How long will your business keep running the way it always has been before it runs out of business? Companies that are still doing marketing the old fashioned way by
- purchasing lists
- handing out business cards
- spending money on paid advertising
- relying on word of mouth advertising
are not going to survive much longer in today’s marketplace!
There are five important signs your Denver company should hire a social media firm and start creating an inbound marketing plan for your business!
1. You’ve Got High Marketing Costs
- Do you feel like your marketing costs are insane?
- Do you try to cut back on costs but end up losing leads and sales as a result?
Then it’s time to invest in inbound marketing! Inbound reduces your marketing costs because it’s a highly targeted process that reaches your exact target market (only the people who ARE INTERESTED in actually buying from you) and captures leads within that market. Therefore, money is not wasted on a mass group of people that aren’t your demographic.
2. Your Outbound Efforts Are Dying
Outbound marketing strategies, where you push your products and services out to the masses in hopes that someone within your target market comes across them and takes action, include activities like,
- Tradeshows
- Flyers
- Paid advertising
These marketing efforts do not work for today’s consumer because consumers actively go out and seek (usually online), for what they’re looking for, and will only purchase when they’ve found a company that looks like the solution to their needs and wants.
Furthermore, outbound efforts are not measurable. If someone receives your flyer, then went to your website, you wouldn’t even know this person came to your site unless they were to call you and tell you.
With inbound marketing, ROI is measurable. [Click to Tweet!] You can see who is coming to your site and where they’re coming from so you can track their behavior and take action to keep them interested and engaged with your company.
3. Your Sales Team Isn’t Closing Sales
Is your sales team constantly cold calling? How often do those calls close sales? Wouldn’t it be more efficient if you could hand them actual qualified leads? Inbound marketing agencies are able to monitor the behavior of the leads on your website, so then only the leads that are ready to purchase will be contacted by sales.
Sales then also knows what that lead did within the website (perhaps they downloaded a specific offer), so during the call, they can point to that behavior and be extra helpful for that specific lead's needs and wants.
4. Leads Are Slow to Come
If you feel like your leads are trickling in more slowly than ever, inbound is the solution. Consider how everything is done online today. When a person hears about a company or a product, they immediately go to Google to check out the website. Inbound marketing works to optimize your website to convert leads, by giving leads the right information, offering an eBook, whitepaper, or guide, and making sure your social media buttons are visible so interested people can stay engaged with you.
When leads see a company is technically savvy with a strong website and active social media, they are more drawn to purchase from that company.
5. You're Practicing Inbound Marketing, or Will Hire an “Inbound Marketer”
If you’ve already heard about the inbound marketing philosophy and are trying to get your company to practice those principles, be careful…While the basics of inbound marketing may seem easy enough, there is a big learning curve, which will take away from your company’s time and resources. And without the right inbound software, your efforts may not pay off.If you’re considering hiring one person to do inbound marketing for you, you’ll have one additional employee on salary. Is what you’ll be paying that single employee comparable to what you would pay a full inbound marketing team? Which is the better investment when it comes to seeing results?
If an alarm is going off for your business's future, look into Blue Frog social media marketing in Des Moines and Denver! We also serve businesses everywhere!
