A common question we get from small and medium sized business owners and their marketing teams when they are evaluating the merits of adopting inbound/online marketing program is - what’s my ROI?
This is a very legitimate question, particularly for businesses owners who have only ever used traditional marketing approaches in the past such as direct mail, print advertising in trade journals or the local newspaper, trade shows, radio and telemarketing to name a few.
Before answering this question however, it’s necessary to step back for a moment and review the benchmark that business owners and their teams will be comparing their new inbound
marketing activities against, to truly be able to evaluate and analyze the business value of the intended inbound marketing spend down the road.
Here are a few questions to begin to ask yourselves: How much did we spend in our last fiscal year on all our marketing activities? How many resources do we have internally managing these activities and what is their cost. How many leads, and customers did our previous years’ marketing activities generate? What is the ROI of our current marketing activities? The answers to these questions will most likely lead to many more, but you should get the picture that the answer to the question of ROI is not a s simple as may appear.
The next questions that should be answered relate to your marketing goals and objectives. This is important because every company has different goals and objectives. For instance, you may be a start up or nonprofit organization, a manufacturer or service organization, each could have very different marketing goals and objectives. You may be focused on building your brand, thought leadership or product innovation, or you may be focused customer service.
Each of these different goals and objectives will have an impact on the ROI of your inbound marketing efforts.
Although these marketing goals and objectives are important, the key driver for most businesses however, is to generate leads and ultimately sales to grow your business. The good news for business owners today is that the tools and technologies are available to significantly level the marketing playing field for small and medium sized companies with limited marketing resources and budgets.
Consider for a moment, that buying behavior is changing rapidly as people shift their research and shopping habits from traditional marketing channels to the Internet. Consumers can educate themselves more than ever about a product or a service before they make a purchase decision. They compare prices, check customer reviews, read case studies and receive instant responses to their queries. It is just a matter of time for this change in buying behavior to hit your industry.
The playing field may have been leveled with technology today, but there is still no silver bullet to deliver a positive ROI for your inbound marketing efforts. You still need the following to deliver positive ROI results:
Priority and commitment – it should be a top priority to increase sales revenues rapidly, and marketing is crucial. Inbound marketing has been shown to deliver the lowest cost-per-lead and produces sustainable brand awareness over time. Management must be prepared to take an active role in strategy, oversight and at least some degree of participation.
Participation – ideally, you need to hire a highly qualified business development or marketing person to manage the marketing program and represent your company in blogging, social networks and all other forms of marketing. If you hire an inbound marketing agency to provide the needed services, your in-house representative should work closely with the agency to monitor results and drive strategic decision-making. Ideally, you should encourage everyone in your company to engage in social media and help to promote blogs and advanced content.
Consistency and patience– you need to take the long view, because inbound marketing is about enhancing brand loyalty over time by building relationships. It’s not about quick-strike campaigns, although those can be helpful in addition to publishing consistently excellent content and maintaining a valued presence in social media.
Superior content – publishing a relevant, helpful or interesting blog post as often as possible is your baseline. We recommend at least three posts per week. You must also create valuable content for lead conversion (e-books, white papers, videos, webinars) at least once per month to drive significant leads to your site.
Expand your reach – you can’t just tweet a few times a day and expect to move the needle. You must aggressively grow your audience and well as connect with them on a consistent basis. Your content marketing and social media marketing strategies must be geared towards growth as well as finding quality connections, or influencers, who can help you to reach more potential customers.
Don’t forget your existing customers – they are your most valuable resource for retention and referrals. Reach out to them with newsletters, special updates, webinars and live events to keep them engaged and loyal to your brand.
Be the leader in your local area – investigate all forms of local marketing including local search, geo-location, community participation and listing in all local directories. If you can’t be #1 at home, you can’t expect to gain market share elsewhere.
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