If you're reading this blog, then you can attest to the power of online influence. This influence is especially visible within the context of marketing, and since we are on the topic, arguable the most effective type of digital marketing is "inbound." According to a HubSpot study based on data from 5,048 customers, "92.34%" of companies using inbound marketing increased their traffic" with 40% of HubSpot customers seeing traffic increases of at least 75% (Source). Sounds fantastic right? Well, inbound is not an exclusive club, and chances are, it will work wonders for your business.

In this post, we will help you to determine whether or not inbound marketing will work for your business.

Qualifying Questions About Your Ideal Customers

• Does your ideal customer use the Internet to learn more about your industry and products/services?
• Does your ideal customer research your products/services before they typically make a decision? (Ex. Home remodeling contractors)
• Does your ideal customer download guides, ebooks or brochures?

If you find yourself nodding along to many of these questions, then your business would be well-suited for an inbound strategy. Like other marketing efforts, there will be an upfront investment of time and learning curve getting started, but inbound marketing will actually save you money in the long run, as it often decreases the cost-per-lead.

Are You Willing To Change Your Thinking?

If you want to be successful with inbound, your company must change the way it perceives content. Basically, the culture must evolve: the "set it and forget it" approach to marketing is gone, and you will now need to involve you and your whole team's insight to be successful.

Do You Want The Ability To Track Your Leads, Customers, Sales?

Imagine this: You create a display ad for a trade journal. You buy the space, you insert the ad and find out the ad was a failure...no readership, no interest, no phone calls, no leads. In inbound  we call that "no-conversion".

Now imagine this: You create two or three of the same ads with different graphics, different copy and different emphasis. You deploy the first ad, once again it flops.  Now you try the second ad and the "conversion rate" is significantly improved and the phone rings as a result of your adjustment.

With inbound, you don't have to wonder which part of your marketing campaign works. That's the power of inbound marketing, except the ads (i.e. content such e-books, blog posts, white papers, etc.) are in the digital space instead of traditional media.

How Long Does It Take Before Inbound Works?

You might not like to hear this: a majority of inbound campaigns take between six and nine months to start seeing a return on your investment. You must acknowledge though, that not every company will see results during that time period. There will inevitably be some companies that witness results before or after the 6-9 month time frame.

You need to develop a long-term marketing strategy during the initial setup of your first  campaign.

If you are not willing to do so, you might not be ready for Inbound marketing
If you have any questions regarding how long you should wait before expecting results from inbound , check out this post.

Note: If you don’t present unique selling propositions, clearly defined offers, and an outline of how you are different from the competition, you will attract researchers who will move from your site to another site to make their final purchase.

ImageWorks, LLC

If you partner with a company like Image Works LLC that specializes in both responsive web design and marketing, you can merge your design and marketing goals together to create an appealing website that effectively draws in website traffic, converts leads into customers, and makes it easy for users to find what they are looking for and communicate with your company. If you don’t have the time or resources to engage in an inbound  campaign, see below.