How to solve the biggest sales problems with inbound marketing

For any business that seeks to make a profit, driving sales is an important part of the business that needs to be kept running. With the rapid change in business trends, if your business’ sales have witnessed a nosedive, maybe it’s time to try a different tactic especially as customers have become more smart, vocal and even choosy. Previously we had a look at why we deeply love inbound marketing and why you should too. This week, we’re going further on the inbound marketing journey by taking a look at how some companies solved their biggest sales problems with inbound marketing. Before that, here’s a reminder of what inbounding marketing is, as well as a brief summary of its advantages:

Inbound marketing basically deals with making the customer feel the business cares about them and not only about making a profit. This is done in many creative ways such as short videos, creative blogs etc. that make information readily available to the customer without putting all the attention on the business. Some of the advantages include improvement in the image of your brand, it keeps your customers informed and delighted, enhancement of your relationship with your customers, it saves time and cost, and it enables you to reach a wider audience. According to www.hubspot.com, 93% of companies that use inbound marketing witness an increase in their lead generation.

What if your business is facing its biggest sales problems yet and you’re quite stumped? Firstly, it’s all about identifying how you as a business can use inbound marketing as a tool to boost business sales. You need to devise strategies that attract people to your business. This, in turn, gives you a good chance of converting these people into leads, and eventually permanent customers. For businesses, this can be done using informative blog posts as well as short videos that are able to tell a story of how your business can provide solutions to the needs your target audience may be facing.

One key thing about going the ‘inbound marketing’ way is that it gives your business a personalized image. This time around, instead of coming across as a mechanical business that is all about making a profit, your business takes on a humane and caring tone. This draws people to your brand and before you can say voila, your sales will most likely be picking up! Why? A customer will prefer to patronize a brand that cares than one that just simply does every other thing than focus on him or her as a customer.

This increases your brand’s visibility and takes your business a step closer to giving your business that authoritative tone it needs in order for sales to increase. Remember, the more customers become confident of your brand, the more willing they will be to spend on your products or services.

Okay, now will be a great time to show you some examples, so you know it’s more of action than talk!

• The Missouri Star Quilting Co.

Here’s how this company’s story began:

Its founders Jenny and Ron Doan came up with the idea to sew quilts for people, during the 2008 recession in America. Soon, their orders became so many that the business had to be taken to the next level. Identifying a great business opportunity, their kids Al and Sarah invested in the business by purchasing fabric, a sewing machine as well as a building for the business.

It all seems exciting, right?

Well after two years, things began to slow down and it even looked like the business needed to consider closing down. Realizing that something different needed to be done. Al considered the option of inbound marketing: the business needed to expand online. But in a sea of quilting websites, how were they going to stand out? They simply used YouTube to create more awareness about their quilts by teaching interesting quilting styles, and now have over 240,000 subscribers! The results were outstanding: the website had massive traffic and this, in turn, affected sales positively. They made an average of 2000 sales each day and now have 120 employees.

• The Cleveland Brothers

The Cleveland Brothers’ website started out with no contact forms and poor site navigation. In addition, 65% of visitors went to their site and immediately left. To add to their challenges, the website virtually had no visibility in search engines as well. They figured it was time to change the game and consulted Inbound Marketing Inc. (www.inboundmarketinginc.com). Doing this gave the business a turnaround; now the site could showcase their used equipment at Caterpillar’s headquarters. And are also now visible in search engines due to effective search engine optimization.  Why not use some numbers for proof?

The Cleveland Brothers website’s bounce rate reduced by 25% and their traffic saw a 17% boost!

 

• General Electric

This company’s strategy is a great reminder that the big firms believe in the power of inbound marketing too!

They re-strategized in 2011 and have excelled to tell the story since. One platform by which they improved their marketing is social media. Using Twitter, for example, GE has improved its visibility by coming up with a segment called “Meet the People Who Make GE Work”. They simply keep their customers in touch by linking them to the profiles of their staff…it’s more like a Twitter-GE website combination. Using YouTube, GE has also evolved as an authoritative voice in electricals, by occasionally posting videos of interviews with their gurus.

This is one practical example that shows that inbound marketing is a concerted effort that combines different arms to make the dream work.

You should be convinced by now: Inbound marketing always brings results!

 

SEE ALSO: Inbound Marketing – The present and future of marketing in Ghana