What is the ROI of inbound marketing?
Helping potential customers understand the personal value and benefits they can enjoy from your service or product is a surefire way to encourage them to do business with you. But how do we accomplish this without being really, really annoying? Truth: nobody wants constant interruptions from pop-ups and commercials. In fact, 84% of 25–34-year-olds leave websites due to intrusive advertising (Mashable). As for buying billboards or print ads, well that’s about as effective as looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Old-school marketing strategies are just that: old.
In this digital world, why waste your resources with antiquated marketing techniques? We have something better now—it’s called inbound marketing.
What is inbound marketing?
Inbound marketing attracts the customers you want by providing them with relevant and helpful information when and where they need it. It also helps you identify your targeted customers’ needs and address their concerns. Best of all, you can do this affordably through customer-focused channels like your website, social media, search engines, and blog articles.
Think about it. How do you make buying decisions for services or products? You probably Google it, ask friends, read reviews, and check social media. You form opinions based on your own research, which undoubtedly includes reading or watching content that provides you with the information you need to make an educated decision. You do this on your terms, and you buy when you’re ready. Guess what? So do your customers.
Folks won’t read your content unless it’s relevant; it must answer the questions or solve the problems of your targeted customers. Create the right content and you’ll point those ideal customers right to you. Inbound marketing positions you as the ultimate resource, and soon, your targeted customers will come to you with their questions.
What is the return on investment (ROI) of inbound marketing?
So what are the benefits of applying inbound marketing methods versus traditional marketing efforts (or worse yet, doing nothing)?
- Cost-effective. Use tools you already have, like your website and social media channels, to educate and influence your ideal customers.
- Draw customers to you. By adding content-marketing strategies, you’ll draw in the customers you seek without the expense of interruptive marketing measures. Up to 82% of consumers like reading content from brands when it is relevant, and 43% say content marketing has a positive impact on their purchasing decisions (CMA).
- Build credibility and reputation. Producing authoritative and helpful content builds your credibility and strengthens your reputation, ultimately increasing your visibility and attractiveness to prospective customers.
- Create evergreen dividends. Quality content produces a good return (in both up and down economies) for years to come.
- Focus on customer values. Get better results by using content marketing that targets the values of your prospective customers.
- Happier customers. Free, valuable information designed to help potential clients make an informed choice makes them happy. You earn their trust and respect and squash the likelihood of buyer’s remorse.
- Better retention and satisfaction. When customers make a choice based on their own research, they experience higher satisfaction (and less resentment if there’s a hiccup). They become loyal customers because they trust and respect you.
- 24/7 sales team. Good content employing current local search engine optimization (SEO) practices combine forces to provide you with a sales force that works 365 days (and nights) a year. Now that’s a big bang for the buck!
- Save time and money. Inbound buyers are actively looking for a solution, so the customer buying cycle is short. Your marketing efforts are concentrated on customers ready to buy, and you don’t waste your dollars on uninterested or unready buyers.
- Sell the way buyers buy. Inbound or content marketing allows buyers (prospective customers) to make their own choices without the pressure (and annoyance) of interruptive messages.
- Improve future marketing. With information gained through existing inbound efforts, you gain valuable knowledge about customer needs and behaviors. Use this to make future efforts even more effective.
- Competing wisely. Inbound marketing is where it’s at these days. The ROI is 3x higher with inbound marketing as compared to outbound (traditional) marketing (State of Inbound 2019 – Hubspot).
- Better testimonials. When was the last time you made a purchase without reading the reviews? You’ll earn your customers’ respect using content marketing rather than bombarding them with interruptive marking. These “digital” clients will leave you positive testimonials, and you just can’t put a price on the power of a great review or testimonial.
It’s a win-win situation. Inbound marketing (through website SEO, content marketing, and social media) aligns your efforts with the behaviors of today’s consumers. You meet your customers when and where they want, and they buy on their terms. It’s that simple.
Ready to learn more? Next up is “A Beginner’s Guide to Inbound Marketing” to help you get things rolling, or you can contact us (888.750.4556) to learn how we can help you implement a successful inbound marketing campaign.