So why should you use Inbound Marketing?
If you’re responsible for marketing communications in your business, chances are you’re using some form of traditional “outbound” marketing. Advertisements in trade magazines, newspapers, direct mail, trade shows, radio, television, cold calling, and mass email are examples. They are intrusive to varying degrees and have their place in your mix of communication tools.
However, marketers are also harnessing the power of “inbound” marketing. With more than 164 million estimated adult Internet users, most of the information that had been obtained offline, such as product research, is now done online.
Inbound marketing strategies are designed to help your prospects learn about your product or service when they do a keyword search, subscribe to your Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feed, download your case studies, opt in to receive your newsletters via email, watch your videos, listen to your podcasts, follow you on social media, or comment on your blog. In other words, it can help you “get found” by prospects who are actively searching for your products and services on the Internet. The advantage is that it is with your permission unlike outbound marketing, which is interrupted.
Consider the numbers. behavior of Internet users 88 billion Google searches worldwide monthly. There is more of 800 million Facebook members with more 25 billion pieces of content shared monthly. YouTube accounts for more than 4 billion videos streamed daily. As a result, the average budget spent on company blogs and social media has nearly doubled in two years.
Inbound marketing tactics consist of search engine optimization, blogging, social media, website lead generation, and lead nurturing. Your approach is to “draw” your prospects to your business or service so they can discover it for themselves. If the descriptions and keywords used for your product and services don’t rank highly in search engines, chances are your prospects won’t find you. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial to achieving higher rankings.
One way to maximize your SEO is through frequent blogging. The term “blog” is derived from the term “web log”, which is a discussion or information site published on the Internet. It consists of “posts” that discuss a topic of interest designed to become interactive by generating comments from readers. Statistics indicate that B2C companies that blog generate 88% more leads per month than those that don’t. B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those that don’t. The content generated through blogs is beneficial to prospects, customers, and search engines.
Being active on social networking sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, is essential to your business. With 93% of US adult internet users on Facebook, both B2C and B2B businesses are acquiring customers through Facebook, and businesses using Twitter average twice as many leads per month as those without. they do.
Once a customer or prospect lands on your website, you must have a means of tracking their visit. Consider incorporating a “call to action” (CTA) button that links to an offer. This CTA button can take your visitor to a “landing page” detailing the offer while giving the visitor a means to respond, thus creating a lead. It’s up to you to nurture that leadership and build relationships and trust with your prospects. Nutrition can drive brand and product preference long before the prospect becomes a customer. According to Forrester Research, Businesses that excel at nurturing leads can generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost per lead.
Inbound marketing complements your outbound marketing program. If you can implement all five components of inbound marketing, including search engine optimization, blogging, social media, website lead generation, and lead nurturing, the synergistic effect will likely result in marketing efficiencies. costs, higher sales and a better return on investment.
