How To Select The Right Inbound Marketing Agency
Inbound marketing has gained much interest in recent years, as businesses look for ways to reach their consumers in a technology-driven world. There is no denying that the internet has fundamentally changed how consumers connect, research, and make purchasing decisions. “Interruption” marketing is quickly losing any effectiveness that it had, with the majority of individuals bypassing unsolicited messages. 86% of people now skip television ads and 44% of direct mail pieces are never even opened. Inbound provides the solution to reaching these customers effectively at a time when so many messages are tuned out.
Inbound comes in a variety of forms, all working together to establish your business as an industry leader and place your message in front of the ideal customer at the ideal time. Unlike traditional forms of advertising, inbound marketing focuses on capturing leads at their exact time of need. An astounding 97% of consumers use online media to shop locally. If your company cannot be found during those searches, it is a near certainty that buyers will turn elsewhere. Your online presence is not optional; it is critical.
The platforms on which these online searches take place vary. The majority are done through search engines such as Google. However, social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, along with other online platforms generate numerous leads as well. Having a presence on all of these develops a marketing program that is robust and optimized for effectiveness. However, implementing such a program takes intimate knowledge of the inbound marketing arena and best practices. While many agencies have begun to include offerings such as search engine marketing to their clients, many still maintain a primary focus on traditional advertising, with inbound being a side offering.
Agencies such as BlinkJar are uniquely focused on the capabilities of inbound marketing. While we have the ability to offer traditional media placement, our core focus is on the results available through inbound marketing. With each lead typically costing 62% less when captured through inbound, it’s a strategy that makes a lot sense. Rather than spending valuable advertising dollars on media with indeterminate ROI, we believe in utilizing products that allow businesses to calculate their cost per lead with exact accuracy.
Offering this type of service means that our company must come with a great deal of trustworthiness and transparency. Any inbound marketing agency should. After all, an agency of this type will largely impact your online persona, how consumers find you, and the overall user experience of your online platforms. Rather than placing an ad and walking away, the material created by an inbound agency is largely organic and must serve to constantly engage your target audience.
The relationship you have with your inbound marketing agency is vitally important. You should weigh the agency’s style, services provided, and even how they utilize inbound for their own purposes before making your decision. You must trust them implicitly and have the upmost confidence in their abilities. Few decisions will have such a lasting impact on your business as the marketing agency you choose to represent it.
Those such as BlinkJar Media will be passionate about inbound and its unparalleled ability to help your business reach its goals. To help you determine which qualities are most important to consider when selecting an agency to best fit your needs, we have put together a free guide with our partner, Hubspot. To access it, simply click the image below. You can also contact us directly or leave your questions in the comments. If you hadn’t already guessed, we love talking about inbound!
