How IT Businesses Gain Revenue with Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is now widely recognized as a powerful and effective tool for promoting brands and increasing visibility to consumers. However, too many companies (mid-market and enterprise IT businesses included) regard it as an optional marketing strategy: great to have if the company resources can support it, but not really essential at this time.

The truth is that in 2017, businesses must adopt inbound methods if they want to stay both relevant and competitive. Consumers today are more informed and prepared to do research before they buy. Inbound marketing is structured to appeal to their buying habits.

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing, also referred to as customer-centric marketing, is the process of creating and distributing useful, engaging, and valuable content to both potential and existing clients

While traditional marketing is a one-way conversation with the company talking ‘at’ people, inbound encourages a dialogue that can serve as the foundation of a long-term business relationship. It is fast becoming the most effective online marketing strategy for the reasons outlined below.

Increase Site Visitor Count

Inbound techniques pave the way to increased revenue by drawing more traffic to an IT vendor’s website. By creating content that its potential clients want, the company arouses interest and curiosity in these buyers, compelling them to visit the website.

Once there, they find answers to their questions and start to trust the business, which increases its chances of converting these visitors to leads.

Convert Leads

Every buyer who visits an IT vendor’s website has the potential to become a qualified lead. To find qualified leads you must have clear calls to action on the homepage and specific landing pages that encourage visitors to learn more about the company’s products or services in exchange for providing their contact information.

Examples of a call to action include downloading a free eBook or whitepaper or receiving an invitation to a webinar.

Calls to action assist in converting the right visitors into leads that want the company’s products and services. They also increase the likelihood that the lead will become a client.

Close More Sales

Once a website begins generating quality leads, a company should take steps to turn them into clients. Social media, email marketing, and regular blogging can all be used to convince potential clients that this particular business will meet their needs successfully.  This targeted approach sells the company as well as its offerings during the closing stage.

Improve Return on Investment

Inbound results are less expensive to obtain than their outbound counterparts. The estimated cost for an inbound lead is about one-third that the average outbound lead entailed. This difference in cost suggests that inbound practices add to a company’s bottom line.

Bottom Line

When used with skill and creativity, inbound can help mid-market and enterprise IT vendors generate more leads and close more sales while at the same time maximizing return on investment.

Does your IT company use customer-centric marketing to attract website visitors? If so, have you found them to be particularly effective? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments box below.

To learn more about why inbound marketing can improve mid-market and enterprise IT revenue, watch our webinar recording, IT Sales Has Changed. Is Your Team Living in the Past?