Over the years, inbound marketing has become a staple in many businesses. Business owners and marketers have turned to inbound marketing strategies for small businesses to ensure they remain competitive.

The results of outbound marketing techniques may seem similar to small business inbound marketing strategies – for those who are unfamiliar with the differences between the two. In this blog, we’ll discuss the possible reasons why you should adopt inbound marketing for your small business.

To review, here’s a great video overview of inbound marketing vs. outbound marketing:

Benefits of Inbound Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

Let’s delve into the specifics of inbound marketing strategies for small businesses:

1. Generate leads

Unlike outbound marketing strategies that involve broadcasting a message to a passive audience, inbound marketing strategies for small businesses are all about advertising products and services to consumers who are already interested in what you have to offer.

One way of achieving this is by doing a follow-up on people who have already shown interest, for instance, by clicking or watching a video you have posted. These are people that can easily turn to leads.

2. Generate more sales

Following inbound marketing trends help generate more qualified leads, which is great. However, a business owner or marketer has to follow up on the potential leads and close them to boost sales. Furthermore, what’s the importance of generating leads if you cannot convert them into sales?

With small business inbound marketing strategies, especially on social media, you can acquire new customers, most of whom will respond to the brands they see on a platform and purchase their products and services.

3. Help in building brand awareness

All entrepreneurs realize how difficult it is for consumers to purchase products and services from companies they have never heard of before. It is for this reason that business owners will sell their brand by word of mouth, as it is still a very powerful marketing tool.

Inbound marketing is often a more effective marketing tool compared to certain popular tactics, such as television and radio advertisements. Why is this? Because small business inbound marketing strategies focus on relationship building. As such, marketers can narrow their focus on a particular niche of interested parties. Instead of casting your net into unpredictable waters, inbound strategies allow you to build trustworthy relationships with individuals that are interested in your products and services.

4. Higher return on investment (ROI)

One positive aspect of inbound strategies for small businesses that cannot be ignored is the fact that it is often cheaper than traditional outbound strategies.

For instance, television and radio adverts are expensive for a small business. However, inbound tactics like social media are often free or inexpensive to push a marketing campaign.

This low advertising rate will increase the value of each sale, significantly increasing your return on investment.

5. Saves time

Inbound marketing strategies are cost-effective. They lower the amount of money you spend on your marketing efforts. In turn, this saves you and your team time by increasing productivity and efficiency.

Furthermore, with the recent advancements in technology, marketing is now highly automated. For instance, inbound marketing strategies like e-mail marketing facilitate engagement between a company and its consumers.

Another good example is using a chatbot service. These services are used to enhance customer interactions even when you are not available to answer basic customer queries or inquiries.

With inbound marketing strategies, you are better able to prioritize your time and go after highly qualified leads.

How Does Inbound Marketing for Small Businesses Differ from Other Inbound Marketing?

One of the most challenging components of launching any marketing campaign begins with deciding the approach. As a small business, there are certain inbound marketing tools or trends that may work better for enterprises.

For example, TV commercials or radio ads while tactical may reach a small percentage of your audience and are not cost-effective. Thinking of your budget as a small business, you do not have resources to waste on failed inbound strategies.

Due to advanced technology, you can market in a more sophisticated way to reach your intended audience with the right message at the right time. Inbound marketing is the clear winner when it comes to your inbound marketing vs. outbound marketing strategies.

Builds Trust and Relationships

Most inbound strategies for small businesses focus on building trust and lasting relationships with their clients. As opposed to outbound strategies, inbound marketing focuses on the importance of dialogue with potential customers.

It is, basically, interacting with potential clients, answering their questions, and telling them more about their products and services. Also, by providing your consumers with quality content, you establish authority, and they learn to trust your brand and expertise. This trust develops way before they are interested in what you have to offer or before they contact one of your salespeople.

How SharpSpring Can Help Small Business Owners with Inbound Marketing

Using inbound marketing for agencies or small businesses can be helpful to in-house experts’ bandwidth and be budget-conscious. Helping you build high-quality content and gain valuable insights for customers are other ways our solution proves to be the right solution for you.

Aiming to improve marketing decisions by analyzing business performance is a built-in feature of SharpSpring’s solution. This data can be used to craft customer-focused content opening a better ground for communication with the customer base. With two-way communication, you can make business adjustments while engaging with customers, attracting traffic, and saving your team time.

The more potential consumers believe and trust in your brand, the more quality leads you will gain and the more the sales can be closed. If you’re looking to learn more about inbound and outbound marketing tactics, feel free to reach out to us for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is inbound marketing?

Inbound marketing is a business methodology used to attract customers by curating high-quality content that is customer-centered. Differing from outbound marketing, inbound marketing does not interrupt your audience but forms connections with your audience to solve their existing problems.

How does inbound marketing for small businesses differ from inbound marketing for larger businesses?

Since most content is curated in-house, small businesses can level up the playing field with larger competitors because inbound marketing has a greater ability to share information with a wider audience. There’s more opportunity for intimate interactions with your customers using inbound marketing boosting your brand reputation and customer loyalty.

What are the benefits of inbound marketing for small businesses?

For small businesses, inbound marketing is cost-effective, long-lasting, and builds authority and awareness for the brand. Additionally, quality content can reach customers immediately and even span to new markets and audiences if executed well.

AUTHOR
Kim Anchors