Inbound Marketing Is Mission Critical to Your Business’s Sales Growth

Inbound marketing no longer applies to only hip retail stores, restaurants and tech companies. Inbound marketing applies to ANY company that wants to grow sales. What exactly is inbound marketing? These are tactics to “pull” your audience vs. “pushing” your brand, product or service outward. This includes SEO (search engine optimization), SMM (social media management), PPC (pay-per-click advertising), email management and reputation management (soliciting reviews and testimonials). Ignoring any of this can be mission critical for sales growth and quite frankly, without emphasis on inbound marketing, companies are alienating the fastest growing demographic with all the purchasing power – people under 40!

This younger generation of managers belonging to all facets of an organization live on the Internet. They are comfortable with making minute to very large purchases online. Cars and even houses can be purchased online so can your industrial products and services. Buying decisions are influenced by search ranking, relevant and accurate content, reviews, testimonials, social media engagement and so on. Statistics show that purchases are less and less influenced by door-to-door salesmen or catalogs in the mail. This young professional demographic doesn’t do paper. When they shop, they search for it on their phone and if more research is necessary, on their tablet or PC. A website with compelling messaging  and an obvious sales path wins.

The Internet is here to stay. Search is used at home and in the office. Purchasing, MRO, supply chain and operations managers are increasingly using search tools to make budgeted and/or capital purchase decisions as well. It is by far more powerful than any tangible selling tactic for most any application or industry. Search is the absolute quickest way for a prospect to compare your product to your competitor. Investing in sound content that ranks a company’s products or services in the top three-to-five search results for targeted search phrases practically guarantees an increase in sales and perceived value. Ranking high also adds validity to a company or brand because search algorithms have gotten so intrinsically smart in the last decade that sites with redundant info, bad links or lacking responsiveness to mobile are penalized with poorer ranking results.

Marketing and sales have traditionally been grouped together for many companies. Some organizations are realizing that the sales department is a completely independent revenue generator than marketing. Both organizational components speak to different audiences. Outbound sales in the form of customer visits, calling and other types of direct communication are only effective if that specific customer is in immediate need of the product or service being presented. Companies that have made thoughtful and calculated investments in relevant content, constant social media updates and telling a relatable company story to obtain customers searching for the products or services broaden the range of prospects either regionally or nationally depending on the target customer. Imagine a whisper versus a bull horn!

X-Factor Web Marketing has been ahead of the curve since 2008 on the importance of comprehensive digital marketing. We specialize in custom online marketing strategies for manufacturing and industrial businesses.  We know this methodology is fundamental in influencing prospects to purchase your products and services online. X-Factor will produce trackable and sustainable results for your company. Are you ready to start building your digital footprint?