If the benefits of inbound digital marketing hasn't convinced you to incorporate it into your budget for 2017, the supporting research and financial ROI of inbound marketing should pave the way.
Be sure to consider both short-term marketing and long-term tactics. Every marketer would love to report to his or her CEO that the marketing technique used today generated an immediate lead; however, that typically doesn’t happen. This is especially true if you have a product that has a long sales cycle.
So how do you generate those leads you desperately need?
Present yourself in the places your ideal customer is looking.
Choosing the right marketing channels is the key to reaching your personas, or your ideal target audience. A strategically developed persona will uncover where and how they make buying decisions, which in turn is how you should allocate your budget amongst the marketing channels.
What should you consider when allotting your marketing budget across both outbound and inbound channels? And how should you spread the online investment across the various online/digital channels?
Plan ahead — not just for today.
Read the approximated channel distribution of outbound vs. inbound marketing, according to Forrester Research:
- 29% of your total marketing budget should be allocated to inbound marketing channels.
- Search engine marketing (SEO & SEM) will continue to capture the largest share of online spending at 47% — or about 14% of the firm’s total marketing budget.
- Online display advertising (banner ads, remarketing and retargeting) will capture the next biggest share of the online spend at about 34% of total online spend and about 10% of the total marketing budget.
- Social media investments are estimated at 6% of total online spend and a bit less than 2% of the total marketing budget.
- Mobile, the fastest growing digital marketing channel, will garner about 10% of the total digital marketing budget and slightly less than 3% of the total marketing budget.
With your own personal mix of inbound and outbound marketing, your marketing goals can surely be achieved. So be sure to plan your 2017 goals realistically with the appropriate budget and resources.
