Inbound marketing requires a steady stream of content that is engaging and enduring. It’s no easy feat to constantly come up with new content; inbound marketing is a strategy that requires long-term nurturing and revisiting. This form of marketing focusses on content: social media, blogs, webinars, eBooks and is completely manageable when you approach it with the right organisational skills and creativity. It’s a particularly effective way of reaching customers with a greater potential for conversion and allows a hands-on approach that helps you build a more insightful understanding of your business and its clients.
Being reactive to consumer trends
One of the reasons inbound marketing is so successful is because of how its compatibility with the way consumers are searching for products and services. Inbound marketing lets the consumers find you – meaning that potential clients who find your business are already interested in what you and your business have to offer. Unlike outbound marketing, the conversation is not just one-sided, where the advertising is trying to talk to and engage everyone and anyone. One of the reasons why people find ads so annoying or become indifferent to them is because they give them no value. Inbound marketing is focussed and the engagement is better categorised as a conversation – the consumer will seek the business out, and the business will respond and provide value.
Finding success
The great thing about inbound marketing is you can find consumer ‘trails’. You can use metrics and analytics to determine what is bringing the consumer to you – are they clicking on your social media links or are they readings your blogs? You can find the path that leads them to each page of your website and employ a far more effective marketing strategy when you actually know what is working and what is not. Capitalise on your ability to track content and use blog metrics to your advantage. Inbound marketing gives you far greater control of your content and how it can be used in the best way possible to produce results.
Cost efficiency
Inbound marketing is substantially more affordable than outbound marketing. SEO strategies, social media and blogging are considerably cheaper than more traditional forms of marketing such as televised promo spots, radio ads or even print ads. You don’t waste any ad spend on uninterested consumers, but rather have marketing material directed at a target audience. Creating content for predominantly online platforms is generally low-cost and you can direct the money you save towards capital or other investments to better your business.
