As you know, inbound marketing is about stopping interfering with the customer’s attention and instead focusing on conveying value in order to build long-term and valued relationships. Many therefore believe that advertising is prohibited because it is perceived as playing with old-school marketing. That is not entirely true.

We at our mother company NoordMarketing, which is a media agency, advertise continuously every month, both via AdWords campaigns and on social media, and advocate the same for the majority of our customers. However, people are tired of advertising and it’s hard to cut through the noise today – no talk about it. The warning light usually lights up immediately when it appears that a message has been bought, but the big difference between outbound advertising and inbound marketing is about what you choose to advertise.

With outbound marketing, you cast a wide net and hope that someone will be interested in what you have to offer. With inbound marketing, you attract potential customers who are already interested in what you have to say. In other words, with inbound marketing, you’re not interrupting potential customers; you’re providing them with the information they’re already seeking out. And that’s the key to successful inbound marketing: creating content that potential customers will find valuable enough to seek out on their own.

Read more about inbound marketing in our article This Is How Conversational Marketing Works With Inbound Marketing

In short, there are two important points to keep in mind to succeed with your inbound advertising:

Know your buyer personas well and segment the target group accordingly

The success of inbound marketing hinges on many factors, but knowing your buyer personas inside and out is perhaps the most important. By understanding who your potential customers are, what they want, and what challenges they face, you can create a target group for your advertising that is much more likely to convert. The various advertising tools available (such as LinkedIn, TikTok, and Facebook) give you the ability to control your audience at a very granular level, allowing you to specify things like professional title, age, company size, geographic location, and interests. In other words, you don’t have to shoot in the dark. The better you know your buyer personas, the better your advertising will be!

Advertise with valuable and educational material

As the CEO of our company, Judy Shalom knows a thing or two about advertising. She believes that the key to successful marketing is to focus on educating potential buyers, rather than trying to sell them something. We will quote what she said during one of our marketing meetings we recently had, “By providing informative and valuable content, businesses can make a potential buyer aware of a problem that they may not have even known existed. Once a buyer is aware of a problem, they are more likely to be interested in finding a solution. So, by focusing on education instead of selling, businesses can build trust with potential buyers and create lasting relationships”. In today’s fast-paced world, it can be tempting to try to sell potential buyers the latest and greatest product or service. However, as Judy Shalom told, the key to successful marketing is to focus on education instead of selling and by providing informative and valuable content, businesses can make potential buyers aware of problems they may not have even known existed.

In conclusion, we would like to highlight the importance of being clear in the ad that there is a downloadable document waiting (if that is the case). In this way, the probability of achieving a high conversion rate increases and the visitor does not have to feel cheated on the confectionery. Straight lines directly instead make the visitor prepared for what awaits, and you as an advertiser minimize the risk of irrelevant clicks with people’s foot in the door. It will be both appreciated and cost-effective – a win-win for both parties! Having a clear call-to-action in an ad is essential for a high conversion rate, and by being upfront about what visitors can expect, businesses can avoid any potential negative feelings or reactions. Ultimately, this benefits both the customer and the company, making it a worthwhile strategy to employ.