5 Keys to Successful "Inbound"
First: What is Inbound?
Inbound is adapting your selling to match the new reality that buyers block unwanted “outbound” sales tactics, preferring to seek out information on their own terms. Inbound helps them find you.
Some I talk with companies who are ideal candidates for an Inbound approach to selling but don’t believe it because they “have already tried it and it didn’t work.”
It does work, but there are 100 ways to do it wrong and only a few ways to do it right. Part of the problem is that anyone can hang an “Inbound” shingle on their business, while only having a cursory knowledge of what a comprehensive and EFFECTIVE strategy is.
This means that you, the client, need to understand what good Inbound looks like.
Here are 5 ways things a good Inbound agency should do.
- Start with a comprehensive strategy tailored to your company and target market. If and agency comes in and immediately tells you all the tactics they will use to bring in traffic that is a RED FLAG. Inbound is not one size fits all.
- Build digital Personas. This is easy to overlook but it is at the core of good Inbound. Personas define the people that you want to find you, what will bring them in, and what will keep them coming back.
- Set specific goals. We don’t do Inbound because it is “the” thing to do, we do it to grow the quantity AND quality of the customer base, and to strengthen our place in the market. Goals define what success looks like.
- Measure results and stand accountable. Everything digital can and should be measured against the goal. It is one of the greatest things about digital, we can measure and evaluate exactly how we are doing. You need to measure in order to hold your agency accountable.
- Continuously improve. Digital is a frontier with few well worn roads. Rarely do we get it perfect the first time and even if we do, it will be different in a few months. Success means setting goals, measuring those goals, reviewing the results, applying what was learned then restarting the process again and again. Each time getting better and more effective.
This might sound like a lot……and you are right. The internet has made a fundamental shift in the entire B2B buying processes and adapting to that shift is no small thing. Don’t start until your ready but be ready soon because the wave is coming now.