Using Inbound Marketing Services to Grow Your Business

Generating qualified leads and converting them to buyers is a critical function of any business in any industry. However, how you generate and nurture those leads can make an enormous impact on conversion rates, revenue growth, and the overall customer experience. That’s where inbound marketing services can significantly impact your bottom line.

Are you struggling to generate a steady stream of qualified leads and convert them? If so, you are in good company. At one point or another, most businesses struggle with this issue until they reassess their marketing and formulate the right growth marketing strategy. Understanding the differences between inbound and outbound marketing can make a world of difference to your long-term growth.

Inbound and outbound marketing function very differently in attracting leads and converting them into buyers. If outbound marketing can be likened to “pushing” a message to reach your audience, then inbound marketing can be likened to gently “pulling” using content engagement. The results are often vastly different.

Inbound Marketing

An inbound marketing strategy is largely based on attracting your ideal customer with content that engages and establishes you as a trusted authority. It has also been described as magnetic marketing as it draws leads into products and services through an “engagement-based” methodology rather than an unsolicited, assertive approach typical of many outbound marketing campaigns.

Inbound digital marketing methods tend to be much more cost-effective and typically generate higher conversion, ROI, and revenue metrics than outbound methods. HubSpot defines the Inbound Methodology in three phases:

Attract the right leads with valuable content.
Engage those leads with solutions and convert them to buyers
Delight those buyers with excellent support & service

Outbound Marketing

Outbound marketing employs external resources such as commercials, digital or live ads, in-person sales, event networking, cold calling, and email marketing, to name a few. Some of these methods can be very successful when used correctly. However, they are a much more labor and cost-intensive type of marketing with smaller conversion and ROI metrics than inbound methods.

The outbound methodology often produces smaller returns due to the myriad ways to block these forms of marketing. For example, cold calling can be blocked with caller ID, email marketing with spam filters, and the last time a salesperson attempted to engage you unsolicited they were most likely met with a swift, “no thanks.”

Outbound methods can also be harder to track ROI and critical conversion metrics. This is not to vilify outbound marketing. On the contrary, it can be essential to your lead generation and branding strategies, especially when combined with a robust inbound marketing plan.

Inbound Marketing Architecture

The inbound methodology draws leads into products and services with content marketing, social media, and SEO (search engine optimization), customer testimonials. Inbound marketing emphasizes offering value to your audience instead of pursuing them with high-pressure sales tactics.

Remember the adage, “just because you are ready to sell doesn’t mean the customer is ready to buy?” Unfortunately, assertive sales strategies won’t necessarily make it happen quicker, and in most cases will turn potential customers off.

Inbound content strategies help establish trust and nurture leads on autopilot until they are ready to buy. Sales teams can spend less time trying to convert new leads with a hard sell and more time closing hot leads that are farther down the marketing funnel and ready to purchase. Inbound methodology creates a relatively frictionless environment over traditional outbound methods for businesses and customers.

Inbound methods are powerful because you provide answers to potential buyers the minute they are searching for answers. Instead of chasing leads, your leads come to you because you are creating specific content that matches what they are already searching for.

Examples of Inbound Mechanisms Include:

Blog Posts, Videos, & SEO- Blogs are one of the most passive, yet powerful conversion mechanisms businesses can utilize to grow their customer base. Search Engines love blog posts and video content because they deliver fresh, relevant content that rewards businesses with higher rankings in search results leading to higher organic website traffic.

Customers love blogs because they gain the information, they need to make informed decisions without feeling obligated to or pressured by a salesperson. In addition, blogs help position your brand as an industry expert when created thoughtfully and strategically.

Social Media & Lead Magnets- Why is social media an important part of inbound marketing?

Social media platforms are a powerful gateway for driving organic traffic to your website. Generating company pages on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook is a 100% cost-free way of sharing content and calls to action. In addition, strategic offers on social media can draw targeted leads to landing pages and lead magnet offers such as eBooks, white papers, slide decks, and videos.

Having a strong social media presence is no longer optional. Because it comes with zero upfront costs, why wouldn’t businesses take advantage of the opportunity for lead generation?

Newsletters- Many businesses offer a newsletter or collect email addresses but aren’t utilizing this lead magnet in the most effective way. A newsletter is not only a great way to stay “top of mind,” but it also acts as an advertising medium, a branding and promotional tool, an education asset, and one of the ultimate ways of establishing your brand and staff as experts in your field.

How Inbound Marketing Services Can Help You Grow Your Business

Many businesses are faced with the decision at some point or another as to whether they should hire an agency or handle the work internally. Inbound marketing agencies can help you focus on defining your ideal buyer persona, finding out what matters to them, and creating an inbound marketing plan to reach prospective clients with the right types of content ideas.

A professional team can take the guesswork out of your inbound and outbound marketing efforts. However, with so many businesses stretched thin as it is, diverting your team’s focus and attention into inbound marketing internally may not be the right strategy.

When you hire an inbound marketing agency, you are hiring a team of experts in the field that can significantly shorten the learning curve and get results faster than on your own. Think of it as the difference between having a knowledgeable tour guide in a new city as opposed to doing it yourself with an old map. An experienced guide will get you to your destination quicker and safer, and you’ll enjoy the journey.

They can also establish the mechanisms to test, track, and tweak strategies to generate the best possible ROI. When you have more time to devote to business development and draw qualified leads through inbound marketing, the net result is business growth!

Discover how Anthem Ag supports agribusiness clients through inbound marketing and custom agricultural technology solutions

Contact Gate 39 Media or set up a call to learn more.

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