When it comes to marketing, the objectives often remain same or it can be said that these are pretty much universal. Let’s start with some very common goals that marketing strategy involves.
- Fetch traffic to the website or physical store
- Increase brand awareness
- Generate and convert leads
- Maintain relations and trust of existing customers, etc.
For no matter which way you choose, the objective behind promoting every business remains the same. It is about promoting products and services, eventually boosting up the sales.
However, regardless of the fact that we all as marketers have almost same goals, there may lay a difference in its approach.
In present times, outbound and inbound marketing are two chief strategies used for advertising and making people reach you.
While outbound marketing include stuff like printed advertisements, TV and radio commercials, flyers, newspaper ads, broachers, cold calls, email blasts, etc. inbound marketing simply offer information as per user’s convenience. And if observed as per today’s ease, people hardly prefer reading commercials on newspaper or wait for the radio timings to switch to business related stuff. These activities have greatly switched to internet. Be it looking for some information to grab knowledge or go ahead with making some purchase, Google is the first place people rush to. And, here works inbound marketing strategy. This is one of the most sorted out method of delivering information to the user at that precise moment.
With this, here are some key problems that this marketing strategy solves which answer the question in heading “why choose inbound marketing?”
Cost Effective and Greater Returns over Investment
If compared to the things included in outbound marketing, this form of advertising is cost effective. Just think about TV ads, commercials, newspaper ads, these all are nothing more than highly expensive activities taking in lots of efforts, resources and labour to execute. Moreover, these forms of ads are short lived. To elaborate: No one bothers reading yesterday’s newspaper, or sticking to the cold calls for more than 5 seconds. Even a newspaper or radio ad lasts in seconds which is often skipped.
By contrast, a piece of content created for the web gets a lifetime authority. It exists there forever. The youtube videos, blogposts, infographics and many more stuff like this remain on internet even years after you have published it first.
Additionally, ROI is also a big factor that favors going on with the inbound marketing strategy. This form does not require investing in lots and lots of bucks. It can be done for free as well. While outbound marketing is an affair of extravagance, it is not so with the inbound one. There is no risk of any financial loss in inbound marketing for nothing is at stake. And even if there is, the chances of failure are rare if you have followed the guidelines and performed the task in a better way.
Website Traffic
Every industry existing online, fights to fetch greater traffic on the website which has given a drastic raise to the competition. However, there lies a deep truth beneath getting this rush on your web platform. When there are lots of industries and businesses sitting on web why would people choose yours? You have to give them a reason to visit your portal and avail your services.
However, inbound marketing work in this context. It includes strategic creation of search engine optimized content along with social media strategy to strengthen it. Additionally, one can determine exactly where the prospects are looking for relevant information on the web and the relevant stuff they are searching for. This enables you to impart that proper information in specific places.
Through these platforms, the user will click on your web portals and will come up with the boost in targeted traffic which is required by all the businesses operating digitally.
Trust Factor
Outbound marketing is no longer trusted by consumers. Though big brands will not excuse the branding on televisions or newspapers but they make sure that social medias or the web channels are not ignored.
Inbound marketing shares content that targets to fetch at-least something rather than nothing. It is not the content which says “Buy it Now” or asking for something in return because people have become aware of such wary content and skip buying it, even if it is worth.
As per research and studies it is observed that people get convinced with the written content, testimonials or the personal recommendations rather than traditional marketing. And that’s something inbound marketing involves efficiently.
Message Reliability
The very first question you need to ask yourself is what is your brand’s core message that you wish to deliver?
There are chances that your brand’s tagline has that message, but it may not be so also. However one thing is certain that your consumers will be getting in touch with your online output so as to ensure that you are distributing a reliable message which can act as a core to your success.
Inbound marketing methods facilitate you to define your brand’s message, amplify it and then reiterate it on various channels right from your blog site to your social networks.
A perfect messaging plan may contribute in reinforcing the comments and reviews that people leave online. To cut it short, inbound marketing is not the strategy that confines to marketing your brand and boost up your sales, but this ensures that your customers buy and trust your brand as a whole. This inbound content marketing strategy actually engraves your brand name in a manner that it makes your consumers feel good whenever they make a purchase from you.