According to HubSpot, 79 percent of marketers in North America use inbound marketing as their primary approach. That stat makes it clear — if you're not spending on inbound marketing channels like SEO and content, you're missing out.
We’re gonna take a guess that you are currently spending (likely a ton of money) on pay-per-click advertising to fill your sales goals. But, content marketing gets THREE TIMES more leads than paid search advertising, according to the Content Marketing Institute.
Instead, you need to do both. A smart founder, CEO, CMO, or marketing director is building a plan for long-term inbound marketing success while also paying for customers via PPC and social advertising in the short term. Investing dollars in both inbound marketing and advertising will bring new website visitors (who convert to customers) to your company in waves.
So how do you bring in traffic, leads, and revenue with inbound marketing? By leveraging typical inbound marketing channels: search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, social media marketing, lead generation, email marketing, and marketing automation. These marketing channels work to bring people into your website to solve their problems and build trust versus outbound marketing channels that shout, “Buy me now!” Outbound marketing channels include paid online advertising, TV or radio ads, cold calling, trade shows, direct mail, branded keychains/pens, etc. Outbound marketing is a lot like dropping in unannounced to a party — wouldn’t you much rather be invited?
