What is inbound marketing and how does it work?

More and more companies are realizing the benefits of using inbound marketing as a model for their communication. Inbound marketing is closely linked to the digital customer journey and makes it possible to create interest in your messages in a positive and exciting way, thus generating traffic to your website. Traffic that can then be converted into leads, customers and ambassadors. This blog post answers the question: What is inbound marketing and how does it work?

What is inbound marketing?

Inbound marketing is about attracting traffic in the form of visitors and potential customers to your website by creating attractive and relevant content. It's about earning attention organically, without interrupting anyone - unlike outbound marketing, which is more about pushing out messages that disrupt the recipient's flow of activities to get attention. As with traditional B2B communication, it requires a long-term and consistent effort to build trust through various brand-building and sales-driving efforts. A balanced combination of rational and emotional arguments is needed to convince the potential customer step by step that your product or service is the best. This is why inbound marketing is a good model for your B2B marketing efforts.

The difference between inbound marketing and outbound marketing

Inbound marketing is often referred to as the new modern way of communicating, as opposed to outbound marketing, which refers to more traditional marketing. Figures show that inbound accounts for 90% of online clicks while outbound accounts for the remaining 10% and that it is much more cost-effective to acquire new customers using inbound. Inbound often requires a little more creativity and greater human effort, while outbound is created through higher budget and repetition. At the same time, you get a cumulative effect by working with inbound marketing while outbound activities end the day you don't want to invest more money. Some typical inbound marketing activities are SEO/PPC, blogging, content marketing, newsletters with opt-in lists, active PR, community building, own channels and social media, word-of-mouth and video content. Some examples of outbound marketing are purchased mailing lists, TV, radio, advertisements, outdoor advertising, pop-ups, banner ads and passive press releases.

Why is inbound marketing a good strategy for B2B?

Today, buyers, whether B2B or B2C, decide what information they want to access. They are increasingly skeptical of advertising and other methods that interrupt their media consumption. To get your message across, you need to create content that potential customers actually want and address their needs at every stage of the customer journey.

Digital developments are creating new behaviors in all industries. Not least in B2B. Statistics from CEB and Google show that almost 89% of all B2B buyers today start their buying process online. More people than ever are involved in the decision and it takes an average of 12 interactions before the potential customer even meets a salesperson when choosing a future supplier. However, B2B companies often find it more difficult than consumer companies to develop and implement an effective digital communication strategy. A more complex customer journey, longer buying processes and more types of decision-makers provide a more difficult arena in which to operate. In addition, the B2B customer today is much more inclined to find out enough information themselves to make a decision. In many cases, by the time a sales representative is contacted, the decision is already made. It's important to reach potential customers at all stages of their decision-making process and make sure to follow through to the end to close the deal.

Benefits of inbound marketing

There are several good reasons to work with inbound marketing. It is more cost-effective than outbound marketing because the impact of the activities accumulates and produces results over a long period of time, whereas the results of outbound activities stop when you stop putting money into them. By disseminating relevant, educational and readable content, you also build the image of your brand as a thought leader in the industry. Your website becomes a hub for knowledge, trend spotting and inspiration.

Inbound marketing also provides a strategic framework that ties your communications together and ensures you reach your target audiences at all stages of the customer journey. With digital activities, it is easier to follow the customer along the entire buying journey. This allows you to continuously evaluate which activities are good at creating conversions and which are not.

What types of businesses benefit from using inbound marketing?

Most businesses can benefit from inbound marketing, but it is particularly profitable for companies with long and complex buying processes and a slightly larger customer base. Inbound marketing requires more commitment and a greater investment of time than outbound activities, so it is particularly suited to companies that invest in marketing and can dedicate more resources to content creation.