When it comes time to decide between inbound and outbound marketing, most businesses will find that the choice is clear: with over 400 million people using search engines like Google, and social media sites like Pinterest increasing their audience 145% over the last year, it simply makes sense to let consumers come to you instead of working to grab their attention. However, advertising through social media, professional website development and content marketing strategies aren’t as easy as they might seem. Fortunately, with the right inbound marketing tools and tricks, it is possible to create an inbound marketing strategy that will help your company thrive. Read on to learn a few of these simple tips and tricks!

Know Who You Are and Where You Want to Go
The first step of any inbound marketing strategy is to lay out a plan; after all, if you don’t know what your goal is and how you might be able to reach it, even the best inbound marketing tools in the world won’t be able to help you succeed. Begin by thinking about your industry, how your business fits into this field, the type of customer you are likely to see and how you can help yourself appeal to this customer. By answering these questions, you should be able to generate some ideas for your inbound marketing.

Use Search Engine Optimization
In recent years, there has been a lot of speculation about whether search engine optimization, or SEO, is a pointless or dying endeavor. However, with Google’s recent algorithm changes believed to have impacted as many as 40% of websites’ rankings on the popular search engine, the truth is that SEO is far from dead and you will need it to succeed. Typically, this will mean hiring a local SEO agency to help you identify the right keywords to use, add them to your website, optimize your website for mobile usage and more.

Focus on Content
There are many ways to use content marketing, whether you’re sharing pictures and stories on your social media accounts or writing a blog on your website. Regardless, any content you publish should be timely, relevant to your industry, interesting to your users, and high-quality. This could mean writing a blog post answering common questions you have been asked by customers or responding to a newsworthy story that is somehow connected to your industry; your options are really unlimited. However, your content should always be consistent with the image you are trying to create, and you should strive to post regularly.

What inbound marketing tools and tricks do you use to help promote your business? Tell us about them in the comments below!