Since 2006 inbound marketing has rapidly begun to take over the marketing world. In 2013, over 60% of all companies used some kind of inbound marketing. Inbound marketing has become as essential aspect of a company’s success and has proven itself as the master of efficiency. Inbound marketing uses strategies that involve Ebooks, podcasts, blogs, online videos, and white papers. Using these marketing tools together and efficiently your company is bound to begin thriving within the online community! Still not convinced? Lets start with why you should ditch old marketing techniques.
Why ditch outbound marketing?
Simply put people are bored and annoyed of outbound marketing. No one wants to be interrupted in the middle of dinner to pick up the phone only for it to be a cold call. Outbound marketing techniques are like a stalker; they hunt you down even though you have not shown any interest in them. These techniques can make customers feel as though you are only interested in making a sale so only care about their money. Additionally, as everyone switches over to inbound marketing techniques you want to make sure you do the same, so you don’t fall behind the rest of your competition.
So really why is inbound marketing successful?
One of the main reasons that inbound marketing has proven itself successful is because people are able to seek information they are actually interested in instead of being harassed about things they could care less about. Inbound marketing promotes the idea of “getting found” by customers instead of “finding them”. It encourages a two-way relationship between companies and their customers, which allows clients to feel as though they know your company on a personal level. This is important for businesses, as you want to make sure that your client is comfortable and happy with you and your work.
By providing potential clients with relevant information that people actual care about you are bound to attract not only more people to your site, but also more people who could be potential leads. Inbound marketing allows you to create content using keywords that you know your potential clients are interested in, which will increase the likelihood of them finding you using search engines. By using inbound marketing you can attract your clients interest and get their attention by actually providing them with something they are interested in. This is clearly a more effective way to attract leads with real potential. According to Hubspot, 34% of the leads marketers generated in 2013 came from inbound marketing sources versus 22% from outbound marketing sources.
Inbound marketing is also able to measure results. Your company has the ability to read what content is being viewed, when it is being viewed, and by whom is viewing it. This will allow your company to easily figure out what’s working and what isn’t, which will allow you to figure out ways for improvement. Additionally, in recent times social media has exploded and has grown even more then inbound marketing; it has now become the number one activity on the web. Social media helps with company branding and ranking in search engines. It also is the simplest and quickest way to get your brand out there. In order to stay ahead of your competition it is important your company has social media pages that are consistently updated. Last, but certainly not least, inbound marketing is cheaper than outbound marketing. Knowing that it is also more effective, why would you want to pay more for something that doesn’t work as well?
