with its own terminology. If you’re hearing terms you’re not sure about, here are six phrases to know.

Content Marketing – Sharing useful content to draw customers to your product or service.
Conversion – A specific event you track, such as when a customer fills out the “Contact” form on your website.
Conversion Rate – A metric for your website or landing page that shows how many visitors are taking the desired action.
Lead Nurturing – This is the process of building relationships with potential customers in advance, with the idea that they will reach out to you when they are ready to purchase your product or service.
Sales Ready Lead – These leads are pre-qualified, meaning based on sales and marketing actions, they are interested and considering your company.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – Another term for Pay-Per-Click or PPC, in which you pay for online advertising.

If you have questions about inbound marketing and how it might work for your business, contact us for a free consultation.