Because we were talking earlier about Inbound Marketing and what it stands for, a clear example might bring more weight to the concept and detail our opinion on the matter. This is why we have chosen one of our favorites and less "worn-out in conferences and presentations" case, the retail giant Westfield Corp.

To recall our opinion: Inbound Marketing is more than content, it is about creating value for consumers, making their life easier, nicer, through online-offline products, services or information. It's about making good use of the internet and technology in order to cover specific needs connected to the universe of the brand.

Cutting it short, here are 7 ways, content or not, in which Westfield (San Francisco in our case) got it right:

1. Having the website concept and implementation to serve users' logic flow of information, with a user friendly design and functionalities such as Deals and Events at hand, is only the start, scrapping the surface of the iceberg. 

2. The website is responsive and mobile friendly, but it didn't stop them from having additionally a mobile app that makes things differently, taking into account the moment in which you'll get mobile. Features such as directions to the shopping center, navigation inside the mall (you know, for those moments when you don't know where Zara is) or buy movie tickets to avoid the lines only come naturally.

3. Westfield Style: you can simply call it a fashion blog, we would like to call it a fashion online magazine. Anyway you call it, it is a great content generation tool to attract online traffic AND real sales leads. Let's not forget the social media material coming out of it and its potential for a holistic approach.

Nothing out of the ordinary up to here?

4. Well, they got it smart with "Dine on Time", a web and mobile app that lets you order food for pickup or downtown delivery. It will notify you when your meal is ready.

5. Inhouse services such as Valet Text & Go (releasing you from the hustle of finding a parking place or remember your way back to the car), Answers On The Spot (text the mall number with your questions and get an instant response from Westfield SFC) and a wide array of concierge facilities are meant to enhance the shopping experience to the point of shifting habits and preferences for the undecided. 

6. Worth to mention is the Bespoke B2B concept, a "renting space" service for coworking, events or demos, dedicated to brands and retail-tech entrepreneurs. The concept and why it makes it for an inbound technique are a complex discussion but it is worth having a look at the offer and process the info.

7. And we haven't gone deeper to analyze the strategies on building relations with the influencers (The Tastemakers concept), emailing, SEO, leads generation, community contribution or offline events, though we know they're on top of the game.

Of course, there is always room for improvement, maybe on their social media channels and their back-to-back approach with Westfield Style, but the pieces of the puzzle are pretty much in place and helped us make the case for what we believe inbound marketing stands for. I guess it is worth having a Digital Innovation Lab in your organizational structure.