Hoskins Interactive Media & Marketing Blog
Current Articles Rss FeedYou Need to Invest Time or Money to Get Customers From Your Website
Posted bywpbizThu, Aug 1, 2013 @ 1:56 pm
If you want your website to be more visible to potential clients, it takes an investment of either time or money, or a combination of both. Either you make time to write content that increases visibility and drives traffic to your website, or you pay someone to do it. And the investment can be substantial to a small business. It was for me, too. But I spent the money I didn’t quite have, because I saw the degree of success inbound marketing produces, and I committed to the process.
Inbound marketing creates a path to achieve your goals.
But you have to believe and commit to the process.
It comes down to an act of faith. Establishing an inbound marketing program takes an understanding of business goals, plans, challenges, budget and timelines. When I present a plan to a prospective client, it is a program that really will deliver results if we stick to it. We’re not spending time on the phone to shoot the breeze. I’m trying to determine how many leads are required to hit revenue and client/customer goals. Your goals dictate the number of leads, amount of website traffic and blogs that need to be written, and so on. Math is pretty clear cut. That’s what we rely on.
Inbound marketing is different because your program is designed to achieve business goals. You may not have the money in hand when you start inbound marketing. You may be overreaching financially. But the point is to get you to that financial goal. You have to trust and believe that the process will get you there. I can show you analytics that reveal areas where your site performs well and areas of improvement. But that’s the tactical end. If you want to hire three people by the end of 2014 and you need another $200k to do it, inbound marketing can create the path to get there. Inbound marketing was designed for this, achieving financial goals.
You may not have had the money in hand when you started your business. But that didn’t stop you, because you believed in your vision. Companies are growing and saving money rapidly with inbound marketing. According to HubSpot’s 2013 State of Inbound Marketing report:
- 41 percent of CMOs/CEOs report that inbound generated the positive ROI they sought last year.
- 82 percent of marketers who blog see positive ROI for inbound marketing.
- 54 percent more leads are delivered in the marketing funnel via inbound vs. traditional outbound leads.
“…after twelve months of using HubSpot, 92% of customers increased their traffic, and 93% saw an increase in leads.” – HubSpot CEO, Brian Halligan on customer growth. Not too shabby from a company that grew 82 percent last year.
That could be you. But the first step is what you believe. Do you believe and are you committed to looking at your business differently? Sharing information? Inbound marketing is a strategy that can change your business, but you need to invest, and sometimes what you’re investing in is the belief of what is possible.
…So let’s talk about what your goals are and how inbound can get you there.
Terra Hoskins is the principal of inbound marketing consultancy, Hoskins Interactive. She tweets at @terrahoskins.
* Photo by Alan Clearve
