Inbound marketing methods are constantly growing and advancing , yet it's difficult for some businesses to implement a method they don't fully understand. There has been a significant shift in the way consumers make decisions and purchases. The accessibility of no-cost, high-quality information online has quickly changed the way consumers purchase and businesses communicate to those consumers. As the online purchasing world constantly increases it may be surprising to hear that a lot of businesses are still hesitant to implement "new" marketing methods. In this post, you'll learn the few primary reasons why businesses are hesitant as well as how to overcome those common fears. 

Dedicated To Traditional Methods

Your traditional marketing methods have been very successful in the past and have brought in a substantial amount of money, so why try something new? It can be difficult to understand that the online world hasn't just changed how people receive information but has also gradually changed consumers' mindset on how they wish to purchase. Traditional marketing utilizes a direct approach, finding the consumer and persuading them to buy. Inbound marketing allows the consumer to find you, do the research and make a choice on what they want to purchase, which highlights quality products and services. 

Implementing inbound marketing tools doesn't mean a business has to completely rid of other marketing methods. Embracing a change and utilizing new approaches will help reach the general goal of a thriving and growing business. There are several pieces to the inbound marketing pie that work together to breed success. Try implementing a few tools at a time to better understand the process and what inbound marketing can do for your business. 

Unconvinced Of Investment Opportunities

As online continues to advance, so should your business. When you think about how consumer buying behavior has changed, the shift to inbound marketing makes the most sense. Consumers spend more time online researching products and services they're interested in purchasing, as well as the business to purchase them from. This means that companies with informative and creative online content will be more effective. The following are a few signs that your business should invest in inbound marketing: 

• Sales have slowly declined over the past several years
  
• Your business is at a stand still and doesn't know how to attract more visitors. 
• You don't know how to convert online leads into paying customers.
• You can't seem to improve your search engine rankings. 
• Your website is outdated and you don't know how to update it. 

Don't Fully Understand How It Works

How can you know if inbound marketing is a good investment for your business without properly understanding how these tools work. From personal experience, I've heard businesses profess to know what SEO is and say their website doesn't need help in that regard. However, when searching their website, it was riddled with black hat methods. This pushes your website down the rankings, making it nearly impossible to be found by online consumers.

To understand inbound marketing, you must first understand it's about helping the consumer rather than just selling to the consumer. Inbound marketing uses many tools to attract prospects, generate leads and convert those leads into customers. Tools such as web design, content creation, search engine optimization, and social media are used together to achieve success. An effective inbound marketing strategy utilizes all those tools in more depth to innovatively find new ways to grow your business and make it stand out from the competition. 

 Download the guide below to learn more about the inbound marketing process.