Paid marketing has long been the preferred method for many companies as it involves less effort. A client pays for PPC, display, sponsorships, affiliate marketing and promotions and expects that the leads will come through. Usually, they do but the Internet and the world in which we live are evolving at a great speed.
Paid marketing is just not enough to get all that a company would want in order to increase conversions. Inbound marketing, which was once not taken seriously by a lot of paid marketers is slowly gaining recognition even among some of the staunchest paid marketers.
Inbound marketing techniques such as SEO, content, social media, email marketing and webinars, forums, media mentions & word of mouth advertising have all begun to gain more importance. The reason for this change is the evolution of social media and the way people have begun to use the Internet. In this article, let us take a look at how paid marketers can leverage inbound marketing.
1. Borrow persona profiles
Content writers often understand their target audience the best. They instinctively know what their readers want, how they need to approach them and how well they can categorize & label them. This bit of information is very useful to marketers, who often depend on less intuitive methods to categorize people.
Buyer personas can be borrowed by paid marketers from inbound marketers and use the data for marketing campaigns. With so many social media tools out there and a wealth of data that is available on social media, it is even easier to come up with buyer personas for inbound marketers. By borrowing these buyer personas from inbound marketers, paid marketers can use the data to look for high-value leads.
2. Leverage design
Inbound marketing involves SEO, web design and landing pages. All these involve a great deal of design and it is difficult to not avoid a situation where inbound marketers do not have to spend on design. Paid marketers, on the other hand, feel the need to use design as well but the budget often crosses the limit. Paid marketers can borrow design from inbound marketers and specifically, landing pages can be leveraged again.
Design is a very important aspect of paid marketing and good design is known to drive a lot of traffic. When paid marketers have already diverted funds towards other tasks, it becomes difficult to pull money for getting new design created.
3. Borrow information related to keywords
SEO and social media professionals depend on keywords to hunt for more leads. In fact, keyword search still remains one of the most important methods to hunt for leads. Paid marketers can borrow keywords, in order to create PPC campaigns and other paid forms of advertising, which too need to be based on keywords.
When inbound marketers have already done the homework, paid marketers can use the data and information for their benefit. A good set of keywords can help marketers to come up with great paid marketing campaigns, which will ultimately help in getting leads from some of the most unlikely places.
4. Reuse content again
Paid marketers need to also access content written by content marketers. This can be a great way to reduce the burden of creating new content from scratch. Existing content can be reused or rewritten, in order to ensure uniformity of thought across paid and inbound marketing teams.
A lot of money can be saved when content is re-purposed for paid marketing. Content is not easy to write and what has been written needs to be used again, even if it means rewriting it. Once inbound marketing teams complete their research and finish writing, it can be used by paid marketers as well.
Looking forward
Google and other search engines have begun to evaluate websites based on their social signals, which certainly is an inbound marketing technique. Paid marketers, thus, have begun to use inbound marketing techniques, in order to brace for the changes that have already occurred.
What is more, paid marketers can actually leverage inbound marketing for their own benefits. All these factors suggest that paid marketers need not hesitate to borrow and feel inspired by inbound marketing.
