Why Inbound Marketing Is a Smart Investment for Industrial Companies

Your company already has a tried and true marketing plan. Ads in industrial magazines, direct mail, attendance at a few key trade shows, a company brochure. So if the traditional works, why open a new can of worms?

Because “traditional” is often synonymous with “expensive.”

Now don’t get us wrong; traditional marketing does yield results, but usually only after you’ve handed over a massive lump of your budget.

What if your industrial company could successfully integrate an active B2B online marketing campaign at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing, but still attract a wide variety of new businesses and create a more steady stream of leads?

You’d get on board with that, right? Right.

What Exactly is Inbound Marketing?

Let’s start with the basics. What makes up your inbound marketing campaign?

Sure you’ve got your website, you may have even started a blog. But you can’t forget about your social media marketing strategy, your email marketing campaign, plenty of consistent, quality content on your website including blogs, video, and webinars,on and off-site search engine optimization, and of course, metric analysis and reporting.

All of these aspects of inbound marketing are crucial and the proof is in the pudding. Just this year, 45% of B2B companies have increased marketing budgets due to past inbound success. That is to say, B2B is wizening up and going full throttle when it comes to wooing clients online.

And don’t you want to reap some of those rewards?

Why Online Marketing is Important for a B2B Company

So we’ve appealed to your fiscally conservative side and defined inbound marketing to a tee, but now you want the goods: why exactly is online marketing important for B2B companies in the industrial sector?

1. It differentiates you from the competition. Think about it. The majority of your competitors are probably not online and if they are, they probably aren’t actively building their campaigns. This gives you the opportunity to establish your company as the best there is on the web – an arena that reaches countless of potential clients.
2. It proves you know your stuff. Churning out high quality blog posts, creating informative webinars, even tweeting out a link to a must read industry article – this is the type of social currency potential clients appreciate because it shows that not only are you truly interested in assisting them, but you’re also knowledgeable and on top of your game.
3. It starts a conversation with your target audience. Whenpotentialclients are combing the search engines, they’re looking for an answer to their problem. And if you write a blog post or website page that answers that question, you’re engaging them in conversation. Odds are, they’ll most likely want to finish that conversation by picking up the phone or setting up a meeting with
   you in person.

So what’s the best way to set yourself ahead of the pack? According to Global Spec,you need to create online engagement opportunities that build brand awareness – this being the foundation of your entire online marketing campaign.

So there you have it, engage online for a fraction of the price and watch prospective clients take notice.

It’s worth opening the new can, isn’t it? We think so, too.

Works Cited

Global Spec. “Trends in Industrial Marketing 2012: How Manufacturers are Marketing Today.” Industry Trends & Research Reports for Industrial Marketers (2012): 4. Globalspec.com. PDF file.

How would you rate your current inbound marketing campaign? In what ways has it reached your target market better than traditional methods of marketing? In what ways do you think your inbound marketing campaign could improve?