We all generally know that we need inbound marketing. Drilling down into the particulars of a strategy is the more challenging aspect of the process.

Although every company is different, there are some overarching themes that every inbound strategy should address. Let's take a look at the most important parts of an inbound marketing strategy that you should likely prioritize.

Personalization

Have you segmented your audience into customer journey milestones? Do you know where your prospects are in this journey, and have you cultivated buyer profiles to streamline and automate as much of the marketing process as possible?

The modern consumer demands a personalized experience even as companies must automate in order to scale business. Fortunately, there is a way to do both - personalizing to buyer profiles, not individuals.

Your buyer profiles are customer segments with similar demographics and behavior patterns. They usually congregate in similar online hangouts and come through similar customer journeys.

Good customer acquisition strategies mass produce an automated but personalized message to each of these groups, drilling down into individual messages once the true prospects show themselves later in the sales funnel.

As an example, inbound marketing personalization can be accomplished through effective product placement in a social influencer's Instagram video. Members of the influencer's audience likely share similar traits with each other.

After all, they all enjoy the same entertainment. Those audience members who inquire further about the product can then receive individually personalized messages from the company to close the deal.

Companies may also personalize smaller groups of these prospects through multiple funnel lines - repeat customers go to a landing page with a 20% off coupon, while first time customers are directed to a landing page with a free sample.

This takes us right into the next aspect of great inbound marketing: the landing page. Briefly, however, let's quantify just how important personalization is. MarketingProfs finds that personalizing emails gives you 41% more clickthroughs and a 29% higher open rate.

Landing Pages

Your landing pages are just that - the digital location your audience lands after your initial acquisition strategy. They are also one of the best ways to collect information from your audience - demographic info, prospect emails, buyer history - that you can use later. Landing pages provide your company the greatest opportunity to create premium sales content.

You can really flesh out your demos, free trials and downloadable content within your own space. Here, it is also finally acceptable to use a bit (a bit!) of traditional selling to reel in your prospects.

Matching your buyer profiles to their proper landing pages is an important sales funnel technique that is both science and art. Yes, you should be able to see where your audience comes from and modify your opening offers accordingly.

Study your data so that you give the 25% off coupon specifically to the people who click through from a guest post with a direct CTA. At the same time, your company must also have a human touch to this process, as there will certainly be behavioral variations within your larger profiles.

Some of your prospects may be ready to buy; others may need a little push from a personalized email series telling your company story or listing out the right product benefit.

Landing pages should be simple and to the point as well. If your prospect has made it here, interest is a given. It is now time to up the ante on value, so put your FAQ, bio, product description and super cool images on other pages.

Case Studies

It is easier to cultivate your own product ratings/testimonials than ever before. You do not even have to reach out using expensive surveys or polls. All of the answers you seek are front and center in your social media comment threads.

The most professional way to present a case for your products is the case study. Especially relevant in the B2B market, the case study is a great way to couch your sales tactics in a highly valuable document full of information - the epitome of great inbound marketing.

Social media is the new word of mouth. The authentic testimonials that you will find here are infinitely more provocative and persuasive than any claim you could ever make about your own stuff. Don't be afraid to use pictures of smiling customers standing with you at your exhibition booth (you are generating online content from offline events, right?).

In most cases, the ancillary details of your marketing strategy will fall nicely into place after these three priorities have been taken care of. Because all of these pillars are based around serving your customer with greater efficiency and convenience, they apply in the vast majority of situations.

Keep your ear to the street for updated tactics, but trust in personalization, strong landing pages and case studies to appease the savvy social media generation of today.