Inbound leads are what businesses strive for! While it's true that the world of marketing is incredibly diverse, there are two primary ways to market: Inbound and Outbound. Classic outbound marketing is based on disruption. As a company looking to increase awareness and sales, your job becomes to interrupt people's daily lives with marketing tactics.
Ideally, you can insert the idea of buying from you into their minds. The disruption occurs because you want them to buy even if they weren't going to or aren't really interested. One could easily say that the soul of outbound marketing is the dancing mascot. The colorful sign, the loud commercial, these are how outbound marketing gets the idea of buying out there with force. Inbound marketing, on the other hand, is all about making your product available exactly when your audience wants it most and providing valuable content your buyer personas want and need.
Outbound vs Inbound Mentality
Your company is irrevocably shaped by the mentality you take when marketing. The outbound mentality suggests you deserve the attention of your intended leads. It suggests you have the right to demand it from them. It's a pushy point of view emphasizing you are more important than your customers. Bringing the product to them and getting them to buy matters more than their personal preferences. It's not the outbound marker's job to care if the product is needed, only if it sells.
On the flip side, the inbound mentality is all about what the customer is thinking and feeling. Through approaches like SEO and PPC targeting, you can work with search patterns and keyword clues. This should allow you to determine exactly when your leads are thinking ‘I could really use [your product]'. Then offer it to them in that perfect moment of demand and supply. Leads acquired through inbound marketing are happy to see your product and grateful for the convenient suggestion rather than frustrated or hassled by an outbound hard-sell. You become a concierge service for your customer's desires instead of a bully with a single-minded agenda.
Building An Inbound Company Culture
Once you make the switch to inbound marketing, the change in your company culture has already begun. Marketers are leaving behind the loud commercials for helpful how-to blogs. Companies are adapting to a more relaxed approach and treat their inbound leads and customers with more respect. Your business becomes a part of this important change by implementing and reaping the rewards of inbound marketing. Your sales department should ease off the hard up-sells and focus on friendly guided shopping through live website chat instead. Customer service can focus on providing high-quality assistance rather than worrying about outbound-achieved customers with buyers remorse. Even design and production can benefit by responding to customer desires with new and improved products.
Why It Works
Why does your marketing strategy have such a profound influence on your company as a whole? Because they control your company-customer relationship. Inbound leads are more likely to be happy with your company because you have what they want and need. Clients love it when are served with pleasing and convenient offers of their favorite things. Customers gained through inbound marketing are likely to be nicer even when they call customer service for assistance. Marketing efforts will have to become more respectful in order to create good inbound content. Inbound leads will respond in kind, creating a strong positive relationship that the entire company can feel.
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with friendly, considerate outbound marketing. Funny billboards, informative commercials, and even the occasional cold-call all have their uses. However, inbound marketing brings something new to the table. By looking to please your inbound leads with convenience and quality, you give yourself room to grow. Then, the quality of service improvement creates a happy new customer base to grow with you. Inbound marketing is a powerful tool but it's effects don't stop at the customers. When implemented, your entire company culture will become friendlier, more focused on customer happiness, and ready to grow. For more news on how to develop and implement an inbound marketing strategy and how it can help your business, contact us today!
