Traditional marketing or outbound marketing, such as direct mail, print advertisements or even trade shows just isn’t effective with consumers as much as it was a few years ago.

The behaviour of the modern B2B buyer is changing as rapidly as the digital landscape itself so businesses who don’t want to get left behind need to adopt an innovative marketing solution.

9/10 decision makers no longer respond to cold outreach

44% of direct mail is never opened

67% of the buying journey now takes place online

While most businesses have come to recognise this shift in buyer behaviour, many aren’t taking advantage of this opportunity or think they are but using old-hat digital marketing techniques that aren’t delivering the goods.

Digital marketing of course still has value but this needs to be part of a bigger and targeted strategy. Putting enough messages out there in the hope that some of them will be heard or focusing too much on impressions or “potential reach” is no longer enough.

If you’re an innovative business ready for change and want genuine results, there is solution - inbound marketing.

What is inbound marketing?

Okay, so you might be thinking, great another marketing buzzword. But we promise this is not just another fad...

Inbound marketing - or more the methodology - takes advantage of the evolution of technology and shift in consumer behaviour and presents a solution for not only marketers, but consumers as well.

Inbound leads cost 60% less than outbound leads. Inbound marketing provides a much more focused program that matches today’s buyer BEHAVIOUR compared to outbound marketing. (Search Engine Journal )

Using the inbound marketing methodology will help turn your business into a magnet that attracts potential buyers when they are looking and turns those active buyers into sales prospects.

Unlike traditional or outbound marketing, inbound marketing does not need to fight for potential customers attention.

Understanding that B2B customers have changed the way they research and buy goods and services from other businesses will help you market them more efficiently. And by creating content that addresses the pains and needs of your ideal buyers, you’ll attract qualified prospects and build trust and credibility for your business.

In this way, you can answer the questions that buyers have at every stage of the buying journey as they research problems, identify potential solutions and shortlist suppliers online - all before they speak to anyone in sales.

But it takes more than just creating great content, having an active social media presence or killing it at search engine optimisation (SEO) alone. Inbound marketing is about creating unified campaigns and consumer-driven content, incorporating a multitude of digital marketing tactics, which help push qualified leads through the sales funnel in a more natural way.

We’ve spoken about the inbound marketing methodology in length in our guide:

But to give you the highlights, following this methodology will help your business:

Get found by more relevant website visitors
Convert more of those visitors into leads by gating content offers behind contact forms
Nurture leads until they are sales-ready prospects through automated email