The purpose of the Small Business Marketing Guide: Introduction to Inbound Marketing is to educate you on inbound marketing strategies that will help your prospects find you, convert prospects into qualified leads and customers, and analyse your results to improve marketing ROI.
This is the basis of the Inbound Marketing Methodology:
- Get Found.
- Convert.
- Analyse.
In order to survive the volatile economic climate, many companies have pulled in the purse strings and cut back on staff, with remaining staff wearing many different hats.
• What if there was an answer, a solution?
• What if you could increase leads, qualified leads?
• What if you could increase conversions?
• What if you could reduce your overheads and cost per lead?
• What would all that mean to your bottom line and the viability of your business?
Consider these very important statistics:
- One third of the world’s population is on the internet.
- Globally we conduct 4,000,000,000 searches per day.
- Almost 8 new people come onto the internet, every second.
- The average cost of a lead is 61% lower with inbound marketing, compared to traditional outbound marketing.
- People spend more time on social media, than any other online activity.
- Social media usage keeps increasing, across all age groups.
The term ‘Inbound Marketing’ refers to the process of strategically marketing your business to people who want to hear from you. It means your company’s online presence is positioned where your target audience is searching and where they are having conversations, providing the information for which they are looking. Inbound marketing tactics are designed to provide value, build trust and authority, which ultimately result in increased leads and higher conversion rates. Inbound marketing is also known as ‘Permission Based Marketing’, marketing to people who have indicated they are interested in your product or service.
Conversely, there’s outbound marketing. Outbound marketing has been the way marketers have traditionally marketed; cold calling, direct mail, spam email, non-‐relevant advertising. These methods are becoming less and less effective, and are very costly.
To grow your business you first need to Get Found by your target audience, then Convert your target audience into leads and customers, and finally Analyse your results to identify what’s working and what’s not so you can improve your marketing ROI.
This probably sounds easier said than done. The first step is education:
- Understand why you must implement certain marketing tactics.
- Know what marketing tactics are right for your business.
- Learn how to implement your marketing tactics.
- And finally know what to measure and how to determine success.
If you're responsible for lead generation or business development in your company - get the competitive edge by learning more about Inbound Marketing and creating marketing your audience will love.
