When many of the world's most successful blogs make their profits via inbound marketing, it’s safe to assume it’s an effective tool. Mark Manson’s site has achieved its intention so well that it’s known for the quality of its content more than its role as a lead nurturing tool. This is one reason that inbound marketing has the power to multiply your leads by as much as 67%.
ROI Online: A Tale of Two Brands
Amazon uses inbound marketing so well that it’s appeared in enough case studies to break the internet. It automates a campaign so sophisticated that it meets every client’s unique needs. Unlike Manson, it fulfills needs by generating automated home pages for every one of its buyers. The power of today’s data-driven technology lets you automate much of your content this way.
Today’s marketers operate in an attention economy. Client focus is scarce, so it’s critical that the conversations you have with them are of value. Where Manson achieves this by delivering content that's impressive enough to win a book deal, Amazon does it through on-site interactions.
A Tale of One Marketing Genius
80% of corporate decision makers prefer reading articles instead of adverts, which is why digital marketing guru, Seth Godin, crafts his inbound campaigns by being starkly aware of how privileged he is to receive clients’ attention. The average consumer has an attention span of eight seconds and spends half their online hours on customized content.
Permission to engage can only be earned by inspiring your clients to take the next step towards a sale, and your blog is premium digital terrain for achieving this. Blogs add 434% more indexed pages to websites, but you must captivate your audience on their terms, not yours. This means avoiding unethical techniques like bait-and-switch trickery. Your campaign should become a valuable part of every user's daily life, and this cannot be achieved through obvious attempts to advertise.
The Secret to Inbound Marketing Success
Successful inbound marketing isn't a rabbit you can pull out of a hat. There’s no special secret or magic “abracadabra” that can help you captivate your audience. People want to connect, and it’s a sense of intimacy that will ultimately deliver your ROI online.
Considering that inbound leads are 60% cheaper to generate than outbound ones, it’s well worth your time to produce exceptional content that captivates your users as well as it does Google’s search bots. Godin and Mark Manson achieve this exceptionally well by speaking conversationally about subjects their audiences care about.
Large companies spend a startling 55% of their annual budgets on inbound marketing because it works for them. Your campaign should include:
- Calls to action that lead clients to the next stage in the marketing funnel.
- Well-researched keywords.
- An outbound campaign that retains existing users.
- Social media sharing capability
Building Fences
Too many beginners to inbound marketing are losing ROI online because their content is difficult to access. Views that require registration will lose a significant portion of your audience right out of the gate. If publications as impressive as The New Yorker are giving away content freely, the number of users who will complete your signup process to read a blog they’ve never seen are negligible. Your prospects aren’t yet engaged, so asking for something before you provide value is as arrogant as it is ineffective.
Give inbound marketing the respect it deserves, and you'll generate at least 1, 200 leads monthly. 79% of those who blog enjoy positive ROI and enjoy double the conversion rate. There has never been a more economical way to amplify returns.
Casey founded Gravity Digital in 2000 after serving as the Internet Services Director for a Nashville-based Ad Agency. He's a rare breed that operates both left and right brain, so along with oversight of the company he's active in the creative process for our clients.
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