In recent years Inbound Marketing has really taken off as a prominent marketing method amongst progressive companies worldwide. With Hubspot setting up it's Australian office in the back half of 2014, it's quite clear that as far as marketing solutions go, Inbound Marketing is well and truly here to stay.
However, it's important to note that Inbound is not for everyone, not because it shouldn't be used by anyone, but rather that it doesn't suit some products, services, industries and business sizes as well as others.
We could be here forever tallying up all the yes, no's and maybes for every conceivable business, so what seems the most sensible thing to do, is to identify the varying factors within a business that, strictly speaking, determines its suitability.
Is Inbound Marketing Right For My Business?
As an Inbound Agency, while it serves our company well to have more businesses adopt Inbound, it is also in our best interest to make sure everyone has realistic expectations around whether it should feature in their suite of marketing solutions.
There is a lot of data out there which will indicate the possible results, but the pure fact of the matter is that the entire Inbound Methodology is much less likely play to the strengths of:
- Businesses that are predominately retail operations
- Businesses that sell a commodity product where there is limited/no exclusivity
- Businesses that have small transaction values and avg annual revenue per customer < $500
That is not to say that you couldn't be successful, but with all good judgement, the ROI is less likely to be there and in a moment I'll detail why, but for now, let's look more closely at HubSpot's Inbound Methodology to identify the process as a sales funnel.
As you can see, the inherent focus on attracting strangers and converting them into leads is achieved through your website via these above methods. So, to do this you need to ensure you build out your website and social media channels effectively and spend the necessary time blogging to give yourself a chance of getting results.
To help explain where I'm going with this, think of Inbound Marketing as bodybuilding and HubSpot as a gym. Once you pay your gym membership you have access to all the right facilities and equipment to help you get bigger and stronger. However, to get the best results you need a trainer (inbound agency) who can work with you to get you to the top level. Therefore, if you don't have the time to spend in the gym or don't have the budget to pay a trainer, then you are likely to try and do some pull-ups at the park or setup a bench press in the garage and we all know how well that goes.
On a far more positive note, there are many signals that Inbound works for a multitude of businesses and unless you fall into the categories above, it is likely to be right for you too.
Source: Hubspot, State of Inbound, 2015. Full report details can be found by downloading the full report at stateofinbound.com
Let's Look At The Elements That Make A Business A Great Fit For Inbound.
- You sell a product or service that has a point of difference from the competition
- You can commit to the equivalent of 1-2 days/week towards Inbound Marketing (or have the budget for an inbound Consultant)
- Your average sales cycle for a new client is > 1 week, but < 1 year
- Your new clients are worth >$500
- You have salespeople or a nominated contact who can follow up with qualified leads
Source: Hubspot, State of Inbound, 2015. Full report details can be found by downloading the full report at stateofinbound.com
The one best piece of advice I can give you is to objectively assess your value proposition and then ask yourself, is it likely that my ideal customer would start their buyers journey on-line and require nurturing to take them from a point of problem identification to purchase. If the answer is yes, then Inbound is a good fit.
If they are likely to walk the streets in a retail precinct to make purchasing decisions, or search on-line for your product from the multitude of available suppliers and purchase from the cheapest, then you aren't likely to get the value from adopting each element of the Inbound Methodology.
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