People hate change. We resist with everything we’ve got, until we’re forced to accept it either by someone else or by irrefutable evidence of how it can benefit us. Inbound marketing is a prime example of this. It has been around for some 5 to 6 years now, and in spite of having proved its worth time after time, the majority of Fortune 500 companies have yet to adopt it as an official part of their marketing strategy. Don’t fall into the same trap of throwing money uselessly at the traditional methods that so many businesses are in. There are multiple reasons why you should implement an inbound marketing strategy, regardless of what your competitors are doing—or aren’t.
#1: Outbound marketing no longer works.
When something doesn’t deliver results any more, it’s time to replace it with a new practice that does. Outbound marketing is dying a slow and painful death, mostly because:
- The communication is one-way only
- Marketing efforts provide little (or no) value to the client, and serve only to promote the seller’s interests
- The majority of viewers skip television ads by fast forwarding through them or channel surfing while they’re flighted
- Half of direct mail recipients trash their post without opening it
- Two-thirds of the American population have registered their phone numbers on the “Do Not Call” list.
Doesn’t this just give you the distinctive feeling that the market is saying “enough” to the intrusive methods of traditional advertising?
#2: Inbound marketing gets you found.
With upwards of 89% of consumers using the Internet to research products or services, by using tried-and-tested inbound methods such as content marketing, SEO and social media helps users looking for your offering to find you. Prospective customers learn far more about what they want to buy through searching the web and finding useful information that gives them value in exchange for the time spent consuming it. By downloading white papers and eBooks from your site that offer solutions to problems they experience, users learn to rely on you for help. This makes your company their go-to provider when they reach the point of being ready to buy.
#3: It’s cheaper.
Inbound marketing costs significantly less than traditional forms of marketing. A 2012 study by HubSpot found that the average cost per lead was 61% lower with inbound than outbound methods. Blogging, social media and the use of SEO techniques are the least expensive, mostly because the digital nature of inbound allows for very little in the way of consumables compared with print, TV, radio and other forms of advertising. It’s simplicity and user-friendliness also enables you to do much of the work yourself, which saves on the hiring of expensive “experts” for production.
#4: You get stats.
Tracking your return on investment (ROI) is much more precise with inbound marketing than outbound. It’s really difficult to know exactly how many people your television campaign has reached because statistics are based on surveys and estimates, which are often inflated at best and inaccurate at worst. With inbound, however, a closed-loop system of analytics delivers real-time stats that tell you which aspects of your campaign are performing best, how many people are consuming your material, the length of time they stay on your site and the pages they visit. By offering downloadable content you get their contact information, and a basic email marketing program makes it possible for you to stay in touch with them throughout their journey through the sales funnel.
#5: Lead nurturing is easier.
Few customers are ready to buy your product the first time they see your ad or sales brochure. The same applies online. It often takes lots of work to convert a lead into a client, including:
- regular contact
- presentation of additional information, and
- fielding objections.
How often have you lost business because you didn’t have time to follow up on potential leads early enough? The difference with inbound marketing, however, is that you are able to nurture leads and improve your sales processes using automated tools that follow up every individual in your system—without requiring your input. It really doesn’t get much better than this!
If your competitors aren’t using inbound marketing, that’s their loss. Stay ahead of the game by making sure your company’s website and products are easy to find online, offer prospective clients valuable information and advice and converts your leads into customers for a better ROI.
*Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
