Attracts Qualified Leads
Inbound marketing allows you to target specific audiences that are more likely to turn into customers of your business. Investing in inbound marketing will ensure you don’t target a broad audience that is not interested in your products or services but rather high-converting users. Studies show that properly executed inbound marketing is 10x more effective for lead conversion than other outbound marketing efforts.
Increases Brand Awareness and Visibility
Inbound marketing tactics such as blogging and social media help improve brand visibility and reach, allowing you to connect with customers who may not have heard of your brand. Also, sharing valuable and informative content will portray your business as an authoritative figure in your field and attract new visitors.
Higher ROI
Because of high conversion rates, inbound marketing has proven to have a higher return on investment than other marketing approaches.
Improves Customer Relationships
Inbound marketing focuses help you create and foster strong business relationships with customers by showing them that you care about helping them. It’s about more than just making sales but assisting the customer.
Improves Customer Retention
As you nurture relationships with customers through inbound marketing, you will ensure that they stay in your company since their needs are listened to and satisfied.
Downsides of an Inbound Marketing Strategy
As with any other digital marketing strategy, an inbound approach also has downsides. We break down some of them below.
It Takes Time
Implementing an inbound marketing approach takes time in planning, executing, and optimizing. If you are looking for quick results, try other digital marketing strategies, such as PPC. However, waiting is worth it when you attract valuable customers.
It Requires an Investment
Additionally, inbound marketing requires financial investment, tools, technology, and channels so you can ensure that consumers find you everywhere. You may also need to hire a marketing team to help create and execute your inbound marketing strategy.
It can be difficult to measure
As the market is unpredictable and sometimes volatile, it might be hard to measure the exact revenue or results you might generate. However, if implemented correctly, inbound marketing can be a considerable driver of income for your business.
What is an example of inbound marketing?
For example, imagine that a consumer is experiencing a need to understand why his business’s finances are dropping significantly. He goes into Google and looks for the question, “Why are my business’s finances decreasing drastically?”. He will most likely be looking for an article, blog, or any other piece of content that answers his questions.
You can then create an informative and helpful blog about the main reasons why finances drop in businesses. As the user reads your content, he finds it attractive and engaging. He then considers you as a reliable source of information.
But, he realizes he needs a consultant to help him solve his problems. He remembers you and notices that you offer finance consultancy services. He goes to your service page on your website and finds an incredible limited-time offer. Finally, he decides to contact you, and boom! You have acquired a new customer through inbound marketing.
What is Outbound Marketing?
Let’s now cover what outbound marketing efforts are. Outbound marketing targets many people through traditional channels, such as newspapers, TV and radio ads, billboards, street banners, and more. This marketing approach was used long ago when digital media were limited and is still used by companies in the market.
Outbound marketing methods promote that the bigger the audience you reach, the better results will bring for your business. As opposed to inbound marketing, an outbound approach targets consumers that don’t know what their needs are, what they are looking for, or who to contact. It is a push-based form of marketing, meaning it is used to actively reach out to people and encourage them to buy your product or service.
Even though it is less effective than an inbound approach, outbound marketing can benefit your company.