Inbound marketing is no cakewalk. Marketers who are embracing inbound have a variety of different channels and tactics to master, including content creation, SEO, social media, lead generation, lead management, and analytics. It's no wonder that marketers new to inbound end up feeling overwhelmed and wondering what to tackle first.
Luckily, our friends over at inbound marketing agency IMPACT Branding & Design recently pulled together an infographic that helps inbound marketers understand the entire inbound process from start to finish -- from getting found online, to converting visitors into leads and customers, and then measuring the entire funnel. Well done, IMPACT, you captured the inbound process beautifully!
Pin It
Pin It
How well is your business following the inbound marketing process?
Inbound Marketing Blog Feed
chris windley 9:10 AM on February 20, 2012
oooh ! Makes a lovely poster for the wall - Thank you ;-)
Dan Daniel 10:26 AM on February 20, 2012
Very great infographic. Congratulations from Romania ! :)
Best, Dan Daniel
Barbara Elliott 11:30 AM on February 20, 2012
Awesome infographic! Organized and Condensed! Love it! Thank you :) I am trying to wrap my brain around Inbound Marketing and this was soooooo helpful.
David J Dunworth 11:58 AM on February 20, 2012
I just love this! You guys (and Gals)rock!
Dan Daniel 11:59 AM on February 20, 2012
Very best regards ! Go for it ! Dan Daniel
Liana Antanovich 1:47 PM on February 20, 2012
Good conceptualization, guys, but perhaps you want to call it "Online marketing", not "Inbound marketing". From Wikipedia - Inbound marketing is market research. In contrast to the above, pieces of information about customer needs and interests, not customers themselves, flow into the company. Knowledge of customer needs drives future company offerings, and product or service capability. This sense is related to the term product management and product ownership in Scrum. Peter Drucker believed this to be the quintessence of marketing. Companies who begin "Inbound marketing" from the web-site, never achieve a sustainable competitive advantage and do not max on profits.
Dan Mihaliak 2:37 PM on February 20, 2012
Great information and reference. This could be considered a great step by step guide to drawing, keeping, and sales through your websites. I will return for the latest info frequently.
Alex Fusman 10:54 PM on February 20, 2012
Awesome graphic for hanging up in the office =]
Evert 4:48 AM on February 21, 2012
The first step should be to write a good marketing report/analysis that outlines the strategy.
Then you build a website based on that strategy. The base is your marketing plan, the site is as much a tool as all the other things mentioned.
Please; clients have enough wrong ideas about websites as it is, do not add to that!
Scott Lewis 7:54 AM on February 21, 2012
Great overall description of the process. You might want to change "CMS" to "CRM" in Step 3, part 2 "...and be entered as a lead in your CMS system". CMSes and CRMs are important to inbound marketing but the leads go in the CRM system.
Chris Thompson, MBA 9:52 AM on February 21, 2012
@Liana. I respectively disagree with your comment for two reasons. Wiki is not a credible resource and inbound marketing is a new marketing concept and wonder when Drucker made this comment? I like the concept of inbound marketing and plan to incorporate it soon.
Christine 10:07 AM on February 21, 2012
Fantastic article - I agree that Inbound Marketing is overwhelming and seems daunting at times, but I think that the key is to gather information and then try different approaches and mediums to see what will work best with your product/company.
It's a new niche that we are carving out and while it's a challenge at times to sort it all out, it's so much fun being on the cutting edge and trying new things!
Allison 8:35 PM on February 21, 2012
Really informative and nicely designed infographic by a great agency- nice job, IMPACT
Bob Ruffolo from IMPACT 8:59 PM on February 21, 2012
All - Thank you so much for the comments! Scott, you are correct, that is a typo. I will make that change ASAP. Evert, you also make a fantastic point - I'm going to add that in, and if Hubspot doesn't mind, I would like to make this a 6 step process! If anyone else has any feedback, please let me know!
Allison 3:37 PM on February 22, 2012
I'll pay for a poster of this infographic, if anyone can make one.
Bob Ruffolo from IMPACT 4:07 PM on February 22, 2012
Hi Allison - Call my office at (203) 265-4377. We're going to make the aforementioned modifications and will be happy to get you a poster.
John Gray, law firm marketing 10:38 PM on February 22, 2012
Most useful infographic I've seen. Finally something I can refer my clients to explain that inbound marketing isn't the same as having a pretty website!
Bob Ruffolo from IMPACT 10:46 AM on February 23, 2012
All, please see the updated infographic above with the changes as suggested by you. Thank you again for all the shares! We're working on a couple of more infographics we hope you find as useful and shareable!
Richi Jennings 7:55 AM on February 24, 2012
@ChrisThompson, you're wrong on both counts. @LianaAntanovich is correct.
1. Time and again, Wikipedia has proved itself to be more reliable than other cyclopedia. Like all such publications, it is not a source, but it curates sources. One should use it as a route to your sources, not as a source itself. BTW, misusing the word "wiki" is a reverse-shibboleth.
2. The phrase "inbound marketing" has meant product management, or product ownership for at least 25 years. I note your MBA is very recent.