What is inbound marketing?
There is a lot of talk about inbound and outbound marketing. We’ve talked about inbound marketing on the blog in the past, but it’s time to delve a little deeper.
When you utilise inbound marketing, the customer finds you, which is an excellent long term investment.
Implementing a proper inbound marketing strategy does require some time, effort, and a bit of investment, but the benefits far outweigh the costs to start. More and more companies and brands are scaling back their outbound marketing efforts to focus on inbound marketing.
It’s not an and-or scenario, but as the digital landscape changes there is an increase in inbound marketing efforts. As the digital landscape shifts, there is also an increase in the demand for seamless online design and responsive website technology (a core focus at iProperty).
An inbound marketing strategy is called non-interruptive, because unlike an outbound marketing strategy, it doesn’t interrupt people with ads.
In an outbound marketing strategy you’re, in a sense, pushing people towards you. In an inbound marketing strategy, you’re drawing them in using gentler tactics. Let’s take a look at more of them in detail:
Outbound Marketing: You Find the Customer
As stated above, an outbound marketing strategy disrupts people and is sometimes called interruptive marketing. Outbound marketing has experienced tremendous success in the past, despite its tendency to be classified as pushy advertising. Here are some outbound marketing techniques:
- Commercials (TV or Radio)
- Direct Mail
- Newspapers
- Print Media (billboards, magazines, publication advertisements)
This type of marketing is in our face, and it’s likely influenced our purchasing decisions. It’s what we typically think about when we think about advertising.
So, is traditional marketing or outbound marketing really as successful as we believe it to be?
Statistics show that 44% of direct mail is never opened. 86% of people skip over TV commercials, and the percentage of people who read print newspapers has fallen to 23% in the last few years and continues to fall. Traditional media is hard to measure and is said to be somewhat effective, but people just aren’t responding to outbound marketing the way they once were.
Inbound Marketing: The Customer Finds You
An inbound marketing strategy draws customers inward, pulling them to you. With inbound marketing, you position yourself to be there when someone needs you or more information.
Inbound marketing is based on the premises that when someone needs information, they’ll ask for it via the internet or social media.
When you implement an inbound marketing strategy, you provide the information to people, so that they learn more about you and what you have to offer.
Inbound marketers use some of the following techniques:
- Social Media Marketing
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
- Content Marketing
- Paid Search Advertising
- Email Marketing
So, how does inbound marketing measure up when compared to its counterpart?
- 44% of online shoppers use a search engine, and 61% of internet users worldwide research products online.
- Business-to-Business Marketers who utilise blogs generate 57% more leads per month than those who do not.
- Leads that come to a site from search engines have a 14.6% close rate. Leads that come from print advertising or direct mail have a mere close rate of 1.7%.
- Per lead, the cost of inbound marketing is 62% less expensive than the cost of outbound marketing.
Statistics reveal what we’ve come to suspect: We live in a world where people don’t want to be interrupted—they want to be helped. The message becomes not “use my services” or “buy my stuff,” but “how can I help you?”
With inbound marketing, you remove the pushy sales messages and provide helpful and relevant content that your potential customers are looking for. If you need help building a website, mobile app, or platform—one that speaks to the increasing demands of your potential customers—contact us to find out how we can help.
For more helpful information about content marketing and inbound and outbound marketing, check out these articles: