I often get asked, “Why should we commit to a whole year with Inbound Marketing?”
Most of us live in a fast-paced reality. We want things to happen now. We want leads now. We want sales now. Plus with all of the technological advances out there, we normally don’t have an issue with getting what we want now….especially if we are willing to pay for it.
Inbound marketing is a long-term strategy. Yes…but why!?
Inbound methodology is all about finding your prospects, nurturing to them over time then converting them to leads. Trust is a major factor nowadays with everyone pushing their messaging in front of our faces both on and offline. We’ve adapted to ignoring ads and messaging unless it’s from someone that we have grown to like and trust over time.
Inbound isn’t a “wham bam, thank you ma’am” kinda deal. Yes, depending on what type of business you operate in, you can surely spend all of your marketing budget on PPC advertising, that converts at very low rates. But why would you want to put all your eggs in one basket? How much organic traffic and nurtured relationships are you missing out on? Are you setting your business up for future exponential growth?
You have to spend time on creating awesome content, interactions on social media channels and implementing a sales and marketing symbiotic relationship. This could take months. Most of the clients I’ve worked with take anywhere from 3-7 months before seeing significant increases in organic traffic. Most of the time, somewhere around that 6-7 month mark is when things really explode and you see huge jumps in traffic.
ROI of Inbound Marketing
Ok, so by now you know that Inbound Marketing isn’t just an easy fix. It’s a long-term strategy that has the best payoff for your business.
Let’s take a look at several stats from Hubspot that explain the advantages…
Traffic:
Blogging took the ribbon on this one. After a year of an inbound methodology, over 92% of the companies that used Hubspot increased their traffic. 40% increased their organic traffic by at least 75%. Impressive numbers for simply blogging.
Leads:
After you have been blogging for some time and driving people to your site, now its time to move them further down the sales funnel to turn them into sales leads.
As you can see, of the companies that used an inbound marketing strategy, 92.7% of them increased leads and 56.3% by 50%.
The large increases aren’t just because they were blogging. It was due to “other” techniques like Landing Pages and Call to Action strategies. When prospects come to your site, you want to make sure you offer them something contextual and of value. Odds are, they will be willing to trade their contact info in exchange for that valuable content.
Sales:
Over a year’s time, 42.2% of these companies increased their lead to conversion rates. Is your sales cycle a long one. Using an inbound marketing approach will surely pay off over time. Closing deals faster means more money in your pocket in both the short and long term.
After seeing these stats, you should be very excited about taking the first step in inbound marketing or bringing on a professional to help you maximize your current inbound tactics. Again, remember that you are in a marathon, not a sprint. If you dedicate time and energy to establish long-lasting relationships with people, you will definitely see the results you need over time.
