Inbound marketing seems to be the hot topic of the moment, especially in these cash and budget strapped times when marketers are looking for more cost effective ways of generating leads. It’s gaining increasing purchase as more companies seek to drive their lead acquisition strategies via the web, but in reality it’s more than just a switch from the conventional lead generation practice of cold calling. Inbound marketing also requires a complete change in mindset by marketers to veer away from “selling” and begin to embrace the idea of “telling” potential customers about themselves or their product and the advantages of entering into some sort of relationship with the company rather than just pushing a product or service.
Conversations – Not Conversions
Inbound marketing is in some senses preaching to the already converted (or at least those likely to be interested in your product or proposition), but in order to find out who may be more well disposed to your message, time has to be spent establishing a relationship and some sort of rapport with the potential audience. It’s the classical social media marketing model of listening first and only then joining in the conversation. Traditional outbound marketing focuses on methods such as cold calls, direct mail shots, print ad campaigns or mass face to face opportunities like tradeshows and exhibitions. The idea behind these techniques is to get in front of cold leads and warm them up over a period if time to the point where they might show interest in your product or service – a period of weeks or months in the case of ads and direct mail and perhaps only a few minutes if you are part of a huge exhibition. This approach is basically a numbers game, requiring contact with a huge amount of people before you stumble across those who may be remotely interested in you. A response rate of around 1% is considered phenomenally successful in direct mail for example, but that means that 99% of your effort, material and budget have been wasted by contacting (and very possibly alienating) people who have no interest in your offering at all.
Content Is King
Inbound Marketing can deliver warm, qualified leads into your sales funnel by blogging, interacting on social media, search engine optimization, and use of webinars for example. Inbound methods pre-qualify leads (in effect they are self-qualified) so you can be sure your message is reaching a welcoming and receptive audience. The entire budget effort can be focussed on those with whom it’s worthwhile maintaining contact. The most important part of a successful inbound marketing strategy is to draw those people into your orbit. Rather than broadcasting a sales message to all and sundry, create great content that will draw people into your sales process. It’s a well worn cliché in online marketing, but like any aphorism it remains true that “content really is king” and “if you provide it they will come”.
Inbound marketing/social media strategies like those above should continually bring in new leads and help grow the company’s online status, reputation, trust and authority, but it won’t happen overnight. You won’t see Google place one and two for desired key terms instantaneously and your first webinar may only be in single figures, but perseverance pays. So, while inbound marketing will save money, it does take a substantial commitment of time and effort as well as considerable patience before you begin to see results.
