Do you have an old school website that desperately needs an update but your boss just doesn't get it?  With the old school methods working so well in the past your boss may not understand the need to inherit new marketing methods. However, with over 87% of people using the internet as their main source of information and purchases, it's crucial to know how utilize and market your website effectively. If only there was a way to explain how detrimental your website is to your business and how inbound marketing strategies will attract qualified prospects and keep them coming back for more. Here's how you can explain inbound marketing strategies to your boss in a way that he/she can  understand. 

Start Off By Defining Inbound Marketing

With technology taking over, it's shocking to learn there are still business owners who haven't heard of inbound marketing. To them this new marketing method may sound like black magic. Therefore, it can be challenging to explain the investment opportunities inbound marketing offers without first explaining how the marketing process works. Start by simply stating what inbound marketing does. "Inbound marketing is about using marketing to bring potential customers to you, rather than having your marketing efforts fight for their attention" -Hubspot. 

As this statement sinks in, you'll be able to go into further detail as to how to attract and convert leads. 

Content Creation

Content marketing is the differentiating factor in whether you can capture leads for a future sale. It’s a means to provide value to your website visitors, so when they’re ready to make the purchase, you're at the top of their minds. In today's time-crunched world, business people don't read marketing messages — they skim. And quickly. On the Web, time is even more of a premium. You have just a handful of seconds to grab the reader attention, engage interest to prevent prospects from surfing to another site.Your content needs to be fresh, eye-catching, relevant and informative. Google and other search engines are continually adapting their algorithms to promote the newest and most quality content. In our modern era of SEO, mediocre content does not get the job done. You need to blog well, and often. Every part of the inbound marketing process should be driven by quality content.

Lead Generation

Lead generation keeps your pipeline full, while lead management gives you the information you need to close the deals. To effectively utilize lead generation techniques, you'll need to develop landing pages and calls-to-action, monitor the traffic results, and use data to maximize results. By integrating all of today's Web tools such as SEO, social media, Pay Per Click, and Blogs, you'll acquire the needed inbound marketing strategies that will turn your site into a lead generation tool. With continued nurturing programs, you become a trusted source, and prospects convert to customers.

Reporting 

A lot of businesses worry about implementing inbound marketing because they want assurance of return on their marketing investment.  Site traffic, social media reach, inbound link grades, which of these metrics matter and what should you do with them anyway? Attempting inbound marketing without metrics is like trying to drive cross-country without a working fuel gauge. Your business needs to understand which analytics matter, and how to act on these figures in order to continually improve your ROI. Let your boss know that you will be able to track and analyze your inbound marketing results to analyze and report your efforts. 

Social Media 

By focusing on where your personas hang out, you'll be able to identify opportunities for gaining even more traction from your content. Social media is the way modern brands connect with consumers, offer value, and build lasting relationships. Your market views their Facebook newsfeed and Twitter stream as valuable sources for current events, trends, and brands. Making social media a valuable part of your inbound marketing strategy can impact your business in big ways. 

Explain The Advances Of The Internet 

Maybe your boss likes the sound of inbound marketing but doesn't think the business is gaining it's traffic from the internet. Go into detail about how the internet has grown and without utilizing inbound marketing, they'll be missing out on vital opportunities for business growth. Why? Consumer behaviors have changed and people want to have resources and information available rather than relying on advertisements for purchase decisions. As breakthroughs in technology have advanced the way people purchase products and services, it's important to reach the mass audiences using the internet on a daily basis. The older ways of solely relying on print ads and TV, radio and other traditional mediums are fading away. It's important your business grows and evolves as your audience and customers grow and evolve. For this reason, using the technology that has predominantly changed the way consumers' purchase, will open up doors that you have been able to use before. 

Hit Them With Numbers And Statistics 

Your boss is more than likely all about the numbers. They don't want to invest money in new techniques unless they are able to precisely analyze the numbers and ensure profitable ROI. Let them know that you will be able to analyze traffic and although it takes time, you will be able to access and report your efforts as well as analyze the numbers provided by individual inbound marketing tools. So, as they are still on the fence about implementing inbound marketing strategies, speak their language of numbers. 

• Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional outbound marketing. (Hubspot)
  
• 93% of buying cycles start with a search online. If your company shows up high in the search results, or is active on a searcher’s social networks, you’ll get free brand awareness. (Marketo)
• 68% of all organic clicks go to the top three search results. (eConsultancy)
  
• Customers spend 50% of their time online engaging with custom content. (HubSpot)
• 90% of B2B researchers who are online use search specifically to research business purchases. On average, B2B researchers do 12 searches prior to engaging on a specific brand’s site. 

Inbound Marketing Works With Outbound Marketing 

Just because you want to implement inbound marketing solutions doesn't mean you need be rid of all your other marketing efforts. Your business has worked hard to get where it is and inbound marketing is used to create opportunities and reach mass audiences. This doesn't mean your outbound marketing efforts are not important too. Explain a scenario of how the two marketing methods can work together:

As a prospect goes online and searches for services/products related to your business, they happen to click on your blog or homepage due to your inbound marketing SEO efforts. In doing so, they research the elements on your website and when liking what they find, also decide to follow your business on social media. As this prospect is now familiar with your business, when they also come across an outbound advertisement such as in print, TV or radio, the individual will immediately recognize the brand. With many elements available to capture their attention, the prospect will be more inclined to purchase from a company they have built a relationship with rather than if the individual were to be strictly exposed to only the outbound advertisement (Source). 

ImageWorks LLC | Inbound Marketing Strategies

When it comes to attracting, converting, analyzing, and integrating, there is nothing that is out of the reach of our capabilities. As a leading CT Inbound Marketing Firm, ImageWorks uses state of the art techniques and is focused on the success of your business. We work with you to improve your current marketing plan, overcome your challenges, achieve your goals, and meet deadlines. By creating content specifically designed to appeal to your dream customers, inbound attracts qualified prospects to your business and keeps them coming back for more. ImageWorks  covers each and every step taken, tool used, and lifecycle stage to help assist the customer. We help to empower marketers to attract visitors, convert leads, close customers, and delight promoters.

Want to turn your website into a lead generating? Start by participating in the inbound strategy session below.