The two most important requirements for major success are: First, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it. – Ray Kroc
Before Ray Kroc helped expand McDonald’s from a local fast food restaurant to a multi-million dollar brand known around the world, he attempted to establish himself as a paper cup salesman, jazz musician, radio DJ, and milkshake machine salesman, among other professions.
Kroc’s quote about the two most important requirements for success not only framed his noteworthy business accomplishments, but it remains sound advice for any organization. It also offers key insight into why an inbound marketing strategy is a perfect way to grow your business.
Want your message to meet your audience in the right place at the right time? It's time to go inbound. 
The growth of the Internet, social media platforms, and mobile devices has given consumers access to as much information as they will ever need to make knowledgeable decisions on purchases. According to a report by Sirius decisions, the average sales cycle has increased by 22% over the past five years due to more decision makers being involved in the buying process.
So what does this mean for your organization? For one, it demonstrates the value of tailoring content to your prospective customer’s stage in the sales funnel. And two, it highlights just how much an inbound marketing strategy can help your business grow by making sure your content is reaching your potential customers in the right place, at the right time, in the right format, and on the right platforms.
Inbound marketing has grown in popularity in recent years, with many organizations ranging from small business to enterprise and corporate marketers, to nonprofit and government organizations realizing the value of switching from paid advertising to an inbound approach. Not all organizations are clear on how exactly inbound marketing boosts sales, so we've put together a post on some concrete ways that making the transition will help your business.
A solid inbound marketing strategy will reduce the amount of time you spend on trying to bring in new clients in a couple of ways. First, you'll be marketing to clients who are already interested in what you have to offer, so you won't waste time pitching to people who are never going to buy your product or service anyway.
Secondly, to a certain extent, inbound marketing allows you to combine sales and marketing, because the task of the marketing department becomes more about educating your potential clients at key points in the sales funnel, which is traditionally the role of the sales team.
One useful expert tip on this topic, included in HubSpot’s 2015 State of Inbound Report, is to have your sales team create blog content that is then edited and spruced up by the marketing team.
Above all, inbound marketing is about being where your ideal customers want you to be, and being able to connect with them in the places and platforms that they like to spend time. Since for many shoppers a potential purchase starts at the search engine, you need to make sure you're showing up in your customers' searches.
And not just in them, but at that top. A study on the value of Google result positioning from chitika.com shows that the first-ranked page in any Google search gets 32.5 percent of the clicks, while the second and third pages get 17.6 and 11.4 percent respectively.
The numbers quickly dwindle from there. So an effective inbound marketing strategy will focus on search engine optimization (SEO rankings) and put you as close to the top as possible in the searches of your target customers.
A good inbound strategy not only brings in new customers, it also helps
nurture relationships with existing customers.
Photo: Adam C. Smith Photography
An inbound approach -- which incorporates community building, generating content that is valuable to your customers, and personalizing the user experience on your website -- is of particular utility when it comes fostering loyal relationships with your clients.
Maintaining relationships with satisfied customers through an integrated inbound marketing strategy will not only turn those individuals into repeat clients, it will also encourage them to become promoters of your brand.
Forbes magazine contributor William Arruda outlines an elegant and effective three-step process to turn potential clients into "evangelists" for your product or service. Arruda dubs his approach the 3E continuum, saying that it hinges on getting people engaged, enamored, and enthusiastic, and he concludes that there's nothing more convincing for a lead than hearing one of your satisfied customers rave about you.
These are just a few of the ways investing in an inbound strategy will help your marketing efforts by bringing in new clients and maintaining the ones you already have. In the contemporary marketing ecosystem, inbound is unquestionably the way to go.
Want to learn more about how B2B companies can use inbound marketing techniques to attract more leads and build better connections with their audience? Get your free copy of our eGuide: The B2B Guide to Inbound Marketing.
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