If cash is the proverbial lifeblood of a business – particularly small and mid-sized businesses – then leads are the fuel that drives more customers, more revenues and more profits. Every organization wants to drive traffic to their website, but more importantly, they want to produce qualified leads as a result of that traffic.
With that in mind, let's look at 3 key ways that inbound marketing helps generate leads online:
1. Inbound Marketing filters leads from traffic.
In the “old days” of internet marketing, the primary goal was to generate as much traffic as possible. However, there was a huge problem with that approach: many (and usually most) of the people included in that traffic weren’t a marketing qualified lead (MQL) or sales qualified lead (SQL). So in other words: they weren’t legitimate customers (a.k.a. leads) - they were traffic for the sake of traffic.
Inbound Marketing takes a categorically different approach, because it uses thought leadership-based assets -- such as blog posts, eBooks, reports, white papers and more – to “gate” traffic and filter real, legitimate leads who can then be engaged accordingly. The difference between leads and traffic isn’t merely an “apples vs. oranges” thing. It’s more like comparing a real apple to a plastic one.
2. Inbound Marketing nurtures leads through the customer journey.
Regardless of whether a business is in the B2C or B2B space, customers have repeatedly demonstrated – and will continue to do so for as long as it takes – that they DON’T like being sold, but they are quite happy to buy.
Inbound Marketing fundamentally tunes into this basic characteristic of human psychology and behavior. And so, rather than aggressively shoving products and services down a customer’s throat (and causing them to flee and never return!), inbound marketing nurtures customers across a journey that starts with attraction and then moves into converting, closing and delighting.
In this sense, inbound marketing isn’t about selling anything. It’s about cultivating and creating customers for what a business has to offer. And this fundamental adjustment makes ALL the difference.
3. Inbound marketing leverages data to improve campaign performance.
Conventional “interrupt” marketing is very fuzzy when it comes to data – because, frankly, results are usually impossible to measure with any precision, and it can sometimes take weeks or months after a campaign ends to know if it was successful – or more often, not successful.
Inbound Marketing takes a completely different approach. Rather than eschewing or avoiding data and metrics, it embraces them as a fundamental part of the program. As a result, businesses can leverage actionable intelligence to develop and optimize campaigns – which, ultimately, generates more leads in less time and at lower cost. And we aren’t talking about a few dollars here and there. A HubSpot study has concluded that inbound leads cost 62 percent less than outbound leads!
The Bottom Line
Inbound Marketing is both the present and future of all online marketing – because it does exactly what businesses need: attracts qualified leads, nurtures them into profitable customers and inspires them to spread the word as brand ambassadors and evangelists.
To reap these rewards in your business, contact the inbound marketing specialists at Leap Clixx today. Your consultation is free, and there’s no risk or obligation. Also, learn more about how to turn your website into a lead generation machine with our helpful eBook!
Topics: Inbound Marketing
