Inbound marketing focuses on creating high quality content which attracts leads drawn to what you are offering. By understanding your buyer personas, you can deliver quality content that addresses their specific interests, which will in turn, convert more of those leads into customers.
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With this in mind, here are five things to do smarter and stop wasting resources on:
Glossy, 4-Color Postcards
Though postcards are helpful for some businesses, most can save money on this type of advertising. They are fun to conceptualize and create, but are expensive and the return can be dismal. The most common reason for this is that customers just aren’t always ready to buy when they receive the mailing and it gets put aside or trashed and is not likely recalled when the actual need does arise. The success rate of sending postcards ultimately depends on the audience, which in turn should indicate whether or not this is a good choice to spend resources on. Tracking the success rate is a good indicator of knowing if you should continue this practice or use the resources elsewhere.
Cold Calling
In today’s business climate, cold calling, though still alive and well, is becoming less and less popular. Recent studies have shown that over 90% of people do not respond favorably to a cold call, largely due to not being interested in what the caller is calling about. By creating leads through inbound marketing, you can turn a cold calling into a more successful strategy by contacting the lead with information they are interested in and want to know about- which you learned when they visited your website, downloaded a guide you offered, or filled out a questionnaire. Knowing your buyer persona’s and understanding their needs is the best strategy to take.
Time Spent On Email Promotions
Many companies write and send out mass marketing emails without knowing who they are going to or what that person might want. Today’s consumer wants to be treated as the individual she or he is. Mass mailings of any type tend to be generic because they are trying to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Someone reading the email doesn’t feel engaged with the content, or you. Take the time to learn who your customers are, and target their needs appropriately. Let them know you care about who they are and what they want.
Annoying Web/Banner Ads
Flashing, blinking web ads are not only annoying, they can lose your customers. Research has shown that people are more likely to quickly leave a site that has them and remember very little of what they actually saw on the page while visiting it.
Print Advertising & Yellow Pages
Today it’s common knowledge that more and more people are getting their information online. Placing ads in the yellow pages, newspapers and magazines is cost-prohibitive and fleeting and you are likely to get lost in the crowd. It’s far better to focus on getting media coverage. Not only does it have the potential for higher ROI, it’s viewed differently by the public. Pitch your business’ story to reporters that cover your area of expertise. There are excellent tools available online to assist you in doing this in-house.
The business of marketing is constantly evolving. Learn to let go of the traditional outbound tools and embrace the inbound method. It will be challenging, but will pay off nicely in the long term.
