Italo Gani’s Guide to Inbound Marketing 101

I met up with Indonesian serial entrepreneur Italo Gani a couple of days ago, and he shared some information about his new company, Inbound ID. He guided us through its services, discussed the company’s progress so far, and talked about the exciting plans that lie ahead.

Inbound ID was founded in 2009, but it was still a small project then. It became an entity in January this year after Italo wanted to learn and to go out of his comfort zone in Adstars. In his own words “When you’re comfortable, you’re set to become stupid.”

Ridho Putradi S’Gara and Italo founded the company, and it is now a 30-person team based both in Jakarta and Bandung.

Inbound ID says it offers inbound marketing expertise. But what is that exactly? In the words of Italo, inbound marketing is how you grow a website organically. Italo describes the inbound marketing process in three steps: getting found, landing-page optimization, and lead nurturing (see picture below); all of which is aimed at one thing and one thing only: increasing sales.

1st step: Make Content Discoverable

The first step, getting found by potential consumers, relies heavily on new content. Italo suggested that websites have to become search friendly; or to put it plainly, get into the top 10 Google search results to get found. He believes that 100 percent advertising is not a sustainable way to achieve that, because it relies on money, while content generating is much cheaper and more organic. For example, if you are selling soy sauce, then generating content on how to use it in various recipes like fried rice is encouraged. In addition, through this kind of helpful content, customers can also develop a better connection to the brands, believing that the brands understand their needs and concerns.

The first step turns out to be very much crucial because recent research has shown that thanks to the internet there’s now another process in the selling mental model called the “Zero Moment of Truth.” It‘s a process where customers are searching and comparing products on the internet even before making their way to the stores. So not only is it important for products to be found offline, but now also online. You can watch about the research at the end of this post.

2nd step: Landing Page Optimization

The second step, landing page optimization, is designed to get more leads. Italo said that he uses several testing programs to do this. With this step, he can track user patterns, such as where users point and click their mouse, whether the user interface corresponds well with users’ browsing activity. He added that though the software is available on the market, Italo’s years of internet marketing expertise is important in the analytical process afterwards.

3rd step: Lead Nurturing

The third step, lead nurturing, Italo explains through an example. After we have leads, then we group them according to each category. For example when selling soy sauce, some customers like Javanese food, some like Japanese food. In this process we can send them follow up emails according to each category. Then we can monitor if they open the email, or whether they share it or not. We have software to measure everything.