So, you’re sold on Inbound Marketing. You’re interested in the content marketing angle, you’ve looked at the Buyer’s Journey, the Inbound Methodology, and you are IN.
Before you put your money where your mouth is, however, there are a couple of factors you need to consider:
1) Is Your Company Actually Suitable For Inbound Marketing?
i.e. What does your company sell?
Inbound Marketing works by putting the right content at the right place and right time to convert visitors into leads, who are then nurtured into customers. This means the ideal product for Inbound Marketing would be something that requires potential customers to do some research on (and is of a certain price point).
After all, would you download an eBook on the many types of soda before making a purchase? No, right? Everyday consumables don’t need much nurturing to make a sale.
However, if your company was looking to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on a software product, you would definitely want to do as much research as you can to fully educate yourself before taking the plunge.
2) Who Is Your Target Audience?
Yes, Inbound Marketing is focused on content, but its selling point is in the ability to bring in qualified leads for your business. B2B companies have the upper hand in Inbound Marketing, as their target audience is very specific, which will reduce the number of unqualified leads downloading their content.
B2B companies also have an advantage to get their content highly ranked on Google. Think about the number of people (companies) who want to purchase a database management system compared to the number of people interested in buying a can of Coke to understand the difference in search competition between B2B and B2C companies.
3) Does Your Company Have Time To Implement Inbound Marketing Effectively?
Let’s be honest: Inbound Marketing takes time.
It’s perfect for your long-term marketing strategy, but not when it comes to short-term results. Lead nurturing is called nurturing for a reason, after all.
So, if you’re looking to use Inbound Marketing, know that it would be better applied to branding activities (like promoting an evergreen eBook about your business), or to products that aren’t as time-specific (a promotion that lasts only 2 weeks, for example).
4) Does Your Company Have The Resources For It?
Content marketing is an investment. Yes, you can get great content from portals like Zerys or iWriter, but you have to train or hire a content manager, who will handle content generation for your company.
If you don’t have the time, outsource the work to an agency, but don’t forget to vet them thoroughly first!
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