Last updated on February 26th, 2025 at 11:58 pm
Inbound marketing is the process of generating traffic and leads by getting in front of people who are actively looking for the solutions that you offer.
As opposed to outbound (or interruptive) marketing tactics — such as advertising, direct mail, cold calling, etc. — inbound marketing is all about producing organic content and getting that content in front of your target market.
Examples of inbound marketing include SEO, organic social media content, and YouTube videos that get discovered via search.
In this article, we’ll share 8 awesome inbound marketing strategies that you should implement right away.
Let’s dive in!
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1. Build Your Customer Avatar
At the beginning of his bestselling book, Traffic Secrets, Russell Brunson tells the following story…
- “I don’t know if Alexis will like this,” said an executive at Sally Beauty Supply.
- Confused, my friend Perry Belcher asked, “What?” He set down his new scented hand sanitizer that he had brought in to pitch at the meeting.
- He picked up his new UV nail polish and handed it to the group. “Okay, well, how about this product?” he asked.
- They looked at it, opened it up, and smelled it. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that Alexis won’t like this either,” they replied.
- More confused than ever, and now a little frustrated, Perry brought out his third and final product to pitch to them.
- In a similar fashion, they looked at the product, gave it a quick once-over, and then said, “Sorry, Alexis definitely wouldn’t be interested in this one either.”
- More frustrated, Perry looked at the two execs he was talking to and finally blurted “Who is Alexis?! Is she the decision-maker? Why isn’t she in this meeting instead of you two? Is she here? Can I just talk directly to her? I know that I can convince her that your company needs to sell these products!”
- There was a moment of silence, and then both execs burst out in laughter.
- “Alexis isn’t a person. She’s our customer avatar!” one replied.
All good inbound marketing strategies start with understanding your target market.
Because if you don’t understand your target market, then you can’t find where they’re hanging out or produce content that appeals to them.
That’s why this is at the top of the list: build your customer avatar.
You can use the form below to get started…
And here’s an awesome video to walk you through the process in detail…
2. Leverage SEO
SEO stands for “search engine optimization” and it’s one of the pillars of inbound marketing.
In today’s world, people search for things online… a lot. Google processes 8.5 billion searches per day (keep in mind, that there are only 7.9 billion people on the planet).
Unless you’re serving an obscure target market that has sworn off the internet, your target market is almost certainly using Google to find things online.
And you can get in front of those people by…
- Optimizing your homepage to rank
- Creating blog content to rank
When we say “rank”, we’re talking about getting your content on the first page for high-value keyword phrases. Just like we’ve done here at ClickFunnels for the phrase “lead gen funnel” (and lots of other phrases)…
But how do you know what phrases to target?
Also, how do you actually target those phrases and climb your way to the first page (which is the only page, by the way, that gets significant traffic)?
For keyword research, you can use tools like…
And for optimizing your content to rank for specific keyword phrases, check out our SEO guide over here.
3. Use the Dream 100
The dream 100 is a marketing strategy that Russell Brunson explains in his books…
Here’s the gist of how this process works…
Here’s the gist.
The people you want to serve — your dream customers — are already congregating in lots of different places online.
They’re listening to the same podcasts, reading the same blogs, signing up for the same newsletters, and following the same Instagram influencers.
What if you could implant your business, your message, and your offers into those congregations?
That’d be super valuable, right?
Heck ya!
The first step is to make a list of 100 different places — hence the name, although it could be more or less than 100 — where your dream customers already congregate online.
Find…
- 10+ top websites & forums where they spend time
- 15+ active Facebook groups
- 50+ influencers they follow on social media
- 30+ podcasts they listen to
- 40+ email newsletters they read
You could also target YouTube Channels, blogs, or even magazines.
Once you’ve got a list, to infiltrate, you can either…
Work your way in — This means reaching out and building relationships with key people. It’ll include guest blogging, being a guest on other people’s podcasts, and sending free products to influencers for their review.
Buy your way in — This means you pay money to insert yourself into the conversation. That could be through advertisements, sponsorships, or agreements with influencers.
This is the foundation of your lead-gen strategy because it tells you where your target market is — and once you know where they are, you can create a plan for inserting yourself into the conversation.
As Russell Brunson explains…
“The core strategy to understand is that your dream customers have already been congregated by your Dream 100. If you focus on identifying them and marketing to them, your dream customers will start flowing into your funnels faster than by anything else you could do.”
To learn more about the Dream 100, pick up your free copy of Russell’s bestselling book, Traffic Secrets, by clicking on this link.
4. Get on Podcasts
According to SmallBizGenius, podcast listeners spend an average of 6 hours and 37 minutes listening to podcasts every week.
Crazy, right?
And those people are typically listening for information, education, or entertainment reasons — because they enjoy it.
You can get in front of relevant podcast audiences by either sponsoring them or being a guest.
Sponsorship falls more under the umbrella of an outbound marketing strategy while being a guest on the podcast falls more under the umbrella of inbound marketing.
So let’s talk about being a guest 🙂
Make a list of podcasts (using the Dream 100 process above) that your target market listens to. Then reach out to the hosts of those podcasts and ask to be on their show.
(They’ll almost always give you an opportunity to promote your lead magnet or offer near the end of the episode)
Here’s a pitch that’s worked pretty well for me when reaching out…
- Hello [Name]!
- My name is [Name] and I am [introduction].
- I’m also a [credibility].
- And I would LOVE to be a guest on your podcast (if you’ll have me).
- For topic ideas, I was thinking one of the following might really resonate with your audience.
- Idea #1: …
- Idea #2: …
- Idea #3: …
- Let me know if this would be of interest to you or if you have any questions for me. I’d love to tell you more about myself, but don’t want to overload this email.
- Oh — and I have a high-quality mic and video camera… so the quality would be good for your listeners.
- [Sign-off]
5. Guest Blog
Prefer to write rather than talk?
Make a list (again, using the Dream 100 process) of the blogs that your audience loves to read. Then reach out to those publications and ask to write a guest post.
They’ll usually allow you to include at least one or two links back to your own website.
And you’ll also get a bio where you can include a few links — so people can learn more about you and your business.
I’ve done a lot of guest posting over the last five years. In fact, I’ve been published on SUCCESS, AdWeek, Jeff Bullas, The Good Men Project, SmartBlogger, and lots of others.
Here’s the pitch I use that works like a charm…
- Hi,
- My name is [Name] and I’m [credibility].
- I was hoping to write a guest post for your site. Here are some samples of writing that I’ve done before.
- Sample 1: …
- Sample 2: …
- And here are some title ideas I had for what I’d like to write about on your blog…
- Idea #1: …
- Idea #2: …
- Idea #3: …
- Let me know what you think!
- [Sign-off]
However, keep in mind that most blogs have their own guidelines for how you’re supposed to write and how you’re supposed to submit guest posts. If you don’t follow the rules, they’re probably going to ignore your pitch.
Do a quick search for the site’s guest posting guidelines before submitting your pitch.
6. Use Influencer Marketing
“Influencers” are people who have influenced a specific audience.
In this case, we’re talking about influencers who your target market loves — the people that they follow, subscribe to, listen to, and read about.
These people represent a ton of opportunity.
By working with these influencers — either organically or paid — you can get in front of their audiences, build brand awareness, and promote your products and services.
But… how do you work with these influencers?
The first step is to make a list of the top influencers you want to work with.
Then you have a few options…
- Build Relationships — This one will take the most time but it’s also the cheapest. By slowly and intentionally building relationships with key influencers, you can get free media and publicity for your brand. Learn more about this process in Russell Brunson’s book, Traffic Secrets.
- Pay — This is the quickest and also the most expensive path to getting the publicity you want. Reach out to influencers and ask them how much it’d cost to get them to promote your products. Also expect that you’ll have to build some rapport and give them some free samples before they agree.
- Offer Commissions — This is a happy middle-ground. Send the influencers free samples of your products or services, ask them what they think, and if they like it, offer to pay them a percentage of all sales that they make. That way, you only pay after you get paid.
7. Build an Affiliate Army
How cool would it be if all of those people — “influencers” — who your target market already pays attention to started promoting your products and services?
That’d be the dream, right?
Well, that’s what building an affiliate army is all about.
Make a list of potential affiliates.
And then reach out to those people and offer them a commission for every sale they make of your product or service.
BUT…
Remember that people aren’t going to want to share stuff (even for commission) if they don’t know what it is. That could compromise their reputation with their audience and that’s not something they’ll be willing to risk.
So here are a few tactics you can use to get people to say “Yes!” to your offer…
- Go Higher — The higher the commission, the easier it’ll be to catch an influencer’s interest. Most businesses offer 20% to 40%. Jump that to 50% or even 75% if you want to blow them away.
- Recurring Commission — The gold standard for affiliates is recurring commission… so they don’t just make money on the initial sale but on every purchase, that customer makes going forward. If you really want to catch their attention, tell them that they’ll get a commission on every purchase that customer makes from you going forward… not just on the initial purchase. If you have a recurring subscription, this is an even easier pitch.
- Send Free Stuff — No one wants to tell their friends to buy something if they haven’t used it themselves. Send your target influencers free samples of your products and services to turn them into fans.
- Ignore Refunds — To sweeten the deal, even more, tell the influencers that they’ll be paid even if the customers ask for a refund. That puts the risk of your money-back guarantee on your shoulders instead of theirs and they’ll be more likely to agree because of it.
We highly recommend streamlining this process as much as possible (rather than trying to track and pay affiliates manually).
Get affiliate marketing software (like ClickFunnels) that can create affiliate links, track affiliate sales, and manage payouts — that way, you can build your affiliate army as big as you want.
8. Target Branded Keywords
When someone searches for your brand on Google or YouTube, who is controlling the conversation?
As your brand awareness grows, so too will your branded search.
At REISift, for instance, we’ve been working to grow organic traffic for a couple years now — and the term “REISift” alone now gets 1,200 searches per month in Google…
(Proof that brand awareness pays off!)
Obviously, branded search terms are SUPER easy to rank for in Google… because you own the domain and Google is able to understand that people are looking for your business specifically.
But you’ve still got to make an effort.
Common terms that surround most brands include things like…
- Is [brand] worth it
- [brand] reviews
- [brand] alternatives
- [brand] vs. [competitor]
If you’re not ranking on the first page for your branded search terms, then that means other people are controlling the conversation.
And who knows what they’re saying.
Here are some ways that you can take back control of your branded search and make sure that people are getting the best information possible.
Blog Content
You can create blog content to rank for branded keyword phrases — such as “[your brand] vs. [competitor]”.
Let’s look at an example.
The phrase “clickfunnels vs leadpages”, for instance, gets 450 searches per month on Google. Naturally, we want to be a part of that conversation. So we created this article as a way to contribute to the conversation and it’s ranking #2 for that search term.
Third-Party Reviews
Obviously, people aren’t always going to trust reviews of your business… that have been published by your business (say it with me: con-flict of in-terest).
That’s why it’s also important to encourage your happy customers to leave reviews on other sites where your company is listed.
REISift is great about doing this and, because of that, a search for “REISift reviews” in Google is a compelling sales page all on its own.
Look at all those stars!
Encourage your customers to leave reviews on other platforms and you won’t just improve your on-site brand reputation… you’ll improve it across all of the various review platforms.
Forum Presence
What forums do people in your target market hang out in?
As you might suspect, there’s a lot of opportunity in forums — which are full of blatant honesty — to either celebrate or bash your brand.
Those threads can even rank in Google and be discovered by people trying to learn about your brand — as you’ve no doubt discovered when doing research of your own on other brands and businesses.
There’s a lesson here. And it’s this: be active in relevant third-party forums and take part in the conversations surrounding your business.
It looks bad if someone stumbles upon a thread where people are bashing your business… but that coin can be flipped if you (or someone on your team) enters the conversation and provides information, feedback, context, or clarification.
The founder of Carrot, a software company for real estate investors, is great about doing this.
Here’s a thread where people are discussing Carrot…
And Trevor Mauch, the founder, responds with a kind and detailed response…
How much better would you feel about a brand if you stumbled upon a thread where people from that company actually entered the conversation?
It leaves a good feeling in your belly.
So get in the habit of entering the conversation about your brand… wherever it may be happening.
Final Thoughts on Inbound Marketing Strategies
There you have it!
We’ve given you eight inbound marketing strategies to build brand awareness, drive traffic, and make sales.
Create your customer avatar, leverage SEO, use the Dream 100 process, get on podcasts, guest blog, find influencers to work with, build an affiliate army, and target branded keywords.
These are by far some of the best strategies we’ve found for inbound marketing.
Try them out for yourself!
And click the link below if you’re ready for a challenge!