4 Reasons Small Business Owners Need Inbound Marketing

As a small business owner, you are faced with many challenges and questions. How can you attract customers when you don’t yet have the visibility or name recognition your larger, more established competition? Don’t you need a large marketing budget to gain new customers? Not if you adhere to the inbound methodology! A solid inbound marketing strategy will take you further than you ever thought possible, using much less money than traditional “outbound marketing”. Unlike outbound marketing, which goes after customers with off-putting methods like direct mail and telemarketing, inbound marketing is an integrated process. The process begins with attracting customers to your website through relevant content that they’re interested in, and then converting them into leads and ultimately into buyers. Let’s look at a few reasons inbound marketing will work for you:

Today’s Consumers Prefer it.

Not only is inbound marketing less expensive than costly radio commercials and billboards, your potential customers like it better too! Don’t waste your money on pushy sales tactics and sending the same message to everyone. Many of today’s consumers prefer to do their research online first, come across your company in a natural manner, and then purchase when the time is right for them. Viewers who find you organically online have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate, according to HubSpot’s marketing statistics. This is just one of the reason’s inbound marketing is so successful for small businesses like yours.

Inbound Marketing Rewards Persistence, Not Big Budgets.

While inbound marketing is an extremely effective methodology for businesses of all sizes, don’t expect overnight success. As you come to understand more about the inbound process, you’ll see that its effectiveness increases over time. Inbound marketing centers around building campaigns, including ebooks, blog posts, and other website content. If properly planned and designed, this content will be interrelated and cross-linked. It should not only continue to attract buyers who are interested in your offerings, but will also give you steadily increasing credibility as your archive of content grows. Google and other search engines take a while to crawl your new content to increase your authority, and it will take time to build your social media followers, so don’t give up too early.

It Can Work For Any Industry- Even Yours.

Since this method is based on attracting customers who are interested in what you have to offer, a well-planned inbound strategy can work for any business, as long as you provide informative content that’s of interest to your prospective customers. A so-called “boring”  or “niche” industry can be an ideal candidate for an inbound marketing plan, since consumers may be uninformed about what you do and you get to choose what is the most compelling content to put out. The more specialized the industry, the more helpful an informational, industry-related blog will be to those trying to find answers.

You Can (and Should!) Hire an Agency.

If you are ready to build and execute an online marketing strategy and get more qualified sales leads, then consider outsourcing. A professional inbound marketing agency is a great choice for small businesses who understand the importance of inbound marketing, but either can’t or don’t want to handle the content creation themselves. For the cost of a single in-house marketing person, an agency can provide a full inbound marketing package to support your marketing goals. Experts understand your needs and your business objectives, and will work with you to tailor a strategy of providing interesting content to attract your potential customers to you, and ultimately to convert them into buyers. Let certified content marketers handle your website and blog so you can focus on what you do best- running your business!

Inbound marketing isn’t a passing fad; it is the way current and future consumers prefer to be reached. Sticking to the aggressive and impersonal advertising tactics of the past will drive your potential customers away, and cost you a lot of money while you’re doing it. To find out exactly what a professional inbound marketing agency can do for you and your small business, download Impulse Creative’s free beginner’s guide ebook today.