The case for inbound design

Growing a business today is challenging.

Businesses of all sizes are finding it harder to communicate with prospects and customers through traditional online channels. It’s more expensive to acquire users through paid ads, it’s harder to drive traffic through SEO, Google is taking up more real estate on search engine pages, and social media channels are bombarding users with their preferred, and often paid, content.

But even more than that, what’s changed is the customer. In this new environment, buyers have more power than ever—before they even reach out to you, they can research your business and competitors and learn what others are saying about you. And if they do contact you, they’re armed with detailed information about your products, pricing, competitors, and customer service. They’re in a position to drive the customer journey and, with the number of competitive substitutes available, they won’t hesitate to go elsewhere if your product doesn’t meet their expectations.

To survive and succeed in this environment, you need to rethink your business strategy. The companies that will ultimately succeed will be the ones that create a better experience for prospects and customers. Great experiences don’t happen on their own, however; they must be designed. They must integrate the marketing, sales, and product functions through a cohesive strategy. And that’s where inbound design comes in.

Inbound design is the process for driving business growth by creating valuable experiences that deliver specific information to specific people at specific times for specific purposes. It is the process through which businesses can create valuable experiences that attract, convert, close, retain, and refer more prospects and customers.

There are a few fundamental ideas at the heart of every inbound design strategy. Let’s move on to discuss the principles of inbound design.