Inbound marketing is one of the most popular and effective marketing strageies, reaching todays fragmented digital audience through customer-centric strategies that deliver real value for small businesses. Inbound marketing drives website conversions, doubling the average conversion rate for traditional marketing campaigns from 6% to 12%, according to HubSpots 2013 State of Inbound Marketing Report. The average cost of acquiring a new customer with inbound marketing is lower than through traditional marketing. Inbound marketing generates 54% more leads than traditional outbound marketing and now comprises 34% of all marketing efforts.
Despite these glowing statistics, many small businesses are struggling to make inbound marketing work for their companies. Inbound marketing is more than simply turning visitors into leads; successful inbound marketing turns customers into promoters, forming long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships. Your company doesnt have to be a big business to save big dollars on marketing and lead generation. Below, we share the top five secrets to improve small business inbound marketing.
1. Know your ROI
While two out of three companies use inbound marketing to generate sales leads and build brand recognition, not all companies are getting the biggest bang for their inbound marketing dollar. In fact, some companies are failing to even measure their inbound marketing ROI! In order to improve inbound marketing, companies must first know whats working and whats not. After all, if you dont know what the return is on your investment, then its difficult to know how or if your business needs to make improvements. Surprisingly, one out of every three companies fails to calculate overall inbound ROI, according to HubSpot. Worse, only 15% of marketers tie inbound results directly to the number of customers generated. The first step to improving inbound marketing is to calculate existing ROI and identify opportunities for increased performance.
2. Be valuable
Traditional interruption marketing (e.g., TV ads, pop-up ads, search spam and direct mail) interrupts someones flow of activity in order to earn attention. These tactics are powered by budget and repetition the more times a potential customer sees or hears a brands slogan, then the more likely that person is to become a customer. In contrast, inbound delivers real value and earns attention organically. Creativity, talent and effort power inbound marketing. There is no magic number of ad views necessary for an individual to become a customer leads are generated because individuals see the value in a product or service and want to learn more. If your inbound marketing is sluggish, its because your business is failing to create value for your customers. Viral marketing and earned social media only succeed when you create and optimize valuable content.
3. Don't just sell, delight
Inbound marketing is more than simply closing the deal: its about turning leads into customers and customers into promoters. Inbound marketing doesnt stop when the first sale closes; it keeps going as your business delights customers and turns them into promoters, forming long-lasting relationships. This starts with adopting a customer-centric business model that prioritizes the customer relationship. Where the customer is genuinely valued, sales will naturally grow.
4. Integrate inbound marketing throughout your business
Successful inbound marketing hinges on the ability of companies to not only adopt a strategy producing content-rich, customer-focused material, but to also weave this strategy throughout their businesses. Inbound marketing is not a separate channel (like email marketing or television advertising), but a holistic strategy that must be integrated at all levels of business. One way to achieve this integration is to think of inbound marketing not as a tactic or channel but as a philosophy. Sell this philosophy throughout your business; from the IT team to your executive leadership, everyone must be onboard.
5. Test, re-test and test again
Companies that test their inbound marketing strategies are 75% more likely to get a full return on their investment than companies that do not test inbound strategies, according to HubSpot. From A/B testing a landing page to call-to-action headlines, user experience matters and is best optimized through ongoing testing. Are potential customers abandoning sales carts because your websites checkout form is too long or because theyve simply changed their mind? Are your companys testimonials too long or do they lack the right details to connect with customers? Testing not only gives your business a baseline for comparison, but also identifies previously undiscovered opportunities for continued refinement.
Summary
Inbound marketing is an incredibly effective tool; but at the end of the day, it is only a tool. Your inbound marketing success is dependent on how effectively you use the tool. After all, I could use the same tennis racket as Andy Murray, but I don't think I'll win Wimbledon any time soon. However, if I analyze Andy Murray's technique and practice, practice, practice; I'll really improve my tennis game. The same holds true for your inbound marketing, take the tips I've shared above and bring them to bear in your inbound marketing efforts. I'm certain that you'll see an improvement!