Using Inbound Marketing to Increase Lead Generation is Easy?

“Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder, but don’t know body wanna lift no heavy ass weight.” –

Ronnie Coleman ~ 8 Time Mr. Olympia & Cornbread Aficionado

I believe, if I’m interpreting him correctly, that Mr. Coleman is insinuating that people want results without putting in the time and effort necessary to achieve them.

He said it funnier, though (typical Ronnie, am I right?).

The same fundamental issue exists with Inbound Marketing – everybody wanna get more traffic, generate more leads and increase conversions, but nobody wanna consistently publish content and wait a long-ass time for results.  HOWEVER, waiting a (relatively) long-ass time for results is simply part of the process, and I have Hubspot Statistics to prove that I am, as usual, correct – (http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34209/93-of-Companies-Using-Inbound-Marketing-Increase-Lead-Generation-New-ROI-Data.aspx) –

Traffic – 85% of companies using inbound marketing increase traffic within 7 months.

• 74% report increases less than 1 month in, 48.02% in 2-4 months and 20.26% in 5-7 months. In the grand scheme of things, 7 months of dedicated inbound effort would hardly qualify as “long-ass”.

Leads – 83.9% of companies using inbound marketing increase leads within 7 months.

• 64% report increases less than 1 month in, 45.54% in 2-4 months and 19.75% in 5 -7 months. One could make a strong argument that this sort of time-frame is actually a “short-ass”.

Sales – 42.2% of companies using inbound marketing increase their lead-to-sale conversion rate.  AND, 49.7% of companies using inbound marketing increase sales within 7 months.

• Overall, 24% of companies started to see increased sales within the first 12 months. Now, whether you think that dedicating 12 months is long-ass or short-ass, I think that we can all agree that a 63.24% chance that you increase sales is worth it.  Assuming you like money.
• I like money.

SO, as it turns out, time and effort win again (those two are like the Tom Brady and Bill Belichick of achieving things in real life).

The Moral of the Story is this –

If your company isn’t seeing the kinds of results it should be with your Inbound Marketing efforts (despite the lifting of proverbial “heavy ass weight”), then it’s probably time to reevaluate your strategy and/or consult an agency.

If you happen to be using an agency and your company still isn’t seeing these kinds of results, then it’s probably time to reevaluate your agency.