More and more businesses are using inbound marketing to match their customers buying processes and generate increased revenue.  Inbound marketing is sometimes referred to as content marketing.  It’s based on educating and engaging prospects by providing them with content that helps them through their buying decisions.  Content offers like eBooks, webinars, blogs, videos and whitepapers are used to educated buyers and draw them into your inbound marketing process. 

Inbound marketing is a proven method for generating return on marketing investment.  Cutting-edge businesses are moving to the next generation of inbound marketing, context marketing.  Context marketing uses data collected on its prospects and customers to present a customized marketing message to potential buyers. 

What is Context Marketing?

One of the best practitioners of context marketing is Amazon.com.  Let me share an example with you.  I own an Amazon Kindle Fire and love it.  Since buying my Kindle, I have significantly increased the number of books I read.  When I logged onto Amazon this morning, here’s what I saw:

As you can probably guess, I’ve bought a few books on rock and roll musicians and business topics in the past few months.  Amazon has used data from my purchase history to present a customized marketing message to me that reflects my interests.  This is context marketing.  You’ll note that there’s a click-through underneath each book that says, “Why recommended?”  If I click through this, Amazon will tell me which of my past purchases caused them to recommend each book to me.  Amazon takes it one step further by letting me improve my recommendations by rating the recommendation.  That’s one of the reasons Amazon is so successful:  they provide a personalized experience for each customer.

Context Marketing for Small Business

Marketing software provider HubSpot’s latest software release, HubSpot3, provides an affordable context marketing platform for small businesses.  The foundation of an effective context marketing software platform is a robust contacts database.  A good contacts database captures important information that allows you to segment lists based on data elements like industry, lead source, location and lead status.  In HubSpot3, you can provide customized marketing messages to your various list segments.  The picture below shows three different images to be used in a marketing call-to-action based on industry.  There is a default image, an image for contacts in manufacturing, and an image for healthcare contacts.  Based on my previous interactions on the website, this company would know that my company is in the healthcare field.  When I come back to the website, I would see the picture of the doctor because my contact information has been segmented by industry.

This is just one example of how context marketing can be used in an inbound marketing program.  Customized messages can also be provided to web visitors based on their lead status.  For example, content offers can be matched with the web visitor’s position in their decision-making process.  For example, if I am new to the website and haven’t had any interaction with this company, I would be shown a call-to-action for a top of the funnel offer such as an educational eBook or a video.  If I am someone who has downloaded multiple content offers, the website would recognize my IP address and show me a bottom of the funnel offer like a free demonstration or consultation.

How Can You Use Context Marketing In Your Business?

Companies that use context marketing like Amazon and HubSpot recognize that the buyer has control of the sales process.  Rather than blast the same marketing message to everyone, they customize each individual experience to provide the right content to the right customer at the right time.

The most exciting part about context marketing is that affordable options are available for entrepreneurs and small to mid-sized businesses.  With context marketing, small to mid-sized businesses can compete effectively with enterprise competition by optimizing the customer experience with their brand.  If you’re interested in seeing a demonstration of HubSpot3 and learning how it might work for you, please click on the button below.