Today, the average person sees as many as 5000 advertisements per day (Content Marketing Institute) and is becoming more adept at tuning out traditional advertising. The immense competition for the limited attention span of consumers is driving the costs of outbound marketing initiatives up. In the last year, some markets have seen the prices of select keyword search terms increase as much as 1000 percent (Buckingham-Jones, 2021). You could say push tactics are like searching for a needle in a very expensive haystack.
Inbound marketing is a newer and more cost-effective strategy to acquire customers by making useful and valuable content available through digital distribution channels. As a philosophy, inbound marketing is a paradigm shift from the "push" tactics that seek to interrupt the consumer to a concept based on attraction. Inbound marketing reverses the one-way messaging of traditional marketing. It creates a conversation centered on the consumer's needs and helps to demonstrate the content provider's understanding of the customer and their needs.
You could say that inbound marketing works for the same reasons traditional marketing doesn't. Consumers have become so accustomed to the big promises and limited substance in ads that when they encounter helpful, high-quality content, they are more likely to engage and have an improved brand perception. Higher trust and credibility are two key reasons why a properly executed inbound marketing strategy is 10 times more effective for lead conversion than outbound marketing. Inbound practices produce 54 percent more leads than traditional outbound practices, doubling the average website conversion rate (Invesp).
Here's our three-step process for getting started with inbound marketing:
- Diagnose the current inbound marketing performance – before you can determine where you're going, it's essential to understand where you are. Diagnosing your inbound marketing efforts will help you see the digital marketing opportunities and gaps more clearly.
- Prescribe strategic marketing solution – your inbound strategy answers why, what, and how: Why you're doing what you're doing, what you're striving to do, and how to get it done.
- Apply marketing solutions to business problems – breaking down your plan into manageable pieces and setting realistic timelines. This requires an honest assessment of resources and the ability to remain flexible enough to adjust as you collect and analyze performance data.
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more marketing tips, check out the rest of our “Getting Started Series” articles and free eBooks on Content Marketing, Integrated Marketing, Account-Based Marketing, and Email Marketing.
About the Content Sponsor
Dummies Custom Solutions creates co-branded custom marketing content that helps our clients “wow” their customers. We create content that positions our clients in front of a larger, global audience, establishing them as thought leaders in their industry, driving demand, increased engagement, and more qualified sales opportunities.References
Buckingham-Jones, S. (2021, August 21). The great digital ad price hike: Google and Facebook prices climb 1000% in some sectors, 45% on average. Retrieved from Mi3: https://www.mi-3.com.au/16-08-2021/draft-digital-ad-prices-rocket-skyward-forcing-social-spend-re-thinkMcCoy, J. (2017, October 22). 9 Stats That Will Make You Want to Invest in Content Marketing. Retrieved from Content Marketing Institute: https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/10/stats-invest-content-marketing/
Saleh, K. (n.d.). How Effective is Inbound Marketing – Statistics and Trends [Infographic]. Retrieved from Invesp: https://www.invespcro.com/blog/how-effective-is-inbound-marketing/