Why Should You Invest In Inbound Marketing?
If you don’t live the world of digital marketing, you may not be totally familiar with what inbound marketing is and how it differs from traditional marketing methods. Take a look from an insider’s perspective and see the many benefits of inbound marketing.
1) Inbound marketing is solution-oriented
If there’s anything you should know about inbound marketing, it’s this- inbound marketing focuses on providing value to your target market. According to HubSpot, inbound marketing is “a business methodology that attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them.” In particular, it works to offer solutions to customers who have indicated they have some sort of problem.
Inbound marketing is based on the fact that the best possible time to sell a product to a customer is when they know they have a problem and they’re actively searching for a solution. With over 4.6 billion users, the internet is one of the most popular places to look for answers. Plus, with 92.6% of those internet users on mobile, people can seek answers at any time, no matter where they are.
A customer has determined they need to find a solution, product, or service, and your inbound marketing program leads them to you. This is sometimes referred to as “permission marketing” (because customers are giving you permission to talk to them about a given subject), and it’s in sharp contrast to outbound marketing which shouts the same message to anyone, regardless of their needs or interest.
2) Inbound marketing sends the message at the right time
Most classic marketing techniques rely on pushing their way into a consumer’s life, hoping to interest them enough to get them to buy. That’s why television shows have commercials dropped in the middle, pop-up advertisements appear on websites, and magazines are packed with ads that distract from the content people are presumably there to read.
These techniques don’t work as well as conveying a message to an interested party when they are actively searching for it! Inbound marketing allows you to give your customer what they are looking for, right when they need it. This could be in the form of a newsletter, a download, a video, or whatever fits best with what you have to offer.
Inbound marketing specifically avoids interrupting people, and instead simply offers the content when they need it.
3) It’s much easier to track the success of inbound marketing campaigns
A good inbound campaign doesn’t just provide a way to get your content in front of your audience – it lets you know exactly how successful your campaign actually is.
The core of this is software like Google Analytics, which can track users as they move between pages on your business website and help you get a better picture of what visitors are doing, what products they’re most interested in, and what your demographics are like.
In fact, it’s possible to calculate the actual value of each page by evaluating webpage performance – and by doing that, you can start figuring out what content is most appealing to your audience.
4) Inbound marketing gets more successful over time
Inbound marketing is not an overnight marketing method – it’s a long-term effort focused on building a steady stream of new customers. Once you build your program though, the results are consistent.
As you continue marketing to your customers, analytics can help you figure out exactly how successful each campaign was – and, even more importantly, why it was successful. Using that information, you can start adjusting your future campaigns to do more of what worked in the past.
Important Skills to Look for in Your Inbound Marketing Agency
How do I know my marketing agency will be good at delivering the desired results with inbound marketing?
This process of constant measuring and refinement is the real secret to success, and it’s why the most successful inbound marketers tend to see continued growth from year to year.
In that sense, an inbound campaign is a lot like a reliable investment – it starts slow at first, but the longer you keep at it, the better your returns are going to be. It’s also possible to start an inbound marketing campaign without having to add a huge line item to your budget. We have a few tips for fitting inbound marketing into your budget without big investment.
Inbound marketing is such a positive form of advertising. You get to produce powerful, helpful content that makes prospects look to you as a trusted source, and then convert into loyal customers!
Thanks for stopping by,
Laura
Editor’s note: This blog was originally published in 2017 and has been edited and updated in December 2021.
