Why have we created this guide?
We've created this guide to give you a complete understanding of why SEO and paid ads are important for inbound. In addition, we share our recipe for success on how to succeed with this strategy.
If you need help with SEO and digital advertising, we at Solid Media are the right agency to contact.
What is inbound marketing?
Inbound marketing is a holistic marketing strategy that aims to get customers to come to you. This happens when relevant and valuable content is found by potential customers when they need it, so it's important to develop a communication strategy for the activities you will implement. The main goal of inbound marketing is to build brand loyalty and create long-term customer relationships, and it thus differs from typical traditional marketing, which is referred to as outbound marketing. Inbound is best suited for B2B where the buying process is long and complex.
Inbound is seen as an overarching digital umbrella and we have listed the points that fall under the umbrella:
- content marketing
- SEO
- SoMe engagement
- PPC ads
- Webinars
- Email nurturing campaigns
- Blogger
- Podcaster
Why is inbound marketing important in 2025?
Consumer behavior in 2025 has changed from before, and companies will have to adapt their marketing strategy accordingly. Most people no longer want intrusive advertising, but rather want to find the company themselves. Therefore, inbound marketing is a valuable strategy, which aims to attract customers with useful content, which increases trust and customer satisfaction over time.
Hubspot as a CRM system for inbound marketing
The idea was founded by technology company Hubspot in 2006, when theyintroduced their CRM system. The system facilitates the integration and management of all inbound activities, enabling companies to attract and convert customers in a tailored way. In this way, sales and marketing departments are effectively aligned in the system, and this concept is called smarketing.
Further on in the guide, we'll take you through the four steps of the inbound methodology, and here Hubspot is an essential system for mapping user needs, behavior and further generating leads to loyal customers:
The four steps of the inbound methodology
To easily show how your company can drive inbound marketing, this is illustrated through four steps. The steps are linked to the customer journey - from target group stranger to loyal ambassador:
1. Attract strangers to visitors:
The first step is to attract desirable traffic through valuable content, and this can be done through SEO and paid advertising.
2. Convert visitors to leads:
- Once content has attracted potential customers, the next step is to press various CTA buttons so that information is stored in Hubspot. Examples of typical CTA buttons to implement are webinars and guides, and here the user gains access by entering email and user information. Everything is stored in Hubspot, making the system an important success factor for inbound success.
3. Sell lead to customer:
- Furthermore, relevant information is sent to qualified leads based on data-driven marketing and demonstrated interest, which is how you engage in lead nurturing. In addition, you can set up a lead scoring system in Hubspot to effectively prioritize which desired customers your company is targeting.
4. Desire. customer to ambassador:
- The final step is to provide constant tailored value to customers and conduct relationship marketing. In this way, the company has established a loyalty program, and the result is that it works cost-effectively due to loyal and long-term customer relationships.
Our recipe for success with inbound marketing
At Solid Media, we have a lot of experience with successful SEO and paid advertising. These are, in our opinion, two essential factors for inbound success, and we'll quickly explain why:
Think of inbound marketing as an overall strategy to generate leads through quality digital content. The role of SEO and paid advertising is to boost this strategy at the start of the customer journey. This happens when you create content that targets the desired audience, when they need it.
Our recipe for success looks like this:
- 1. Prioritize and implement SEO content in all steps of the inbound methodology
- 2. Prioritize and implement paid advertising in all steps of the methodology
- 3. Use both strategies to achieve synergies
Further on in the guide, we will elaborate on the three points above. The last point is what we at Solid believe is the secret to effective inbound marketing: using both activities.
The role of SEO in inbound marketing
SEO stands for search engine optimization, and in short, it's about using user data to optimize your website so that it appears for free in search engines. At Solid Media, we are passionate about SEO and believe that prioritizing it is an important part of today's inbound strategy.
To systematically explain the role of SEO in inbound marketing, we've created a bulleted list of reasons why SEO is an important strategic measure to implement:
1. The strategies have the same goal
SEO and Inbound share the common goal of converting visitors to your website in an organic way, where potential customers find you. Instead of hunting for customers, the goal is to create valuable, quality content that the target audience needs. When they then look up the need in the search engine, both aim for the content to rank high in the SERP. In this way, the aim is to take the customer further down the purchase funnel by attracting, converting, selling and delighting customers.
2. SEO plays an important role in the steps of the inbound strategy
SEO plays an important role in all stages of the inbound strategy. It creates the basis for continuously optimizing content based on data-driven marketing, which makes the work more efficient. We take you through SEO's role in the inbound steps:
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1. Attract customers
At the start of the customer journey, SEO is an essential measure to attract customers. This is the first step in the inbound methodology and is streamlined by SEO work. It happens when quality content is created that increases the company's visibility in search engines for specific searches. In this way, SEO lays the foundation for continuous optimization of the website, so that the desired target group finds relevant content when they search for their needs.
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2. Convert
When data-driven SEO content appears valuable, it increases the likelihood of conversions to and on your website. Such traffic generation is at the very heart of inbound, and results in qualified leads flowing into your website. Other conversions that SEO can facilitate are tailored webinars and guides that leads can access by entering their email. This data will be stored in the Hubspot CRM system, enabling tailored solutions to be offered.
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3. Selling
Quality content that meets needs on your landing page increases the likelihood that leads will be converted into customers, and this has happened due to SEO work. Further in the process, SEO can be used to create and send relevant information based on customers' interests. SEO is thus important for closing important deals.
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4. Enthusiasts
By carrying out careful SEO work, the aim is to build long-term customer relationships based on content that meets needs. Such relationship marketing will happen when content is written with the E-A-T criteria in mind, building trust with customers and Google. Thanks to SEO, the authority and reputation of the company will be strengthened, all building a solid brand.
Benefits of SEO
The art of mastering SEO results in Google ranking your content above the competition. Over time, this visibility will result in your business being top-of-mind with your target audience, increasing the likelihood of potential customers clicking through to your website. There are several benefits of SEO for your inbound strategy, and we've listed four that we think are important to mention:
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Cheaper in the long run:
Although SEO requires time and money (analysis tools/contacting an agency), it costs zero when customers click through to your site. This is in contrast to pay-per-click advertising. There are therefore opportunities to achieve high ROI in a cost-effective way
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Target different funnel stages:
SEO makes it possible to create targeted content so that the target group in different parts of the purchase funnel can find your content.
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Search traffic is more stable
As long as you continue to optimize your website, it is easier to predict free traffic, as well as having a higher conversion rate than advertising.
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Building brand awareness
By creating content with the E-E-A-T criteria in mind, your website will gain visibility and, over time, more authority from both Google and consumers.
The role of advertising in inbound marketing
It's easy to see SEO's central role in inbound marketing, but what about paid advertising? Advertising differs from SEO in that it's buying visibility to spread a message to a desired audience. There are a number of different types of ads, and by understanding which ads fall under the inbound mindset, you'll see that they shouldn't be underestimated:
Inbound ads and outbound ads
In the world of advertising, there can be a lack of clarity when it comes to what is categorized as inbound ads and what is not. That's why we at Solid Media want to clarify what we believe are inbound ads, what are outbound ads and where the gray areas lie.
The key difference is the approach to how you reach your target audience. A distinction is made between pull ads and push ads, and they are similar to inbound and outbound ads. For the sake of simplicity, we'll classify them together:
- Pull ads (inbound): attracts customers who have shown interest
- Push ads (outbound): reaches out to a broad and less targeted segment, with no interest shown
Read more about the difference between push and pull marketing here
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Inbound ads:
- PPC keyword ads
- Social media ads user searches for
- Sign-up based email ads
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Outbound ads:
- Advertisements in online newspapers
- Traditional ads on TV, radio and print media
- Display ads that appear regardless of what the user is actively searching for
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Grey areas:
Often, ads are both inbound and outbound, and this is due to the fact that users first actively seek out companies and are then exposed to ads without intentionally searching for them.
The ads that have a floating distinction are:
- Sponsored posts on social media
- Content marketing with a sales focus
- Retargeting ads
- Email marketing
We categorize the inbound ads according to the ads that the user has intentionally searched for, and here we consider keyword ads to be the most central. They play several key roles in the inbound strategy, and we have listed those we believe are the most important:
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Immediate exposure to the target group
With keyword ads, your company achieves fast visibility and traffic from qualified leads. This is done by mapping out which specific keywords users are searching for, and that way the ad will answer the problem the customer has when they search for it.
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Targeting and personalization of communication
In addition, ads are key as you can easily target and customize the communication to the desired target group. This is done by segmenting based on geography, demographics, interests and selected times. Everything helps to ensure that the desired target group finds the ad when they need the message, and this starts their customer journey towards becoming a customer.
We therefore consider paid advertising to be an important strategic priority for attracting potential customers at the start of the inbound stages.
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Increased conversion
Optimized search ads increase the likelihood of leads converting to the landing page, or performing the actions that the CTA buttons ask the user to perform. In this way, inbound ads are a great way to increase conversion to pages with different inbound activities.
One example is to create PPC keyword ads that directly convert the user into a webinar, which the customer can download by entering email. Information is stored in Hubspot so that the company can optimize its ads. In this way, keyword advertising is an effective way to achieve conversions and work towards a long-term inbound strategy.
Benefits of paid inbound advertising
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Quick visibility:
It can take up to a few hours to see visibility, allowing your business to strategically highlight seasonal campaigns
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Keyword ads appear above organic search:
That way, you're more likely to attract customers and become top-of-mind
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Easy targeting of your audience:
Keyword ads can target audiences based on geography, age, marital status and interests
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Measurement and analysis of results:
Keyword ads have tools for measuring ad performance. That way, ads can be optimized to increase impressions and conversions.
Now we've taken you through the importance of SEO and paid advertising for inbound marketing. At Solid Media, we believe that the combination of these is the recipe for success
We now take you through the synergies:
The synergy effect of using SEO and paid advertising in inbound marketing
The combination of SEO and paid keyword advertising can have a powerful effect in inbound marketing. When these two strategies are used together, they can reinforce each other in a way that maximizes the visibility and effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Here we've made some points that show the synergies between SEO and paid ads:
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Keyword analysis strengthens the impact of PPC keyword ads
In SEO, in-depth analysis is carried out to identify the most relevant keywords for your business. These keywords are then integrated into your website and used to create relevant content that attracts organic traffic. Similarly, keyword analysis can strengthen the effectiveness of your keyword ads. By implementing the most important keywords in your ads, you can increase the targeting and relevance of your ads, thereby improving the performance of your ad campaigns.
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Time
SEO work often takes a long time, and unlike paid ads, you don't see the results of your strategy right away. The immediate visibility that ads provide acts as a support to SEO work when organic visibility is not yet established. This means that companies can maintain a certain level of visibility while the SEO strategy works in the background.
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Testing/flexibility
Since paid ads create immediate results, your business has an opportunity to test and optimize strategies quickly. Through A/B testing and continuous adjustment of ads, your business can quickly identify what works best to attract your target audience and generate conversions. This insight can then be used to adjust the SEO strategy, for example by identifying the most effective keywords or types of content to focus on for organic traffic.
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Strengthen authority
A strong organic presence will also help build trust and credibility with potential leads, which can improve the impact of the ads by making them more credible. When a company is "top of mind" with potential customers, they are also likely to respond positively to ads from the company.
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Enhanced user experience
A website that is optimized for search engines will usually experience better results when it comes to ads as well. This is because SEO efforts focus not only on attracting organic traffic, but also on improving the user experience and quality of the site overall. When a website is easier to use and provides valuable content to visitors, it is more likely to receive higher search engine rankings, which in turn increases the visibility and effectiveness of any ad campaigns run on the site.
The success factors:
By combining SEO efforts with paid keyword advertising, your business can further strengthen its visibility and marketing effectiveness. This combination gives your business an opportunity to attract potential customers in a more targeted way, while building brand authority and trust over time through organic visibility and relevant content. The combination of strategies creates a solid platform for inbound marketing.
Our journey in inbound marketing
Solid Media's journey in inbound marketing started in 2022, and today we have a dedicated team of four employees working with inbound for our own brand. The employees are put together across our departments, and the goal is to use SEO and paid ads to drive effective inbound strategy.
SEO technician Karoline works with the Inbound initiative, and she says that:
We have ambitions to continue the journey with inbound, so we can help your business succeed in the same way.
Success stories from our customers
Several of our customers have received help with both SEO and keyword advertising, and have seen fantastic results!
One of these customers is Advania Norway, who came to us with a desire to increase their visibility and brand awareness. With the help of digital advertising via search and social media along with SEO work, they managed to get a 269% increase in the last six months, compared to the previous year!
In summary
In this guide, we've taken you through why you should prioritize SEO and paid advertising in the form of keyword ads for inbound success, and how they reinforce each other. By using both strategies together, you can maximize the visibility and effectiveness of your marketing. With a focus on attracting leads in a targeted way and building brand authority over time, the combination of SEO and paid ads provides a solid platform for inbound marketing success.
Contact contact us here for a non-binding conversation about how your business can benefit from both SEO and ads!
