Inbound marketing is still a relatively new concept, and it isn’t always clear what types of companies can benefit from implementing it. Traditional marketing methods are becoming increasingly expensive and are no longer delivering the quantity of leads businesses need. Consumers have learnt to mostly “tune out” the noise of advertising and promotions, and many companies are looking for a new way to reach their target audiences. There are certain characteristics that apply to companies that realize the highest degree of success from inbound marketing. We’ve put together the top 5 factors: 
You Sell Internationally
Globalization has resulted in the world becoming significantly “smaller” and huge numbers of companies now operate beyond geographical sales boundaries. The difficulty is that traditional marketing on a global scale is expensive, and only the multinational corporations can afford to do it. Inbound marketing exposes smaller sellers to the international marketplace at a fraction of the cost.
It’s no longer necessary to limit your efforts to the occasional trade show and faxing promotional flyers than land up in the garbage. You can now generate solid sales leads by creating content and distributing it via social media and email marketing. If you sell a product that can be purchased worldwide, inbound enables you to market it worldwide.
The Purchasing Decision is Big
Buying something small, cheap, consumable or disposable is not a “considered purchase.” When the purchasing decision is big, expensive or important, such as when your customer is buying a safety product, business equipment or services, they tend to spend more time researching and evaluating the options.
Inbound marketing is ideal for reaching users conducting research and evaluation, and works on the principle of providing the information needed for the decision in a neutral, non-marketing fashion. When serious buyers are doing critical research, they respond to companies that provide what they need.
You Have a Strong Competitive Advantage
Ok, why would you need inbound marketing if you have a strong competitive advantage, you ask. Because you still have to make it known in your target market, that’s why. Regardless how good your differentiation is, unless your audience knows about it you’re unlikely to generate the sales leads you want.
If your offering is significantly different from that of other companies in your niche, you’re in the prime position to benefit from this type of marketing, because it enables you to establish yourself as an expert in your field based on your value proposition.
You Spend a Lot on Lead Generation
Traditional methods of lead generation can be costly. They typically include:
- Direct mail campaigns
- Participation in trade shows and exhibitions
- Outbound telesales teams
- Expensive print, television and radio advertising
- Pay-Per-click ad campaigns
Research by HubSpot shows that the cost of an inbound marketing lead is 61% lower than a lead generated using outbound marketing. If you’re currently using these outdated methods and need to protect your bottom line, this could be the solution.
You Rely on RFPs for Contracts
One of the main points of inbound marketing is to improve online searchability, so if you rely on RFPs to get business you need to come up in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Corporate customers who issue RFPs use search to keep their vendor lists up to date, and a focused inbound marketing campaign can help improve your Google ranking and visibility in search, particularly on targeted keywords.
If your company falls into one of these 5 categories, then inbound marketing could work very well for you. Quality content boosts your performance in search, leads visitors to your website and converts them into leads. You then have the opportunity to nurture them through the buying cycle until they are ready to make their decision. If you've implemented inbound marketing correctly, by that point the decision to buy from you could be merely a formality.
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