Let’s face it. Most of us view marketing as an unnecessary source of irritability. Yes, you read that correctly, and, before you think that I have just shot myself in the foot with such a comment, let me give you perspective.
Picture this: every morning you open your work email and you see it littered with gazillions of industry related emails, of this and that product or service being offered to miraculously better your business. During the day, you take a peek into your private mailbox, and what awaits you there is an overwhelmingly large collection of emails that are completely irrelevant to you.
As your blood pressure slowly edges up a notch, a mail envelope lands on your work desk. It’s about a conference taking place miles away that you wouldn’t have attended in the first place.
And, as you reach out to answer your cell phone, ringing from an ominously unfamiliar number, you expect the worse. Yes, it’s a telemarketer! And, for you, it is the final straw!
Benefits of inbound marketing
The point of marketing is not to drown random prospects in a tempestuous deluge of information. If traditional outbound marketing ever had a chance to be seen as successful, it would have to have been targeted. Your job, as a good marketer, is to navigate your prospects out of the chaos of this information storm, and not be a contributing factor to it.
This is the basic premise of inbound marketing. With the help your targeted and tailor-made quality content, that you send out at the right time, you are bound to attract the right customer.
If you wish to succeed, you need to understand that it’s really not about you or your fabulous products. It’s about being client-centric. The customer is the king, and that’s how you need to treat him/her.
Inbound marketing strategy to bolster your marketing
So how can inbound marketing enhance your company’s marketing efforts? There are three visible areas of marketing that are bound to reap the benefits of this approach.
1. Return on investments (ROI)
Making use of inbound marketing adds a layer of transparency to the way that your company evaluates the extent of success of its marketing projects. When a marketing campaign is transparent and easily measurable, both its strengths and areas in need of improvement can be clearly defined.
This, in turn, puts you in a position to more easily determine whether or not to direct your focus on boosting your marketing efforts. It also helps you determine which marketing tasks should be scrapped, since they are not yielding the desired effect, as part of a campaign.
2. Cost-effectiveness
Taking all parameters into consideration, applying an inbound marketing campaign reduces the overall cost of marketing considerably. This is because your marketing message is targeted and your audience is drawn to you, instead of spending resources sending out your message to a large number of non-targeted prospects.
According to Avidly, inbound leads on average cost 61% less than outbound leads. This is mainly due to the fact that inbound marketing relies on free platforms to disseminate its messaging, like social media and blogs. With no input costs, there is also no limitation to the quantity of the messages, which allows for wide coverage of the designated target audience.
3. Better customer relations
Inbound marketing is all about the shift from product-focused to customer-focused marketing. So, instead of sending out newsletters that deal with events at the company, you will be producing content that holds information of direct use to the reader. You should also focus on delivering communication that is specific to your industry, and not dilute your message by throwing too wide a net.
Through improved content, you can enjoy more leads, better and wider reach, increased brand awareness and ultimately a shift of your prospects through your sales funnel.
Continuously providing your audience with content that is relevant to them will help them find credibility in your brand and over time, this turns into brand loyalty.
Image source: https://umeworks.com/benefits-of-using-inbound-marketing-for-your-los-angeles-business/
Inbound marketing as support for brand and lead generation
Inbound marketing should form the cornerstone of any brand. Without it, no marketing campaign can be seen as coming full circle. But inbound marketing is a long-term relationship commitment and you shouldn't expect results overnight.
It's a slow, yet rewarding process. So, for your business to truly see rewards, you should invest in it as early as possible. Because at the end of it all, any business survives due to existing customers who spread the word about you.
Inbound marketing tactics are good for generating leads. It’s appealing to your ideal customers, it generates higher-quality leads and allows you to easily track success and ROI. It also helps you to understand the psychology of your market. Ultimately, delivering a viable message is like any other learned skill and with practice and guidance, you too can become a master inbound marketer!
