One of the most common questions we’re asked is: “what does it take to run a successful inbound marketing campaign?” 

In the digital marketing world, it may be the most frequent of all frequently asked questions – and it’s also among the most important: how do you attract more visitors to your website? 

It’s the conversation that a lot of sales and marketing professionals like you dread; the one where you clear your throat, straighten your posture, look your boss in the eye, and do your best to express the values and virtues of investing in more marketing.

And the reason that you and your counterparts in other businesses would rather get a root canal or give yourselves a tax audit than have this particular conversation, is because it doesn’t tend to end with a thumbs up. It’s more likely to end up with a shrug and those cruel words that parents tell their children when there’s no chance that their request will be fulfilled within the next decade: “we’ll see about that.” 

In part 1 of our series, we looked at 3 best practices that help B2C companies win the inbound marketing game:

1. Offer Quality Research Information
2. Remember that Content is King
3. Develop Robust, Realistic Buyer Personas

Now, we continue with a look at 3 more best practices that translate into maximum ROI.

While inbound marketing has been around for a few years, the fact is that some B2C companies are benefiting much more than others.

In 2012, BunnyFoot (a usability and user experience design firm) performed a study to see if users could differentiate between paid ads and organic search results when using Google’s search function. In the end, researchers found that 40% of the participants could not see a difference when looking at ads on Google.