Ditch outbound marketing

As traditional outbound marketing strategies have become less useful, inbound marketing has become the most effective method of capturing new business. Inbound marketing involves producing interesting content that people see as worth reading and sharing, which earns the attention of customers, makes your organization easily found and draws customers to your website. In outbound marketing, customers find you mainly as a result of various traditional paid marketing efforts, such as television, radio and cold calling.

Today’s customers don’t like to be assaulted by outbound, or “push,” marketing. Consider the following basic examples:

n A whopping 74 percent of the links clicked on by search users are found (organic) rather than promoted (paid).

n Eighty-six percent of people skip television commercials.

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n Eighty-four percent of people between the ages of 25-34 have clicked away from a website because of an “irrelevant or intrusive ad.”

the self-directed customer

In the past, brand marketers could directly shape a prospect’s discovery experience from start to finish, because willing customers reacted to the stream of ads and sales literature that came at them.

However, today’s self-directed customers are firmly in control. The typical B2B buyer conducts between 57-70 percent of his or her online research process before making first contact with a potential supplier.

Armed with new blocking techniques, such as spam filters and TiVo, they can simply ignore outbound marketing. As a result, outbound marketing comes at an increasingly high cost with an increasingly low yield. Instead, you need a strong inbound marketing program to make your organization stand out.

ROI of inbound marketing

Still not convinced? Consider the superior ROI of inbound marketing:

n Inbound marketing delivers 54 percent more leads into the sales funnel than does traditional outbound marketing.

n Inbound marketing delivers leads at a cost per lead of 62 percent less than does traditional outbound marketing.

By emphasizing inbound strategies in your marketing plan, you can save money while reaching the right customers in the right way.

As famous marketing guru Guy Kawasaki said, “If you have more money than brains, you should focus on outbound marketing. If you have more brains than money, you should focus on inbound marketing.”

The power of content

In order to have the greatest effect, your inbound marketing efforts must be reputable and relevant. Website content is far more likely to engage and convince someone who is doing a comparative analysis than is a flashy paid ad – but only if it’s clear and credible.

Key takeaways

Perform an audit of the marketing channels that your company currently uses, separating the outbound (paid) channels from the inbound (owned and earned) channels. You should be able to identify at least one outbound marketing tactic that is a drain on your budget and generates a poor or questionable return. As a test, reallocate some of that budget to support your inbound marketing efforts. Those freed-up dollars could help you to hire a freelance copywriter or invest in new content, such as video, educational webinars, or designed infographics. n

Chris Ciunci is founder and CEO of Tribal Vision.

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