Inbound Marketing Roadmap: A Comprehensive Overview

If you're a professional marketer, content creator, or copywriter, chances are you're heavily involved in inbound digital marketing. However, much of what you learned about marketing in school or a few years ago may now be obsolete. That's why we rely on platforms like YouTube, blogs, and constant research to keep up with the rapid changes in this tech-reliant industry.

Today, I want to discuss the inbound marketing roadmap.

Here's the video version of this content:

Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing

In marketing, there are two major branches: inbound and outbound. Inbound marketing focuses on magnetic strategies, often centered around content creation and owned digital properties that are within a business's control. While I recommend asynchronous efforts between inbound and outbound marketing, inbound can be the easier starting point, although it's sometimes misunderstood.

Hire a Writer's Inbound Marketing Roadmap

To help you understand the bigger picture of an inbound marketing roadmap, I've created an asset that I use repeatedly with various clients.

This asset covers all the categories involved in inbound marketing, although not every organization will implement every category. For a startup, priorities may be different initially, but as organizations mature, it's essential to address all these categories. Any missing category would warrant a conversation about its exclusion, as they all play crucial roles in magnetizing digital properties and generating leads.

Let's dive into the categories.

Texting

First, SMS texting campaigns have become incredibly important, even in B2B, so I would expect a plan for at least four types of SMS texts.

Email marketing

Email marketing is another vital component, including lead nurturing, transactional emails, workflows, and segmentation.

Social media

Social media is a significant channel for attracting and engaging audiences, and it requires a solid strategy, including posts, hashtags, engagement protocols, and ads that often overlap with outbound marketing.

Website

A company's website serves as the Mecca or home base of inbound marketing. It's crucial to assess click funnels, lead generation, intake, nurture, SEO, user engagement, calls to action (CTAs), and other elements like pages, lead magnets, pop-ups, forms, and chatbots.

Blog

The blog, which often resides within the website, has various uses such as resource centers, press releases, company news, and HR purposes. Tracking blog performance is vital as it captures cold lead searches and supports SEO efforts.

Events

Although straddling both inbound and outbound marketing, events are assets that are planned outside the event itself. They include marketing, messaging, and follow-up activities.

Press

Press, with its impact on backlinking strategies, involves asset creation, placement research, coordination with journalists, and strategies for hosting press-related content on your digital properties.

Networking

Networking and sales may not traditionally fall under the marketer's domain, but marketing, business development, and sales must coordinate efforts in certain organizations. This collaboration is essential for qualifying marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) and turning them into sales-qualified leads (SQLs).

Affiliates

Lastly, affiliate programs, network expansion, influencer hiring, and similar tactics play a role in inbound marketing by creating content that reaches out, even if it's considered outbound in nature.

Inbound Marketing Strategy

By understanding the comprehensive view of inbound marketing, you become equipped to be a strategist and comprehend your role in the bigger picture of a company's marketing goals. Feel free to adapt this roadmap according to your specific needs and preferences, as it serves as a starting point for your inbound marketing journey.

I hope this overview has been helpful in providing you with a solid understanding of the inbound marketing roadmap. Remember, continuous learning and staying up to date with industry trends are vital to becoming a successful marketer.