3 Things Every Executive Should Know About Inbound Marketing
Over the past 12 months our inbound marketing engagements have increasingly caught the attention of C-level executives. In a small business, this is often the owner. In larger companies, it tends to be either the Chief Marketing Officer or the CEO. When I ask why these C-level executives have taken a sudden or renewed interest in online marketing, the response comes in three flavors:
- Old, disruptive marketing is less and less effective at building brand
- Inbound marketing generates leads
- New technologies like social media are intriguing and mysterious
I'll agree, all three statements are true, but I usually take the opportunity of having an audience with a C-level executive to explain three things every executive should know about online marketing in general and inbound marketing in particular:
#1 Marketing is a Process, not a Project
Old disruptive marketing often led to the idea that marketing was about a series of disjoint projects. You wanted more leads, you sent a postcard and opened a business reply mail account. You wanted to build buzz around an event, you sent an email, issued a press release or took out an ad. Even though it was never true about effective marketing of any kind, it’s even more the case that marketing today is about process not projects. Just as the impact of those marketing projects was almost impossible to correlate to any particular message, creative or channel, the ease of measuring the Return On Investment (ROI) of an online marketing process is one of the best reasons executives should embrace online marketing in general and inbound marketing specifically.
#2 The Internet is a Conversation Medium
When the internet revolution overtook us more than 15 years ago it was about pushing more information at prospects: eyeballs, clicks, banners, pop-ups, spam. The Internet has evolved from an advertising medium into a conversation medium. The desire for interaction and exchange drives sales and marketing in new directions. Consumers burned out on mass marketing and “push” advertising. Instead, consumers look to explore their purchasing options, seek recommendations from peers and ask questions online. Successful companies recognize the internet’s role as a conversation medium and build relationships with buyers rather than bombard them with one-way marketing messages.
#3 Marketing is Making Business More Data Driven
Think about your key business assets. You likely think of people and perhaps equipment, but in the age of online marketing, the database - or more precisely the data - is a critical business asset. Online marketing is not only about marketing; it is about gathering, analyzing and leveraging data to improve all aspects of your business. Your customer, lead and prospect database are the lifeline of your business and should be integrated into business functions outside of marketing, including customer service and product development. The internet provides businesses with more data and information than they've ever had before. Companies that understand how to best analyze data and use the power of the information they gather will out-perform their competition.
Armed with these three fundamentals of modern online marketing, perhaps it makes more sense why disruptive marketing is less and less effective and perhaps social media seems a little less mysterious. In any case, C-level executives who understand and embrace these tenets of online marketing will be far better equipped to make choices about the most effective methods for generating new leads and growing revenue. What say you?
