3 Inbound Marketing Myths You Can’t Afford to Overlook

Inbound marketing is one of the most popular methods for creating brand awareness and new business. It is a method that suggests that you should engage your customers with valuable content and experiences instead of interrupting them with ads, sales, and so on.

According to Hubspot, 56% of marketers who use blogging say it’s effective, and 10% say it generates the biggest ROI.

However, if you’ve ever started blogging for your business, you know that inbound marketing isn’t as easy as it seems.

As a CMO in charge of early-stage startups, I’ve seen all the strategies founders think they should implement, but end up preventing them from reaching their full potential. me. Here are three ways of inbound marketing and actions you can take as a business owner to combat them.

1. Your market is not saturated.

But he is. Inbound marketing worked well in a time when fewer businesses were online and digital marketing was a new concept. More and more companies are flooding the online scene and it’s not easy to stand out when they’re all trying to bring value to exactly who you are. According to Digitalcommerce360.com, in 2007, online sales accounted for 5.1% of total US retail sales. In 2019, e-commerce accounted for 16% of retail sales. By 2022, this number has risen to 21%.

The sheer volume of online content can now be overwhelming. People are inundated with valuable content online as well as through other marketing means – and as a result, they are driven to ignore it. What you can do in a saturated market:

Look for partnerships with other businesses that have synergy with your business but are not in direct competition. You can hold contests and giveaways together on social media, cross-promote in each other’s email newsletters, or even pool your items and theirs to create product offers. unique on its website.

2. Provide value and the right customers will find you.

No amount of search engine optimization can help someone find your solution if they aren’t looking for the answer.

Take the Bird electric scooter for example. Before Bird, no one searched for e-scooter rental locations in the city on Google. But in 2017, the company left only the scooters and manuals on the streets of Santa Monica, California. With this single act, they have mapped out a new road map for the future of transportation.

No amount of podcast interviews or blog posts can generate the same buzz and level of customer engagement as this time of hiatus.

When you have an innovative product that solves problems that people don’t think about, it doesn’t make sense to rely on inbound marketing, no matter how unique your product is.

What you can do if your business idea is new:
Take him to the street. Start by manually researching your first customers, proactively asking for feedback and asking for referrals. If you can create power through advertising or selling abroad, do it. Don’t be afraid to disrupt.

3. Free and easy inbound marketing strategy.

2000-word articles optimized for SEO are not self-written. Your business can hardly generate strong recurring revenue from just one viral Instagram post.

Do you know how long it takes to convert a TikTok follower? These strategies require a lot of energy and consistency. They also require money and other resources if you can’t make them yourself. Additionally, inbound marketing strategies can take months – and sometimes longer – to bear fruit.

Most startups have 12-18 months of racing before running out of cash. Small businesses may have less time to start making a profit before they can no longer operate. Most small businesses and startups don’t have the time or capital to wait.

What you can do instead of free inbound strategies:
Make sure your message addresses your ideal customer’s pain points directly, then show where they’re spending their time. If needed, offer your speaking services in networking groups, host webinars, or reach out to prospects for sales calls.

It takes more than a successful idea for a business to succeed. You can have the biggest, most innovative company in the world, but if you don’t reach your target market and don’t appear in front of people, it doesn’t matter. Your brand barely exists if you don’t have an audience to target and consumers aren’t responsible for finding you – your job is to find the consumer.

Businesses need to turn a profit as quickly as possible, generate solid leads through proactive marketing efforts, and aren’t afraid to mess around.