Build Business Confidence With Inbound Marketing ROI

The latest Gallup Poll of US consumer confidence says we're still very pessimistic about the economic outlook for America, and it says that as bad as we think things are today, we believe the future could be even worse. We can thank our friends in Greece and Italy for that dark cloud, as the European debt crisis is almost certain to drag Europe into a double-dip recession that will have some collateral impact on the U.S. economy.

So what can we (you!) do about it? I know what we're doing – doubling down on our Inbound Marketing initiatives. As we reported earlier this week (Increase Your Website Traffic by More Than 1/3 in Just One Week (We Did!)) we've seen traffic and leads increase in response to our SEO, e-mail, and content publishing and promotion strategies. Just as the Hubspot case studies demonstrate, the strategies, processes and tools that taken together represent Inbound Marketing do generate the kinds of tangible results that can give businesses of all types the confidence to carefully invest to grow their businesses.

The ROI analysis can be relatively simple. Since Hubspot provides all the tracking and analytic tools to identify and monitor prospects activity, users can see exactly where leads are coming from. And because Hubspot integrates with most CRM products, tracking revenue associated with leads is simple as well. The analytics also help on-the-fly adjustments to content, channels, calls-to-action, and other marketing variables in your plan.

Anyone who has studied economics at any level understands that confidence is the most important accelerant for a recovery, and a lack of confidence makes recovery very difficult. The advice we're offering today is to commit to taking the initial Inbound Marketing steps, starting with website optimization, SEO strategy, and simple content plans. Within 90 days you'll see the impact on traffic and leads, and you'll start to feel the confidence in the direction you're taking.

Then it's up to you and your sales people to turn leads into revenue. That's right, you still have to close! But wouldn't you rather have your future dependent on your ability to close, instead of just hoping for the skies to clear and the economy to miraculously improve?