Inbound marketing is all about providing personalized, relevant content to your target audience.
Instead of pushing out interruptive messages that can easily be ignored, you should be providing educational and entertaining content that they are already searching for online. The power behind an effective inbound marketing program is that prospects and customers alike can opt to give you their contact information in exchange for the most premium content you provide.
This is how casual website / social media platform visitors become leads and the more options you provide for a visitor to become a lead — keeping in mind that every person is at a different position in the marketing funnel — the more opportunities you have to convert them to customers and eventually raving, loyal fans.
The concept is relatively simple, but the actual process can be a little overwhelming to new inbound marketers.
An infographic (below) from The Center for Sales Strategy outlines the process they follow with their clients. It covers what each step entails with outlines a seven-step inbound marketing lead generation strategy that goes all the way from planning to conversion.