Here at Leap Clixx, we’re all about being positive and finding solutions. And so when we blog about the #1 inbound marketing mistake that we keep seeing year after year, it’s not because we’re being miserable or pessimistic. It’s actually quite the opposite.
We see how much money and time many businesses waste on inbound marketing, and simply put, we want them to STOP getting “less for more”. They deserve much better, and so do their customers.
So in the context of what we can call a Leap Clixx Public Service Announcement, we’re going to rectify what we believe is the #1 inbound marketing mistake that the vast majority of businesses and even many marketing agencies (believe it or not!) continue over and over again: FAILING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT INBOUND MARKETING ACTUALLY IS.
Understanding Inbound Marketing As It Relates to Your Business
It’s like this: inbound marketing is obviously part of the sales process. However, and we cannot stress this enough, inbound marketing is NOT “about” selling. That is, it’s not a thinly-veiled (or something totally unveiled) ad that promotes a product, service, offering, sale…and so on.
Of course, all of these elements - sales, new product launches, etc - are certainly worth highlighting, and businesses need to get the word out through appropriate channels using effective means. But these announcements, however detailed they may be, are not synonymous with inbound marketing.
And the reason this matters so much, is because when customers engage an inbound marketing asset (which may be an eBook, a report, a white paper, an infographic, a blog post, and so on), they do NOT want to be sold something. Rather, they want to be informed and empowered by useful information. In other words: they want to learn something in a relatively fast, efficient, and “executive-level” manner.
Delivering the Content Your Sales Prospects Are Interested In
But, when businesses fail to deliver on this demand (it’s more than an expectation), then customers behave very rationally: they take off! It’s not personal, and they may actually have a certain fondness for the business that they’re about to flee. But that fondness doesn’t mean that they’ll remain in the relationship. Why should they? They have a problem to solve or a goal to achieve, and will gravitate to the partner who they trust to deliver.
Give Customers the Option to Learn More
Now, with this being said, it’s perfectly acceptable – in fact, it’s a best practice – for a business to have a “Call to Action” (CTAs) in all of its inbound marketing assets, so that informed and impressed customers can take an action that moves them forward along the customer journey.
For example, when they reach the end of an eBook, customers should be invited to contact the business so they can start a free trial, book a demo, schedule a consultation, and so on. Each business will have its own set of CTAs, and should strategically deploy them across all of its inbound marketing collateral.
However, these CTAs come after the value (i.e. the information) has been presented. In this sense, the CTA is the business’s “reward” for offering something useful. And customers are fine with this, because they want to know what the next step on the journey looks like.
The Bottom Line
To recap: the biggest mistake that businesses – and many agencies – make with inbound marketing, is they don’t fundamentally approach it as inbound marketing. They simply use their inbound marketing assets and channels to promote products and services, announce sales, and basically sell stuff.
Even though many businesses that commit this mistake have good intentions, and really are trying to “have meaningful conversations” with their customers, the fact is that it doesn’t work. Customers don’t want to sit through an infomercial. They want to learn something useful.
Businesses that cater to this demand – and this elite list includes ALL of Leap Clixx’s clients – reap the rewards of inbound marketing. Businesses that don’t will continue to waste money and time while falling further behind their competition.
Learn More
If you’re concerned about your inbound marketing program, or have concluded that it’s not doing what you and your customers need it to, then contact Leap Clixx today. Your consultation with our full service marketing agency is free, and we guarantee that you’ll learn something during our conversation that you can immediately put to use in your business – and be glad that you did!
Topics: Inbound Marketing
