How to Get Your CEO to Invest in Inbound Marketing

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When most of us hear the word “marketing,” we think of traditional forms of paid advertisements — otherwise known as outbound marketing. However, there’s also another type of marketing known as “inbound marketing,” which provides information designed to improve customer experience (CX). Examples include thought leadership blogs, social media posts and permission-based newsletters.

Of course, if you work in marketing for manufacturing, you already know all about the differences between these two forms of advertising your products and brand. What you might not know is how to convince your CEO and other C-Suite decision makers to agree to an inbound marketing plan. Yet whenever you have the opportunity to present marketing to CEOs and other important business leaders, you must secure their buy-in — otherwise, it’s a wasted prospect.

Fortunately, at MANTEC, we’ve provided our consulting expertise to thousands of manufacturing companies across South Central Pennsylvania for over three decades. In that time, we’ve gained a clear understanding of what it takes to speak directly to the interests of CEOs and the companies they lead.

Inbound Marketing for Manufacturing

Understandably, CEOs want facts, so let’s give them a few regarding why inbound marketing makes so much sense for manufacturing companies that want to establish stronger connections with their target audience.

First of all, let’s look at inbound marketing from a purely competitive, financial angle. According to a recent study, more than 75 percent of North American companies are in the process of making inbound marketing their primary form of marketing. So even if your company isn’t using inbound marketing, three out of four of your competitors are.

This adoption rate makes sense, since inbound marketing has a higher ROI than any forms of outbound marketing. The reason is fairly straightforward. Consider the fact that more than 80 percent of today’s business decision makers prefer well-written thought leadership pieces like blogs and articles over paid forms of advertisement. Clearly, if you want your products and brand to be known by people with buying power, you’d better speak to them via the channels they’re on, which includes the use of social media, blog posts and newsletters.

Add to this preference the statistic that companies posting fresh blog pieces once or twice a month generate 70 percent more leads than companies that don’t, and you should see a bright lightbulb turn on over your CEO’s head. Of course, you can always seal the deal by reporting that inbound marketing generates three times as many leads per dollar as traditional outbound marketing does.

Inbound Marketing and CRM

While inbound marketing is all about improved CX, don’t let valuable data that’s right in front of you slip through your fingers. Since Google reports that over 70 percent of B2B decision makers begin researching a product or brand with an online search, we already know that your greatest room for business growth exists online.

What’s more: When you integrate your inbound marketing with a customer relationship management — or CRM — system, your marketing and sales efforts become more aligned. The results are dramatically increased conversion rates and an improved ability to give your customers what they’re looking for in a more efficient, responsive manner. In short, it’s a win-win for everyone.

To learn more about MANTEC and our manufacturing consulting services, contact us today.