According to Forbes, by 2016 inbound marketing went from being a nice tool to have in your arsenal to being a downright essential one!
Unlike traditional outbound marketing which broadcasts to the customer, inbound marketing—which is almost exclusive to the internet—focuses on creating reasons for the customer to come to you. It’s a crucial component in your business’s ability to stay relevant and grow in the digital era.
While your first question about inbound marketing is probably going to be: “How much will it cost me?” a more important question is: “What will it cost me NOT to do inbound marketing?”
In answer to that, here are 3 things you’ll be missing out on if you choose not implement an inbound marketing strategy for your business as soon as possible:
- Cost Savings
Sticking with traditional outbound marketing strategies will cost your business money. In fact, according Hubspot’s 2017 State of Inbound report, 68% of inbound marketers believe their organization’s marketing strategy is effective, while 52% of out bound marketers do not think their strategy is effective.
The same report also reveals that 32% of marketers rank outbound marketing practices, such as paid advertising, as the top waste of time and resources.
With inbound marketing, your efforts are only focused on attracting individuals looking for something you offer. After all, spending marketing resources on people who don’t want nor need your product is useless. It’s a lot easier to get leads from individuals already interested in what you have to offer as opposed to those who aren’t.
When contrasted with outbound marketing, inbound and content marketing delivers 3x as many leads, ensuring a better connection between you and your customers upon first encounter and providing you with invaluable information on how to properly engage them.
Inbound marketing costs 62% less than traditional outbound marketing, with content platforms such as blogs and social media ranging from entirely free to fairly cheap.
When you consider the benefits of inbound for your business, you’ll see that not only will your invested dollars be used more effectively, but you’ll also receive the highest return on investment through greater lead conversions and lower costs.
- Better Customer Relations
A customer-centric strategy is essential to inbound marketing. Your goal is to create and share compelling and useful content with them—essentially giving them a “backstage pass” to your expertise, skills and story.
Unlike traditional marketing, which is a one-way conversation (with the marketer talking ‘at’ the potential customer), inbound marketing is an ongoing dialogue in which you can communicate with your customers in both a professional and more personal manner.
As you provide valued content to your potential customers, you also gain more insight on them, which in turn helps you deliver even more value to them. For example, a company blog post on making a better coffee opens up an opportunity to acquire leads through offering value to coffee lovers interested in perfecting their brew.
Providing awesome content online also increases the odds of brand advocating from loyal customers. The Internet allows your branded content to be easily shared and seen by not only your direct audience but also your customer’s audience, which builds awareness, drives traffic, and increases sales.
To give you an idea of just how powerful this consumer advocacy can be, consider the following statistics:
- The average social media user is connected to 400+ friends and family
- 92% of individuals trust word-of-mouth recommendations
- Peer-to-peer marketing drives 20-50% of all purchasing decisions
As you can see, people trust people—not companies. So not only will your business gain more exposure, the odds of acquiring leads from that exposure are greatly improved.
Content marketing is all about building relationships with both potential and current customers. Whether you’re engaging your followers on social media, talking with prospective customers in a webinar, or offering product tips in a blog post, you are giving customers a glimpse into who you are while allowing them to give you a bit of their trust in return. Every touchpoint is an opportunity to build upon that relationship and turn shoppers into loyal customers.
- Customer Data & Visible ROI
Inbound marketing opens the doorway into valuable data about your prospective customers, as well as data that shows you the effectiveness of your efforts and content.
Your online marketing channels can often indicate who has opened your emails, where your website traffic is originating (Google, social media, etc.), the amount of time people spend on your website and what kind of content your audience prefers.
This data can help not only guide your future marketing activities, but also give your leadership insight into areas that need improvement. Being able to leverage data and measure ROI impacts the overall function of your business by showing you whether or not your marketing efforts are lagging or if another business facet is having a negative effect on revenue and growth.
Conclusion
“The inbound movement has always been about one thing: being relevant and truly helpful to your audience,” says HubSpot.
From saving money and improving customer relations to visible ROI and metrics, inbound marketing helps you stay relevant and competitive.
Why?
Because today, people are shopping and learning in a whole new way compared to a few years ago and marketers need to adapt or risk extinction.
Don’t let your competitors steal your competitive advantage. Contact the experts at Adjossible for help with your inbound marketing needs. You deserve it…and so do your customers.
