Marketing has changed and evolved over the years to the degree where people no longer rely on outbound marketing such as printed media, brochures, direct mail, billboards and TV ads for finding out about new products. The reason for these changes is the growth of internet usage from all kinds of devices, from Smart phone, tablets through to your traditional computer and laptop. This alone has given consumers worldwide an effective, less time consuming, efficient alternative for finding, buying and researching brands and products. Here a new marketing communication has emerged in the form of inbound marketing where a two-way dialogue has become available, particularly through the use of social media platforms.

The beauty of inbound marketing is that it costs less than most other traditional forms of marketing by a long shot. Sadly, with traditional forms of marketing you end up trying to buy your way in with a potential customer when most of the time they are so distracted that they aren’t even paying any attention? The end result of these traditional forms of marketing is that a lot of money simply goes down the drain and is wasted, with little to no way of measuring what is working and what is not. When you compare this to inbound marketing systems and channels, everything is in measurable to the minutest detail. But don’t take my word for it check out some of the stats from the infographic below (thanks to Voltier Digital).

A FEW INITIAL STATS

44% of direct mail is never opened. That’s a waste of time, postage and paper.

86% of people skip through television commercials.

84% of 25 to 34 year olds have clicked out of a website because of an “irrelevant or intrusive ad” that they find irritating.

The cost of acquiring a lead with outbound marketing is significantly more than it is for inbound marketing.

With Inbound marketing focuses on earning, not buying, a person’s attention, which is done through social media and engaging content, such as blogs, videos, podcasts and white papers. This engaging content actually adds value by being interesting, informative and relevant. This naturally creates a positive connection with potential customers, which in turn makes them more likely to engage with your brand, your range of products and services and increase your conversion rates. So in effect inbound marketing costs less and has a better a ROI – it’s a bit of a no brainer.