Inbound Marketing and social media engagement for brands are most common and effective promotion tactics today. The whole world of marketing is now going towards “earning customers” in place of begging or buying.
The fundamental shift in consumer behavior and preference is certain now: folks are in control of what information they choose to receive. Not only do they have choices when it comes to brands while buying, but they have the option to choose who they want to hear from.
Needless to say, outbound marketing is having a hard time. On the other hand, inbound marketing works, but only when you go at it the right direction.
Almost every business is choosing an inbound marketing to compete in the environment. How you use it all makes a difference. If you ask a leader and an entrepreneur Vanshul Banta, according to him to lead in the industry, you need to update yourself and your team with new technologies and tactics that are impossible to ignore.
Here are a few inbound marketing realities you should not ignore:
1. No one gives two hoots about your brand, product, service or whatever
This one’s kind of tough. In fact, it’s the hardest reality about being in business today. Contrary to whatever you might think about your venture, your potential customers don’t really give a damn about you. No doubt it’s quite hard to digest. Does it mean all that passion, hard work, and tears you put into running your business are for nothing?
Customers aren’t completely concerned about you, and won’t be either, for as long as you invest your time and money in “campaigns,” you are just carrying out interruption marketing.
What matter to the world is solutions to the problems. Your potential customers are seeking solutions that can work for them and make their life better somehow, in some way. Whatever the consumer need – those businesses who take care of the products and services – wins the game.
2. Competition has no face
A few times ago, all that a business would have to worry about – apart from producing goods and delivering services – was a competition within the same industry selling similar products. Today, competition comes in new attires every day.
Previously, there’s the information overload that the audience is slowly getting immune to (which implies that the customer mastered the art of ignoring what you have to say). Now, the competition comes from smarter and leaner companies who know the ways to keep customers engaged (of course, with inbound marketing practices).
Most people wondered why all that money being spent on campaigns never managed to bring in a dollar. It happens because of this competition overload. So you just have a lot more to do today.
Now the question is are you ready to deal with it?
3. Marketing is the new way of giving
Even today capitalism is about making a profit. The only thing is that the way profits are made has changed with inbound marketing. And this new line of marketing calls for “selflessness.” It calls for giving away more than you ask for. It calls for transparency, generosity, and distribute buckets of value through content, spread information, and relationship-building on social media platforms.
You can take whatever route you like, just make sure you give.
4. Inbound Marketing is harder than Outbound Marketing
Most rookie entrepreneurs believe that since inbound marketing is relatively cheaper than traditional marketing, it will definitely easier. However, if you ask experts, it’s easy to forget that work comes at a premium.
Inbound Marketing is tougher than traditional marketing. It includes a whole lot of things that need much effort and attention. Businesses required to produce an incredible amount of content. There are social media, there’s content (which actually stretches into blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, slide decks, curated content, and a whole lot more), which companies have to produce as per the need and requirement.
Then there are multiple channels to enter into. Marketing is now a vital part of the tasks, departments, and functions. Therefore, teams need to put their heart and soul into all of these. The team needs to learn and use the latest tools for multiple tasks ranging from project collaboration to publishing, from video conferencing to web analytics. What’s more, they need to be focused on that, produce excellent results and justify ROI.
Final Words by Vanshul Banta
These are the few new realities of inbound marketing. If you want to rule in the digital world, like a leader Vanshul Banta, ask yourself these questions – How do you go about inbound marketing? What are the major challenges you’re facing in getting inbound leads? How do you convert these leads to sales? Do you have any new tactics or strategies to share? Once you get all the answers, prepare a plan and a strategy with the team and execute it to achieve the desired results and customers trust.
