How to Use Inbound Marketing to Increase Amazon Sales

You probably have heard of the terms inbound and outbound marketing used before. If you don’t have a clear picture of the difference between the two, it’s pretty simple.

Take customer service as an example. There are two kinds of leads in customer service: inbound and outbound. Outbound leads are sought out by the customer service representatives and directed to clients, either by calling on the phone or sending emails about products. On the other hand, inbound leads are people who call or contact customer service to inquire about the products they offer.

Apply the same concept in marketing. Outbound advertisements and marketing campaigns send information out to people, to urge them to check out the products or services offered. On the other hand, inbound marketing targets those who are already checking out what the company or business has to offer.

When the internet first came into the scene, traditional marketers were taking advantage of the ease with which they could sell their products. Outbound marketing proliferated websites in the form of embedded videos or banners that immediately caught your attention.

However, with widespread internet literacy, the tides turned on outbound marketers once more. Now, people generally find loud website ads and videos annoying and unnecessary. As a result, businesses must adapt once again in order to profit from online marketing.

This is where inbound marketing steps in. To cater to a more discerning audience on the internet, businesses have to prioritize the customer journey. This means almost no outbound marketing or unrelated ads on sites people visit.

Pros and cons of inbound marketing strategies to increase Amazon sales

To an extent, inbound marketing revolutionized how ads were communicated on digital platforms. It forced companies to try and sell their products while providing information customers can actually benefit from. In a way, it elevated the quality of advertising to another level.

In this time of widespread misinformation on the web, companies have a chance to prove how essential their products are with inbound marketing campaigns. These advertisements usually have more substance and research backing them, making them extremely useful to the public.

Because it’s targeted quite specifically, inbound marketing is focused on longevity over diversity. Unlike traditional marketing campaigns that try to reach the widest audience possible, inbound marketing aims to last longer and offer information that people will find helpful for a very long time.

The subtle science of inbound marketing requires a conversation with potential customers before doing a hard pitch. Psychologically, this seems to be more effective than just shocking people with information about your brand.

The specific nature of inbound marketing, however, can be time-consuming. It generally takes longer to create ad campaigns for inbound compared to outbound marketing. The amount of research to be done on these ads is considerable.

Another downside to inbound marketing is the need for more human resources to produce campaign materials. There are more things to be done, and expert opinions matter. The staffing brings up costs which you’ll have to factor into your expenses.

Skills needed in inbound marketing

With that being said, here are a few positions you’ll need skilled workers for:

Graphic and web designers

Art doesn’t come cheap, and businesses are in constant need of good art to market their products. Plagiarism and copyright checkers also make it impossible to use graphic designs without permission. The best way to go is by creating your own designs for your products.

Web design is a lot more complicated than just how your site looks to customers. There are many aspects that require a professional touch. Like graphic designers, if you want to be successful on the Amazon marketplace, you’ll need to hire your own web design team.

SEO and social media management

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a tool that Amazon sellers use to take advantage of the algorithms on browsers and other search engines. To fully grasp how it works and what you can gain from it, you’ll need a guide on Amazon suspension appeal and a trusted team to handle it for you.

So much of inbound marketing relies on SEO and the subtle way of selling your products. There’s a lot at stake in handling the SEO side of Amazon selling. Aside from that, social media management is affected too.

An effective inbound marketing strategy should impact different social media platforms, not just Amazon. Widening your reach by venturing out and creating your own brand on social media can lead you to success.

Writers

Of course, an inbound marketing campaign won’t be complete without a creative team of writers to draft your product descriptions, blog posts, emails and other communication materials. Writing for inbound marketing on Amazon also requires specific skills. It’s different from traditional marketing because of the incorporation of SEO keywords into the articles. Copywriting and content writing are also quite different. Having a group of writers to communicate information is a must.

Final thoughts

It may be overwhelming when you think about getting into inbound marketing. However, it’s one of the proven ways to reach an audience that doesn’t fall for traditional marketing on the web. If you’re still wondering if it’s worth all the trouble to get into inbound marketing for Amazon products, it most certainly is. The payback of investing in creating materials for a more precisely targeted audience is always worth it. Customers these days are picky about what information they seek; find ways to incorporate indirect selling into your websites and you’ll have quality customer conversion rates that translate to profit.