3 Signs You Should Invest in Inbound Marketing

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Written By Robert Dunford
I am a Marketing Consulting in the Great Toronto Area with over 25 years experience in building and implementing marketing plans for small business.

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The world of digital marketing is incredibly data-driven.   Performance indicators are used to measure every square foot of the digital landscape: from user experience mapping to sourcing the origins of website traffic, estimating the average reach of a social media post, and so much more. These are the metrics that a digital marketing company looks at every day to help define search technique and branding strategy.

However, there is one fundamental approach that underlies all of these individual metrics, and it defines the success or failure of a websites digital performance. The strategy is inbound marketing.

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing refers to all the different ways a company draws viewers to their site and converts them into customers. Rather than competing for ad space, companies let potential customers find them by offering relevant content — across email, blog, and social platforms — that adds value to the buyer’s journey.

With an active inbound marketing strategy in place, you can expect to turn first-time visitors into customers with incredible efficiency. Sounds easy, right? Well, it’s not. It takes plenty of research, expertise, and commitment.

Here are three signs that you should invest more in inbound marketing:

  1. Your Site Traffic is Low

Site traffic is an essential gauge of how well your business is doing. Generally speaking, the more visitors you get to your site, the higher your sales revenue will be. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the #1 tool for increasing organic traffic to your site, and it all starts with your blog.

  • Are you following SEO best-practices with your blog?
  • Are you researching popular topics in your industry to inspire your own blog posts?

Posting regular articles with keyword optimization is crucial to building an informed audience, drawing in targeted traffic, and strengthening brand authority in your industry. More generally, SEO analysis will give you all the information you need to structure your site to match searcher intent and optimize content for Google bots.

  1. The Content of Your Site Does Not Match Searcher Intent

You’ve probably heard the phrase: “what have you done for me lately?” A common refrain among high-school teachers across the country trying to get the most out of their students, it happens to apply directly to inbound marketing as well.

Search query behavior changes from week to week, and if you do not publish content to match these changes, potential customers will not be able to find your site. What’s worse: if you are not able to align your content with the needs of your audience, potential customers will skip over your site anyways. Content marketing means:

  • Updating the home page with keywords to match searcher intent as it changes over time.
  • Product/service pages filled with unique content that solves a problem for your target audience. Specific examples that reflect current issues in the industry are invaluable here.
  • Publish e-books or other downloadable content. Are your lead magnets pulling weight anymore? It might be time to create a whole new set to resonate with your current audience more effectively.

If your site is lacking in any of these areas, then it’s time to boost your inbound marketing budget.

  1. Your Social Media Strategy is Ineffective

Social media marketing has become far more sophisticated in the past couple of years. Has your social profile developed with it? Posting a couple of photos once in a while is not sufficient when there are tons of potential leads available to you.

Studies show that consumers are spending far more time interacting with brands on social platforms. If you don’t have a viable presence on social, you are losing out on:

  • Brand recognition and reach.
  • Customer referrals.
  • An efficient customer service platform.

Conclusion

Inbound marketing is the most effective marketing methodology today. If your digital presence does not reflect the interests and concerns of your customers, then it’s no wonder your sales are poor. Consider working with a digital marketing company to help put the focus squarely on quality content based on thorough SEO analysis of your target audience.

All you need is time (4-6 months) and patience and you can get that new business through digital marketing efforts.   If you need results quicker, a website refresh and pay per click (PPC) program may be better suited to your needs.    Contact me.    We can discuss strategy on the phone or get a coffee.

Rob Dunford is a Marketing Consulting in the Great Toronto Area with over 20 years experience in building and implementing marketing plans for small business.

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