PR, Change And The Power of Inbound Marketing
Category: Blog - July 14, 2010
It is no surprise that we are seeing dramatic shifts in marketing and how companies and brands are connecting with their customers. The pace of change seen over the last decade is remarkable and continues unabated as consumer behavior quickly evolves and adapts to new social technologies, and brands continue to innovate in their use. Appropriately, the focus in marketing is moving from the traditional “outbound” approach (advertising, direct mail, trade shows) to an “inbound” approach (search engine marketing, blogging, social media). Research clearly establishes marketers are looking here for meaningful impact, and here’s why:
This is partly because inbound marketing is more effective from a cost-per-lead standpoint:
Inbound marketing cost per lead compared to average
And it is more effective from a cost-per-lead standpoint because inbound marketing puts a company right where their customers are looking for information about them, connecting brands with their customers more quickly.
This is even more compelling when the cost-per-lead of inbound is contrasted with the cost of leads from outbound marketing efforts:
Outbound marketing cost per lead compared to average
Overall, the cost per lead is 60 percent lower for inbound marketing:
This is a newish domain for public relations, evolving quickly over the last 3-5 years. As strategic partners to our clients, we are increasingly being asked to weigh in with strategy, insights and options for this side of the customer engagement (and ultimately, lead generation) equation. And it’s because we’re the right partner to navigate this space on behalf of our clients. Why?
- “Engagement” is our native language – whether with journalists, bloggers or influencers, we seek to build dialog and to substantively reach key audiences directly and indirectly
- PR work is magnified by quality content, and increasingly that content is king – content strategy, inbound marketing and especially SEO are top priorities for organizations that want to reach their customers
- We help clients show up – in the right place at the right time with the right message – for some that still means printed publications, but for all it’s increasingly the top five search engine results
This changing reality has only intensified the focus on inbound marketing and, subsequently, speed to strategy and execution. PR is uniquely positioned because we understand the value of integrated campaigns that mix traditional media, social media, PR, search and others. We watch for this, we measure, and we adjust our tactics to maximize results. And we get results.
We know the vast majority of interactions with brands begin on the search engine results page and that those interactions are quickly moving to and being sustained by how brands engage these audiences directly through social media. Our job is to optimize this process and to ensure engagement and interactions with a brand’s audience are maximized from the audience perspective. We work to clearly articulate the value of this inbound marketing opportunity for brands, and to ensure that it is connected to the overall marketing strategy.
The graphs above are from an excellent research report offered by HubSpot, and available for download.
Director, Digital & Social Strategy
Tags: public relations, inbound marketing, outbound marketing
2 comments on this topic
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Stephanie Chandler said:
Great post, John! Content IS king online and these great stats prove it. I also think it will be interesting to see how social media shifts and evolves over the coming year. I'm concerned about consumer burn-out, something that businesses need to be mindful of. The reality is that social media needs human interaction, thought and execution in order to be successful. Companies that "get" this are the ones who will benefit most. Thank you!
John Schneider said:
Stephanie, thanks for the comment. I totally agree, and as in all things doing something well has everything to do with execution. Social media, and the value for companies, is no different. The beautiful thing is that with the abundance of data available we can make very informed decisions about how to execute, and back this with a content strategy that we know will connect with the audiences we want to engage with, and be engaged by. However, we know we are on a fast track of evolution, change and disruption in marketing, and social media is but a part of that. My feeling is that 12 months from now we'll be looking at a changed and evolving landscape for brands, and this will continue. This excites me.