Last week, I arrived at WordWrite Communications as a seasoned public relations and social media pro. I felt that I understood the value of social media. After all, I’ve executed several social media campaigns, have implemented traditional marketing elements and administered email marketing initiatives for a variety of clients.
Yet in a matter of days, I’ve learned that without an effective inbound marketing framework, social media and much of marketing is missing a critical element—alignment. Taking all of the tools we use—social media, email marketing, landing pages—and aligning them to appropriately be in front of the right person at the right time in the buying process is imperative.
To be honest, I hadn’t even heard of inbound marketing before joining WordWrite. With 60% of companies adopting some element of inbound marketing methodology into their overall strategy, and 54% more leads being generated by inbound marketing tactics according to the 2013 State of Inbound Marketing Report, the methodology has clearly delivered results.
As a result of all I’ve learned in my first week, I can say I’ve not only joined a strong, talented team at WordWrite, but I just achieved my Inbound Certification from HubSpot, a leader in Inbound Marketing! Throughout the certification process, I couldn’t help but think one thing: Why isn’t every company practicing the inbound methodology? The process not only makes sense, but has also proven effectiveness. According to HubSpot’s State of Inbound Marketing Report, 41% of marketers say inbound marketing produced measurable return on investment (ROI) in 2013.
My initial thoughts on the inbound process are simple: why wouldn’t you? Why wouldn’t a company create buyer personas to better understand its ideal customers? Why wouldn’t marketing and sales teams streamline and align strategies among their departments? Why wouldn’t a business employ such a process to attract visitors, convert them to leads, turn them into customers, and delight them so they become continuous promoters of the company?
Inbound marketing just makes sense. Companies are able to provide valuable content to the right person at the right time. Why waste time and money sending a promotional bulk mailing to a list of contacts at a prospective company? Instead, promote an offer with an incentive to engage precisely the person who really needs and has an interest in what your company offers.
In this way, inbound marketing replaces outdated marketing practices. It also helps marketing and sales teams collaborate to focus on attracting those individuals and organizations that are the best fit as a prospective or current customer.
Instead of marketing to all prospects with a cookie-cutter approach, inbound marketing treats each customer as unique in his or her own needs. What a prospect or customer wants from you online depends on whether you’re attracting strangers to visit your website, converting a sporadic visitor into a lead, turning a qualified lead into a customer, or delighting a loyal customer as a promoter of your brand. With inbound marketing, you can engage with prospects and customers at each stage of their buying cycle.
In just one week, I’ve learned that inbound marketing not only works, but it is critical for companies who want to effectively drive traffic to their website, attract leads and grow new customers. Click below to learn more about how inbound marketing can help you and your organization.
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Christy Goodman is senior account executive for WordWrite Communications. She can be reached at christy.goodman@wordwritepr.com and on Twitter @christylgoodman.
