Who knows what works in their marketing budget?

Posted by Mike Coombs on June 13,2014

 

What works well in marketing?

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."
Winston Churchill

Fast answer:Marketing-What_work_jpg-539996-edited-307470-edited-343355-edited

Inbound marketing and methodology works.

And it tells you if the rest of your marketing and advertising strategy works.

"Money coming in says I've made the right marketing decisions."  Adam Osborne 

How? Why?

Did your advertising or trade show spend drive prospects to your website?  Then what happens?

Inbound marketing encourages and tracks every interaction your already "interested" prospects have with your website, blog, social media, and email, and then automatically delivers that crucial information to sales.

 “Never let your ads write checks that your website can’t cash.” Avinash Kaushik

Inbound marketing converts interested prospects online so you know exactly what you are getting for your dollars right up to the lead being handed to sales.

And remember…

Today’s audience is finished with advertising:

 “Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Eat pudding. Books are good. Eat pudding. If kids read a lot. Eat pudding. They'll get so they can think clearly. Eat pudding. And if enough kids read and think. Eat pudding. We will have world peace. Eat pudding. Thank you very much. Eat pudding.” ― Daniel Pinkwater, Fish Whistle: Little Short Essays by Daniel Pinkwater

 “We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in & be what people are interested in.” – Craig Davis

Even a century ago smart advertisers were already worried about ROI.

"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half."
John Wanamaker, (attributed)
US department store merchant (1838 - 1922) 

While there certainly is good and great advertising, it’s hard to find.  Especially in the age of the internet.

"It’s never been easier for audiences to skip, filter, or avoid advertising, so the best ideas are the ones that respect that the audience needs to get something out of the work; it should inspire, satisfy, or motivate them. You can’t just bombard people with messages anymore.” 
― Ajaz Ahmed

Criticizing advertising has always been easy.

 “...isn't it possible that advertising as a whole is a fantastic fraud, presenting an image of America taken seriously by no one, least of all the advertising men who create it? ” 
― David Riesman, The Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character
 “Advertising departments, as you know, are crawling with people whose frontal lobes are so underdeveloped that if you flatter them a bit they'll swear shit is platinum.” 
― Ryū Murakami, Audition

I am an advertising guy so… ouch! But back to my original “inbound marketing is the shizzle” theme.

"In marketing I've seen only one strategy that can't miss - and that is to market to your best customers first, your best prospects second and the rest of the world last."
John Romero

Who are your best customers and prospects?

It’s the people who have voluntarily expressed interest in your topic or subject and found your website: People you have “permission” to sell to. 

"Permission marketing turns strangers into friends and friends into loyal customers. It's not just about entertainment - it's about education. Permission marketing is curriculum marketing."
Seth Godin
 "The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be."
 David Ogilvy

Inbound marketing, marketing automation, your website, blog, SEO, social media and email… should be your base marketing and the most essential part of your marketing spend.

They must be integrated and strategic. That’s inbound marketing. 

“It’s much easier to double your business by doubling your conversion rate than by doubling your traffic.” 

Jeff Eisenberg

Inbound marketing informs your sales funnel from stranger, to visitor, to lead, customer and promoter.

"As I laser focused my efforts on prospects who already understood what we did, had problems we could solve, and believed in our way of solving them, I got far more results for my money than ever before."
Perry Marshall, 80/20 Sales and Marketing 

Dollar for dollar, inbound marketing wins in immediate sales AND long term intelligence.

For More Information on Inbound Methodologies and Reslts Read:

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