Inbound marketing agencies help businesses position themselves as experts with helpful content that makes it easy for customers to find them.
By tailoring content to buyer needs, companies using inbound strategies can harness the power of the know-like-trust factor to generate sales over time.
Most inbound strategies fall under three main categories: attract, engage, and delight.
So, what strategies do inbound marketing agencies perform? It depends largely on the company and the audience and industries they serve. While not every agency offers the same services, here’s an outline of some top strategies used by today’s agencies.
PPC Ads
While PPC ads may sound like an outbound strategy because they are hyper-targeted and typically based on specific search patterns or behaviors, they are an inbound strategy.
Many inbound marketing agencies recommend using them to drive traffic to free or low-cost resources and generate leads.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a cornerstone of inbound marketing strategies. It refers to creating a wide variety of content — video, audio, blog, and social media — that isn’t super promotional but delivers valuable information to attract potential customers and create interest in your products or services.
Some inbound marketing agencies also put other types of content — like case studies, use cases, and one-pagers — under the content marketing umbrella.
Web Design and Development
HubSpot’s CMS Hub makes it easy to build websites. However, top inbound marketing agencies also have design and development skills to push your new site over the top. Since your site is an important part of your inbound funnel, optimizing it for conversion is essential.
Case Studies and Use Cases
These types of content show results and illustrate the potential outcome or transformation your prospects may experience working with you. Where case studies refer to specific client projects, use cases speak to possible client outcomes.
Both goals are to build trust with potential customers so they speak up, saying, “I want that, too!”
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing isn’t just about pushing content out to customers. It’s also about engaging with them. The best digital marketing and inbound agencies help with strategies for generating leads through social media content, boosting conversions, and creating an excellent customer experience.
Persona Development
Because so many inbound marketing strategies rely on delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time, audience research and persona development are critical.
By getting granular about who your audience is, their problems, and how they view your solution, you can get insights into the type of content and messaging that will help them make buying decisions.
Podcast and Video Production
While audio and video content also fall under content marketing, many inbound marketing agencies consider them a separate service because they require different types of production than written content.
Due to their very nature, podcasts and videos help prospects build the know, like, and trust factor faster than written content alone, even if you’re repurposing your content.
Email Marketing
Your email list is a potential goldmine for your business. While you don’t have 100% control over who opens or clicks, people have asked to be on your list, which means they want to hear from you.Your email list is a potential goldmine for your business. While you don’t have 100% control over who opens or clicks, people have asked to be on your list, which means they want to hear from you.
By using this opportunity to deliver helpful, relevant content to them, email marketing makes it easier to convert lookers into buyers.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation is all about automating repetitive tasks and using audience segmentation to deliver highly personalized content to your audience.
Many inbound marketing agencies, including HubSpot partners, specialize in helping businesses with marketing automation, including email marketing, email drip sequences, lead scoring, SMS messaging, and CRM updates. With dozens of tools available, it’s all about finding the right software for your needs.
Online Events
Virtual events are one of the most effective strategies for inbound marketing. Why? They give you a way to deliver value to clients or prospects while growing your email list at the same time.
Inbound marketing agencies can help you develop an event and nurture strategy to convert prospects and strengthen relationships with your growing customer base.
Influencer Marketing
People have always bought things that other people like. It’s a no brainer when you think about it. We’re more likely to buy something a friend recommends than a random product. It’s why Oprah’s favorite things always sell out.
And influencer marketing keeps growing as Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms turn it into bigger business every year. Not every agency focuses on influencer marketing. However, some of today’s most successful agencies help their clients connect with influencers who can help their products go viral.
Chatbots
Wondering about chatbots? Anytime you go to a site that has automated messaging, you’re interacting with a chatbot. They’re smart programs that streamline customer communications and help you build relationships. So if you’ve tried to return a product on Amazon, contacted Zoom’s customer service, or used the little chat window to ask questions about a business, you’ve interacted with a chatbot.
Not all chatbots are equal, however. And that’s why it’s such a valuable strategy for inbound marketing agencies to offer and support. Done right, chatbots can help you create superfans.
Done wrong, it’s the pre-AI equivalent of jamming 0 on your phone’s keypad or shouting “representative” over and over at the robotic automated phone response.
16 Top Inbound Marketing Agencies
- Ready North
- 11outof11
- SmartBug Media
- Media Junction
- Impulse Creative
- Lean Labs
- 9Clouds
- Stream Creative
- Hive Strategy
- New Breed
- Growgetter
- Pixated
- Origin 63
- Highbrid Media
- Gravity Global
- Aptitude 8
Now that you know what inbound marketing looks like, you’re probably wondering about some inbound marketing agencies whose work we admire. Here are 17 that are doing great things!
1. Ready North
Initially founded in 2005 as PR 20/20, this inbound marketing agency was HubSpot’s first agency partner and the first to introduce Point Pricing. Founder Paul Roetzer, whose article we referenced above, recently launched a sister company, the Marketing AI Institute, with a mission of helping marketers use AI to gain a competitive advantage in their fields.
What we admire: Besides being a long-time HubSpot Partner, they’ve always pushed the envelope on what is possible. And with the new Marketing AI Institute, Roetzer and his team are clearly thought leaders in marketing.
2. 11outof11
11outof11 is an award-winning inbound agency out of Philadelphia. With Angela Pointon at the helm, they strive for an 11 out of 11 every time—also the agency’s name. It’s not just that they’re really good at marketing…
“What sets us apart is our insane project management capabilities. It’s one of those things clients don’t know to ask about, but if they’ve ever worked with an agency who is not focused on project management, they know it! Our clients appreciate our ability to plan ahead,” says Angela Pointon, president of 11outof11.
What we admire: Their name is brilliant, as is their approach to client management.