This is dangerous thinking because it does not account for changing times. Just because something worked in the past doesn’t mean it will continue to work in the future. A business that fails to grow with the world is a business that will be left behind.
That’s why inbound marketing is so important. The internet changed the game, in a big way, and your business should adapt to stay relevant and competitive. Here are five reasons to switch to inbound marketing.
Let’s get this one out of the way first—your competition is already using inbound marketing. Doing something just because your competition is can also be a dangerous business strategy (especially if they’re doing something wrong), but in the case of inbound, they’re definitely doing something right. The benefits of inbound are just too great to ignore.
You only have so many marketing dollars, so you have to spend them wisely. Even if your company is doing well and has a lot of money to throw at marketing, you should still be using inbound for the ROI it brings. Getting onto social media, developing a working blog, and creating content that helps interested clients finds you is, all told, fairly cheap; it’s a greater time investment, of course, but the benefits of a well-crafted post can last for years.
Outbound just can’t compete with the low start-up cost and the continuous rate of return.
The current “secret” to business success is nurturing relationships with your clients. The people who are clients today are more likely to be your clients tomorrow, so the longer you can hold onto them, and the more of them you can keep interested, the better your future profits are likely to be.
An engaging social media community; helpful, insightful blog posts; and weekly email updates (with more of that engaging content) are great ways to work on those relationships in a non-obtrusive way.
Don’t underestimate the little “share” button on social media. That’s an easy way for your current cheerleaders to say, “Hey! This company really did me well and has a great product, so you should try it out.” And as we all know, word of mouth carries more weight than any ad we can put together (that’s why people flock to review sites when researching a new product).
The internet is the perfect space for people to share their positive experiences; and even if things take a turn, a well-worded response to a bad experience can actually net you more followers and eventually more clients.
Search engines: your greatest ally and biggest hurdle. The way people find products has completely changed over the last decade. Independent research is so easy on the internet, and social media has made it more so. And then there’s Google. You need to make sure your brand is being found online. That means getting into the SEO game, optimizing your websites, and making sure you’re providing useful, quality content (Google is fairly upfront about what it’s looking for).
Inbound marketing is affordable and effective; it’s a necessary part of every business’s marketing strategy. It’s time to give up, “We’ve always done it that way!” and embrace the benefits of change.