As we approach the holiday seasons, many of us start thinking about what we're thankful for. Like most of you, I'm thankful for my wife and family. My wife has encouraged me to follow my entrepreneurial dream of starting my inbound marketing consultancy - in more ways than one. I'm thankful for my faithful Chocolate Labrador, Kona. As I face the ups and downs that all entrepreneurs know about, Kona is always there to make me feel better. As an owner of a small business, I'm really thankful for inbound marketing. Inbound marketing helps attract qualified buyers to your website and converts them to leads and customers using SEO, content marketing, social media, lead nurturing and marketing analytics. I'm thankful for inbound marketing because it helps my small business compete on an equal footing with large enterprise companies (kind of like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.) Let me explain.
Inbound marketing is the great equalizer for SMB companies
In the not-too distant past, capital requirements made it almost impossible to start a new business. Technological advancements like cloud software and crowdsourcing have made it relatively inexpensive to start a business, particularly in the management consulting field. Need a good accounting process? Buy QuickBooks software and outsource your accounting to a qualified professional. The same formula applies for most of the essential business processes.
Just like David was able to slay Goliath with a slingshot, inbound marketing allows SMB companies to successfully compete with large, established enterprise businesses. Consider the business environment in large corporate America. Large businesses are reducing headcount to maintain profitability (i. e. - fire employees) and outsourcing those jobs to countries with cheaper labor costs. Large management consulting companies engage recent college graduates to deliver service because they're cheap. It's not a lot of fun working in corporate America - it's not an environment that encourages risk-taking or innovation.
The business environment in large corporate America is creating opportunities for SMB companies to thrive. In my case, HubSpot inbound marketing software is my version of David's slingshot. At a relatively low cost, it produces sales opportunities with companies meeting my ideal customer profile. As an experienced professional, I'm confident of my chances when I'm competing against less-experienced competition. It's a perfect supplement to my other primary lead generation channel, which is networking.
Google's ranking algorithm has leveled the playing field
While there are many factors in Google's search engine ranking algorithm, it's a fundamentally democratic process. As Google has updated their algorithm over the past few years, it has increasingly rewarded companies that produce good content for their customers with organic search engine traffic. It doesn't matter how big your company is; if you create good content, you'll drive organic search engine traffic. If you're targeting the right keywords, organic search traffic by definition is people that are looking for help with the problems that your product/service solves.
Rather than try to generate "buzz" with PR outreach to journalists, you can create your own buzz by writing great blog articles and promoting them on your social media networks. With persistent and consistent content creation, you'll create sales opportunities with your target prospects. In the management consulting field, your content is your version of free samples. Your content marketing shows potential buyers how you think and how you help solve the problems they face. It gives them confidence that you have the right ideas and approaches to solve their problems.
Social selling is about helping potential buyers solve problems
Social selling is an essential tool in the modern buying process. Today's buyers conduct far more pre-purchase research than they have in the past (Source: Google Zero Moment of Truth study.) They conduct this research by using search engine queries and social media to access product/service reviews and to get answers to their questions. In fact, the Corporate Executive Board found that the typical buyers completes 57% of their buying process before ever talking to a salesperson.
SMB companies can leverage the new buying process by using inbound marketing to attract buyers with content that helps buyers with their pre-purchase research. While large enterprise businesses fall back on selling by sharing how big they are and how they have offices in Berlin and Shanghai, SMB companies are helping people in LinkedIn groups and sharing blog articles that reflect their experiences helping businesses solve problems. They're matching their selling process to the modern buying process. Like Brazilia Jiu-Jitsu, inbound marketing enables a skillful, smaller competitor to beat a large opponent with technique and experience.
Summary
If you manage or own an SMB company, be thankful for inbound marketing this holiday season. It's an essential tool to help you compete successfully against large enterprise companies by matching your selling process to the modern buying process. If you're an SMB company that's not using inbound marketing, what are you waiting for? You can win business by creating great content that generates sales opportunities with your target prospects. If you're an SMB company that focuses on solving customer's problems, you can win those opportunites more often than not.
