Excuses, excuses. We’re great at those, aren’t we? And original – if you had a dollar for every lame excuse you’ve ever come up with, you’d be rich. Inbound marketing’s no exception; we’ve heard every reason under the sun why companies don’t do it, why they don’t believe in it, why it won’t work for them. Etcetera. And yet, the figures don’t lie. Only the liars do. And the shirkers. It’s time to stop lying to yourself and get with the program. 
Excuse #1: I Don’t Have Time
You’re always too busy. You’re definitely too busy to be spending time learning about a new-fangled idea like inbound marketing and social media. You have enough to do just running the business.
Well, here’s a newsflash: Without marketing, you won’t have customers. Without customers, you won’t have a business to run. And given that outbound marketing is no longer as effective as it used to be, if you don’t have inbound, you don’t have marketing.
Excuse #2: My Customers Aren’t On Social Media
They aren’t? Actually, unless they’re dead (or under 13 years old) they probably are. Research shows even the over 65s are joining social media and using search engines at an astonishing rate. Out of the 348 million people in North America, latest stats indicate that 78.6% of individuals in North America use the Internet. Meanwhile, 70% of adults over the age of 65 years are using social networking sites. You can even market retirement housing online, so this one just doesn’t cut it.
Excuse #3: I’m Not a Writer
Okay then. So what? Inbound marketing isn’t just about writing—it’s about providing information that makes your customer come looking for you. Sure, writing is a part of that, but so is video, audio, images and slide presentations, to name a few. And you don’t have to produce it yourself. If you were making a TV commercial, are you likely to film it yourself? Thought not. So why would you expect to write your blog posts and website content yourself?
Excuse #4: I Don’t Know What to Publish
Sure. Neither does anyone else. In fact, finding blog post topics to post about is one of the primary challenges facing inbound marketers, according to marketing software company HubSpot. That doesn’t mean going gently into that good night! It means: Find a way around that problem, dude! Here are some options:
- Create an editorial calendar. Put the important dates of the year on it and think ahead to what you want to post for those days.
- Make notes of ideas that come to you at the time it happens, then transfer them to your editorial calendar for use on appropriate dates.
- Read industry news and look for items of interest you can comment on.
- Share the content of others. It’s called curation.
There are at least a dozen ways to find useful content marketing ideas, you just have to look. Perform a content audit to determine what’s there and what’s missing, then use that as a guideline. Alternatively, create an Editorial Board that can compile an ongoing list of useful topics to focus on.
Excuse #5: It Won’t Work for My Type of Business
It doesn’t? Why not? Do you know that for a fact (because you’ve, like, actually tried it) or are you just guessing? If you’re in the B2C environment, inbound marketing is precisely what you should be doing, because it gives you the chance to speak directly to your current and prospective customers, build communities and handle customer service issues in real time.
Excuse #6: It Doesn’t Work for B2B Companies
Buyers in companies are people like any other, and the way to generate B2B leads is to speak to—you guessed it—people. In these days of personal choice, where people regularly decide for themselves what promotional material they are going to consume, inbound marketing breaks through the barriers we erect to protect ourselves from constant media battering.
According to 2011 research from Forrester, 70% of the buying decision is made before the buyer embarks on making the purchase. So instead of hoping that TV commercial will be seen by your buyer (who is, after all, unlikely to be watching TV in the daytime and probably isn’t thinking about work at night), target him (or her) where they need to be reached. At work. When they’re looking to buy.
Excuse #7: We’re Doing OK
In other words, you don’t need any more business? Yeah, right. Few companies can honestly say their print advertising is bringing in a good ROI, or they have so much work that they don’t need more. This excuse is usually the brainchild of a business owner who isn’t coping. Don’t listen to it; even Coca-Cola, Apple and Virgin are doing inbound marketing. If they aren’t doing ok, who is? But they still recognize the need to keep up with current methods.
Excuse #8: We Don’t Have the Budget
Budget is a common excuse, particularly from people who don’t understand the industry. Just because inbound is a new approach, it doesn’t mean it costs an arm and a leg. In fact, the opposite applies. Marketing and promotions have never been so affordable, mostly because you pay for what you get. Instead of the big bucks needed to push your message out using traditional media to people who might take no notice whatsoever, methods such as Pay Per Click / Impression means you only incur costs when you reach someone.
Excuse #9: We Don’t Get Traffic from Search
Well, why do you think that is? Probably because you aren’t “searchable” enough. Just because the majority of your existing customers came by way of customer referrals, sales presentations or other methods, it doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot more out there who could use your products and services. If they could find them, that is. Inbound marketing focuses on a regular flow of fresh content for your website, which keeps it in Google’s sights just as regularly—thereby ensuring visibility in search results.
Excuse #10: This Too Shall Pass
Things move so fast in the digital era that it’s an easy excuse to make. Some of the arguments we hear on a regular basis are:
- Here today and gone tomorrow.
- The Internet is just another fad.
- Content marketing has already seen its day.
- Facebook is losing users (read: dying out).
The fact is that in 2013, inbound marketing produced 54% more leads than traditional outbound marketing did according to research by HubSpot.
Inbound marketing isn’t going anywhere. Sure, the focus might shift and the methods might change, but if you’re sitting back waiting for better days you’re in for a long wait. Meanwhile, how much business are you losing that you could capture during its heyday?
If growing your business is important to you, don’t get caught up in “busy work” to the extent that you don’t have time to write a blog post a week. And if you really can’t, then get someone to do it for you. Outsource your content creation, appoint an inbound marketing agency or use a professional to handle your SEO. Just do it.
*Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
