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Your customers aren`t all that different from you. Unless you’re a marketing geek, you probably resent having your online experience interrupted by commercials and ads. After all, 84% of consumers say that ad interruptions are too frequent, and more than half of all consumers are aware of ad-blocking services.
Enter Inbound Marketing: the best way to do business online. Consumers still want to find information, connect with brands, and make purchases: but they want content that’s relevant to their needs.
The inbound methodology uses strategies like social media marketing, email, video, blogging, SEO, paid advertising, and more. If you’re not investing in Inbound Marketing, you’re missing a lot of opportunities to connect with your customers. The best tool for Inbound Marketing today is Hubspot.
So how do you know if you need more investment in Inbound Marketing?
1. You don’t have a clear digital marketing strategy
In 2017, almost half of the companies didn’t even have a digital marketing strategy, In the B2B world, only 30% of companies have a content marketing strategy.
Despite this, companies are investing in content and digital marketing, with 65% of CMOs saying they intend to increase digital marketing expenditure in 2018.
If you are spending your money without a clear strategy, you are throwing it away. Investing in Inbound Marketing allows you to formulate a winning plan that will support your business goals.
2. You are not attracting the right audience
Once you have a clear inbound marketing strategy, the next place to invest is in inbound marketing is defining your buyer personas.
You must understand your target audience before you appeal to them. The most significant advantage of investing in inbound marketing is that your company will be able to attract the people who are already looking for solutions you provide.
If you are not attracting the right audience to your content or website, you won’t get the results you are looking for.
3. You aren’t attracting a big enough audience.
The best content in the world does you no good if you aren’t getting enough eyeballs on your page. Low website traffic and social media engagement make it virtually impossible to improve your results.
Not only is your content ignored, but you also aren’t even able to get the analytics and statistics you need to start making incremental improvement.
Inbound marketing focuses on publishing and distributing content to drive new and repeat traffic to your website or content.
Investing in inbound marketing allows you to maximise SEO and social media traffic, and creating more blogs, emails, video, and social media posts can give you more ways to get visitors to your site.
4. They see it; they don’t care
Social media marketing is supposed to drive engagement. Engagement is the way viewers interact with your brand.
Every time a user clicks, likes, comments or shares on that interaction increases your visibility with users’ network and platform as a whole.
Popular content gets more popular due to algorithms, having a social presence allows you to increase your reach.
Sharing content that elicits engagement, being consistent in your posting, responding promptly to interactions, and building relationships with followers get you more attention on social media, which translates into more eyeballs for your website.
5. You are not getting enough leads
If you could spend a dollar and get back $44, would you? For every dollar invested in inbound marketing through email, $44 were earned in 2016. So why is your company not milking that for every penny it’s worth?
Statistics like this tell us what happens in the average, not what happens in individual companies.
After all, almost 1 in 5 companies have an ROI of double the average! But to achieve average or above average results, you have to have enough names going into the top of the funnel.
If you are not getting enough leads, you won’t get enough sales. Investing in Inbound marketing allows you to optimise tools such as landing pages, content offers, and blog post o better align with your audience`s interests.
6. Your leads aren’t buying
The above statistics show us the difference between a statistical average and a company’s performance. So, if you have a decent email list but you are not getting the ROI you need, it’s time to invest in Inbound Marketing.
Unfortunately, there are dozens of reasons why your email marketing isn’t making you money. You might not be nurturing your leads, using marketing automation effectively or have ineffective CTA`s.
An investment in Inbound marketing allows you to increase the effectiveness of the campaign and increase revenue.
7. Your content doesn’t align with your buyers’ journey
Buyers go through a process when they make a buying decision. They need to be aware of the problem (awareness), consider different solutions to the problem (consideration), and make a decision about which solution is the best.
Prospects at different levels need different information or content to move them to the next level.
Your inbound marketing strategy should be aligned with your buyer persona, but if you’re saying the wrong stage, you aren’t really speaking to your target effectively.
Investing in Inbound marketing allows you to build different content streams, lead generation systems, and lead management strategies to capitalise in inbound leads at every stage of a buyer’s journey.
8. Your marketing isn’t automated
Your marketing team is busy, and that’s not going to get any easier. In most companies that which is automated gets done, that which isn’t doesn’t.
The best marketing plan won't matter if it's not implemented. Marketing automation is the best way to produce, distribute content effectively.
42% of companies only use marketing automation, but best-in-class companies are 67% more likely to use automation than their competitors.
9. You aren’t credible yet
One of the most significant advantages of creating high-quality content is that it bolsters your authority in your industry.
Your audience views you as reliable and trustworthy, and they are more likely to do business with you if they feel that they can trust you.
If your content isn’t of high quality or isn’t published consistently, you need to invest in inbound marketing to make sure you are getting the reputation boost you need.
Click here to know How to set up inbound marketing strategy for a small business?
10. Your customers are disappearing
A returning customer is twice as likely to click that “Add to Cart“ button as a customer you haven’t delighted yet.
It’s easier to sell to someone who has brought from you than to create a brand-new customer, but in this age of social media and online reviews, it’s easier to attract new customers if your existing customers love you.
Inbound Marketing doesn’t end when you make the first sale. By wowing your customers through preferred customer programs, outstanding content and customer appreciation initiatives, you can get more repeat business and attract new customers.