Traditional marketing methods not working to get customers, increase your sales, and grow your business?  Reach your business goals by adding inbound to your marketing strategy this year.

 

Quick!  What did you do the last time you received a telemarketing call?  How about the last time someone knocked on your door asking you to listen to their spiel about their product or service?  And what did you do with the daily emails from some business that started sending you stuff without you signing up?

If you’re like 99.999% of us, you probably hung up, made up an excuse to get away from that door-to-door salesperson (or, if you’re anything like me, slid down the door and didn’t move a muscle until they left), and clicked ‘unsubscribe’ faster than you can say ‘Sooooo Annoying’.

Why?

Because these marketing methods are intrusive, pushy, and downright obnoxious.

And just like they don’t work on you, they don’t work for your customers, either.

 

Reach Your Business Goals by Adding Inbound to Your Marketing Strategy

Fortunately, there’s a more efficient, effective, and less expensive way to generate leads, increase profits, and grow a loyal (and happy!) following known as Inbound Marketing.

What Is Inbound Marketing?

According to Hubspot,

Inbound Marketing is a holistic, data-driven approach to marketing that attracts individuals to your brand and converts them into lasting customers by creating content specifically designed to appeal to them.

Basically, inbound marketing pulls potential and current customers to your website by providing solutions to their problems and offering them interesting, valuable, and helpful content.  

Rather than interrupting with sales pitches that turns all of us off, you attract people to your site by creating and curating content that helps alleviate their pain points and provides them with something of real value.

Put another way, you ask to be invited in rather than kicking the door off its hinges.  

 

Inbound Marketing Works

Even though there’s still a place in your marketing plan for traditional marketing methods, these tactics are becoming less and less effective.  In fact, in its State of Inbound Report, Hubspot found that inbound marketing results in 54% more web traffic than traditional methods.  Even more amazing?  Inbound marketing leads to 750% more conversions than push methods.

And acquiring leads and customers costs less with inbound marketing, too!  On average, you spend $41 to obtain a lead and $268 to acquire a customer through traditional marketing methods.  With pull marketing, on the other hand, you spend only $36 to attract a lead and $254 to convert them to a customer.  Over the course of a year, that really adds up!

 

Types of Inbound Marketing

So now that you know what inbound marketing’s about and why it’s a better marketing strategy for your business, what are some of the ways you can start putting this powerful method into practice today?  It’s easier than you think.  

4 Inbound Methods You Can Start Today

1. Content Marketing:  At the center of every solid inbound strategy lies content — both created and curated.  From blogging to podcasts to infographics and everything else in between, the sky’s the limit!  The key is to make sure it’s useful, relevant, and timely to the audience you’re trying to attract.

 

2. Social Media: Social media is an important piece of your inbound strategy.  Not only is it the best means of promoting your content, it also serves as a powerful tool to build relationships with current and potential customers by creating a channel for 2-way communication.

(Not sure where or how to get started using social media for your business?  Check out some articles here).

 

3. Email:  There’s a lot of chatter these days around the use of email campaigns in marketing.  That’s because some email campaigns are inbound and others are outbound.  The key difference is that email as an inbound strategy results from someone inviting you into their inbox by opting in to receive something from you.  Outbound email strategies, on the other hand, are disruptive and intrusive.  In other words, spam.  You didn’t ask to receive it and it provides nothing of real value.

 

4. Search Engine Optimization:  No well-rounded inbound marketing strategy’s complete without considering search engine optimization.  And we’re not just talking using key words.  SEO also includes things like page speed, site design, and much more.  (Want some quick ways to improve your ranking today? Check out 5 Totally Doable Ways to Improve Your SEO.) 

 

In Summary

Gone are the days (if there were ever really any in the first place) when your customers want to be interrupted during their dinner, sent dozens of useless emails, and bombarded with pointless pop ups when they’re trying to watch that cute kitten video.  Likewise, as a smart (and very busy) business owner, you don’t have the time, energy, or money to waste trying to get leads inefficiently or ineffectively.  And you certainly don’t want your current and future customers avoiding you.

Enter inbound marketing.  Provide your audience with valuable and relevant solutions to their problems through well crafted content that’s easy to find, and watch your web traffic improve, your customer base grow, and your profits increase this year.

 

How will you reach your  incorporating inbound into your business’ marketing plan this year?

What’s working well? Let’s chat about it!

Feeling a little stuck?  We’d love to help you develop a plan that’s right for you and your business!  Don’t be shy!  Get in touch with us here!