Inbound Marketing Drives ROI
Inbound Marketing is what it sounds like…Marketing that “Brings Clients In” to the website. Outbound Marketing is Marketing activities that attempt to push people into the website. Both methods can work but the results are quite different.
With Inbound Marketing, people who visit your site are doing it voluntarily and because they have an interest in what you are selling. There was no pushy salesman trying to get them to make a purchase so they arrive at your website looking for information and help with less of their ’Salesman guard up”. With Out Bound Marketing visitors might have little interest depending on how pushy the Marketing was. Because Outbound Marketing is pushier there is also a loss of trust which will also make closing a sale more difficult.
Inbound Marketing is not new but the concept is. Blogs, posting to social media, emails and almost any other form of content Marketing is Inbound Marketing.
So why all the hype about it now???
The Follow Infographic explains:
So in a nut shell you would have to generate 8 times as many leads with Outbound Marketing than you would with Inbound Marketing. And notice that when companies do one blog a week 67% acquire a customer through the Blog. When Businesses do multiple blogs a week 92% of them make sales through their blogs.
Social media is an important aspect of inbound marketing. If you hang out around people who you think might be interested in your products and services, they’ll notice you’re around and, if they believe you can help them, they’ll engage. For this to work, however, you need to do your homework and make sure you choose the correct social networks. For example, 77% of B2C marketers think Facebook is killer for their campaigns, while 51% of B2B marketers favor LinkedIn. Different types of businesses use different types of social media. So choose carefully which media you use. If your clients prefer Business to Business relationships then LinkedIn is probably your best option. If they are more personal relationships or the right generation then perhaps Facebook might make more sense.
The proof that inbound Marketing offers a better ROI is in the following numbers. Consider the average cost per lead for Traditional Marketing Methods…..$373. Inbound Marketing Leads cost 61% less at only $143! So you could invest twice as much into Inbound Marketing, make more money and spend less.
Keep in mind, we are not saying stop Outbound Marketing. We are simply pointing out the benefits and potential opportunity loss if you don’t invest in some Inbound Marketing.
Tim Bennett
WSI Internet Consultant
