Originally published March 21, 2023 , updated on July 10, 2024

Inbound marketing for IT companies can help you generate website traffic and find new qualified leads. Often, outbound marketing is expensive because you have to keep paying for ads or email campaigns. Every lead generated costs more money; you lose out if those leads don’t become paying customers. Many companies fail to manage their marketing budget well because they rely on poorly targeted outbound marketing strategies. 

Inbound marketing creates more organic traffic and allows you to manage your budget more effectively. It also brings in more targeted leads that are likely to convert. But you can’t leverage it without fully understanding what it is and the key benefits. But first, let’s properly define what inbound marketing actually is.

What Is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound and outbound marketing are distinctly different. Outbound marketing is when a company puts its message out in the hopes of catching the attention of customers. This includes email marketing, pop-up ads, cold calling, or billboards. With all these methods, the consumer hasn’t requested information about your business. Instead, you’re reaching out to them and hoping that they respond.

An inbound marketing company does the opposite. The best inbound marketing services focus on attracting potential customers to your business by offering something of value. Strategies like social media marketing, content creation, and mailers are all examples of content an inbound marketing company creates. They encourage people to visit your website and explore your products and services more. The end goal is to encourage these people to get in touch and become paying customers.

This strategy has become popular in recent years because of changing consumer attitudes. People increasingly use techniques to avoid outbound methods, like pop-up blockers, spam filtering, and caller ID. As a result, outbound marketing is less effective than it used to be, and the return on investment is lower. 

Inbound marketing for IT companies involves creating high-quality content that potential customers benefit from. The best inbound marketing services focus on your customer’s needs and help you create content that addresses those needs. 

The Benefits of Inbound Marketing for IT Companies

You should be aware of several benefits of this kind of strategy for IT companies.

1. More Credibility With Customers

Inbound marketing for IT companies is excellent for building credibility with customers. IT hardware can be technical and confusing for those outside the industry. So, customers want to deal with a knowledgeable company that understands the ins and outs and can explain them. A good inbound marketing company can help you demonstrate your expertise and build credibility with customers.

By giving people detailed information, you offer value without expecting a sale. This is an excellent way to establish customer relationships and build trust from the outset. It also positions you as a leader in your industry with the experience to deliver a good service. This credibility can be the main driving force behind customer decisions. When choosing an IT hardware company to work with, people need to be confident that you are knowledgeable about their needs and can provide reliable solutions.

Outbound marketing cannot build credibility in the same way. You are directly approaching people in an attempt to make a sale rather than educating them, so you don’t establish trust as you would with high-quality content.

2. Better Quality Traffic

Generating traffic for your website is more than just a numbers game. Although increasing traffic is a good thing, you also need to consider the quality of that traffic. In other words, how likely are those visitors to become paying customers?

You want visitors that need the specific IT hardware that you deal with. If you don’t target your audience properly, you may see an influx of traffic, but your conversion rate won’t increase. But when you use content or social media, you can ensure you reach the right people.

Consider people’s common IT questions and create content that addresses them. This will draw in a lot of qualified leads and can encourage engagement on social media too. The best inbound marketing services will help you write blog articles and create videos that deliver real value so customers share them on social media and organically expand your reach.

3. Reduced Marketing Costs

Managing costs is challenging when using outbound strategies. You pay for every email you send or every ad that gets clicked on, and costs quickly add up. But good inbound marketing for IT companies continues delivering value over time.

Once a piece of content is published, it continues drawing in new traffic. Although it needs to be updated to stay relevant, this is far more cost-effective than a sustained email or ad campaign, for example. When people start sharing that content and increasing its reach, you maximise your marketing spend even more.

4. Improved Engagement With Customers

Customer engagement is crucial in the IT hardware industry because you work with organisations on a long-term basis. You’ll likely have relationships with customers as you supply, upgrade, and maintain their IT hardware. 

You must nurture those relationships to demonstrate to customers that you care about them and encourage them to stay loyal to you. Otherwise, why should they continue working with you if another company can offer the same products at the same price? A good inbound marketing company helps you improve customer engagement and strengthen those relationships so customers don’t leave you when a cheaper price comes along.

Whenever you interact with people on social media, or they share your content, they are directly engaging with the company and starting a conversation. According to an article by Mckinsey and Company, 71% of consumers say they value a personalised interaction with a business. People don’t want general marketing material with product information; they want direct interaction with the business. Social media or comment sections underneath content are a great place to encourage this dialogue with customers.

5. Improved SEO

SEO is a central part of what any inbound marketing company does. According to an article on Search Engine Journal, the first result on Google has a click-through rate of 28.5%. That drops to 2.5% when you get to the tenth result.

As an IT hardware company, you rely on potential customers finding you online and learning more about your products and services on your site. Inbound strategies like content and social media marketing drastically improve your SEO and help you bring in more organic traffic. When search algorithms are ranking sites, they scan for relevant information and keywords in your content. 

You can climb up the rankings by optimising blog posts and writing about topics that your customers are regularly searching for. Most people click on the first few search results, so improving your rankings greatly impacts the amount of traffic you generate. More organic traffic means more new visitors to your site, and many of them will become paying customers.

The best inbound marketing services clearly understand SEO and how to improve your position so you can reap the benefits of better rankings.

Work With an Experienced Inbound Marketing Company

Goodman Lantern is an award-winning content creation agency here to help you reap the benefits of inbound marketing. Get in touch today to discuss your needs.

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