Most small and medium businesses are seasoned pros when it comes to standard marketing practices like direct mail and local advertising. Many have branched out to digital advertising, listing their businesses on Google or Yelp, starting a Facebook page, or even navigating the world of Twitter. The results of branching out likely weren’t met with as much success as the typical push marketing effort, though. The reason is that, in the digital world, users don’t want your goods or services pushed on them: instead, you need to create content that pulls them in at just the right moment in their customer journey.
That’s where content marketing comes into play. You can create and curate content that appeals to potential clients while demonstrating why you’re the best, but much more subtly.
Here’s an example: A local Santa Cruz construction company sets a goal of building Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) in their town, which is flooded with college students and experiencing a housing crunch. A typical marketing approach would be to spend thousands of dollars sending mailers to households all over the city or to post on their Facebook page about their ADU construction skills. Alternatively, this local construction company could take an inbound marketing approach and create four blog articles that cover topics like:
What’s the ROI of an ADU?
Frequently Asked Questions about ADUs
The ADU permit process in the City of Santa Cruz
ADU designs we adore
These articles are rich with keywords that a potential client might type into Google or Bing at any point in their journey—early on when deciding the financial feasibility of such a project, all the way to getting design inspiration. With this pull strategy, you’ll meet a potential client where they are in their own decision-making process and be able to demonstrate your expertise. This potential client can interact with your brand and get to know your approach to business via the blog posts they find on your website. They can seek out more info through thoughtfully placed forms with appropriate calls to action.
This approach to marketing takes a bit more time and a dedication to knowing your customers, but it yields far better results than standard outbound practices. Here are just a few stats that show how well inbound marketing can work:
Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than outbound marketing
70% of people would rather learn about a company through content versus advertising
Per dollar spent, inbound marketing generates 3X as many leads as traditional