For small businesses with a limited marketing budget, it may seem hard to lock in more sales and grow. However, a highly beneficial strategy is inbound marketing. Ultimately, inbound marketing has a higher ROI and results in more gains.
But before we can look at more benefits of implementing an inbound marketing strategy, let’s first understand what inbound marketing is.
Understanding Inbound Marketing
First off, while inbound marketing may sound like a new term, it has been in use for more than 10 years in the marketing world. It is basically a strategy of attracting leads through the creation of valuable online content that appeals to customers.
The five pillars of inbound marketing include:
- Content
- Attention
- Engagement
- Trust
- Satisfaction
Ultimately, inbound marketing is about creating free communication between customers and the business to generate more sales.
Inbound marketing is a product of the internet and the fact that online buyers now use the internet as a source of not just products but information regarding the products. Therefore, at the center of inbound marketing is content marketing.
Benefits Of Inbound Marketing For The Business
We’ve noted that inbound marketing involves reaching out to customers in an organic way to first build relationships. This brings many benefits to the business.
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Cost-Effective
The first thing that will likely come to mind when talking about any kind of marketing is the costs involved. That said, what is driving the popularity of inbound marketing is not just its effectiveness at generating leads, but also the fact that it does so at minimal costs.
Furthermore, the costs of inbound marketing for a small business are a third of the costs that the same business would use to generate leads using outbound marketing. This makes it a great option for businesses that are limited by their budget.
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Long-Lasting Effects
Basing the argument on the fact that inbound marketing is about creating relationships with potential customers, the effects can be expected to last a lot longer than a one-time activity. This is especially so when trust has been established.
This can be illustrated by looking at two of the most powerful tools of inbound marketing, SEO and blogging. When you provide great content, more and more readers are drawn to it. Consequently, the more people read your content, the more your website ranks higher in Google. While it takes several months to rank higher, once you are on the first page of search engines, the site will remain there for much longer.
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Reaching New Audiences
There are many differences between inbound and outbound marketing one of which is related to reaching new audiences. Since inbound marketing is done online, businesses can offer diverse products and reach new markets and audiences. It is much easier to segment the market based on similar characteristics.
This is more than can be said for outbound marketing. While it is possible to identify a market segment with this, it is much more time-consuming and costly for the business.
Furthermore, with inbound marketing, businesses can choose which people will see their messages. This explains the higher ROI.
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It Saves Time For Both Customers And Business
With inbound marketing, businesses can send messages to people who are interested in the product. They can provide a link to a website where the customer can find out everything they need to know about the product. Once the customer is satisfied, they can click a ‘buy’ button and purchase the item.
Outbound marketing has many processes. For instance, a customer can see or hear an advert about a product. They may not have been interested in the product in the first place, but the advert may be enough to spark their interest. When they reach home, they may research more on the product online, that is, if they remember and eventually follow the steps above for inbound marketing.
Inbound marketing is simpler for the customer and produces faster results for the business.
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Helps Build Brand Awareness
The benefits of inbound marketing are not only limited to lower costs and more sales. Inbound marketing can also help the business get its name out there, which boosts brand awareness.
The main benefit of increasing brand awareness is that it helps generate more leads which can be turned into regular clientele in the future.
Final Thoughts
Now that we’ve looked at some of the main benefits of inbound marketing, keep in mind that the strategy can take several forms. These could be SEO, content creation, providing incentives, as well as a call to action.