Do You Own or Rent Your Marketing?

One of the benefits of inbound marketing is that the content that you publish online has the potential to continue to work for you tomorrow, next week, next month, or even next year. There’s a sense of permanence. It’s permanent, like owning a home. Conversely, traditional outbound marketing tactics—direct mail, email, trade shows, telemarketing, media advertising, etc.—have a shorter lifespan and their results are temporary. Temporary, like renting.

How Long Does the Impact of Your Marketing Last?

The impact of a telemarketing call will endure as long as the conversation lasts or until the voicemail that you left is deleted. An email has the potential to deliver results as long as it resides in your prospect’s inbox. Trade show leads are typically fleeting; you have a small window of time to engage prospects while they’re at your booth, but after that, your message is easily lost in a sea of marketing noise. Direct mail can work as long as it’s opened by the intended targets and it avoids the circular file next to their desks. The staying power of your media ads are equal to the staying power of the host media. Just how long will that trade journal be kept? And how long into the future will your prospect actually refer to it? And your online ads will produce results just as long as you keep paying to have them appear. Once you stop writing the check to your ad agency, your advertisements and the resulting leads they produce disappear. You’re renting that online property to promote your brand. If you don’t pay, someone else’s message will be there tomorrow.

High-value Content Works 24/7 and Lasts Forever

The foundational principle of inbound marketing is to publish online content (blogs, eBooks, podcasts, webinars, whitepapers, etc.) that is relevant to your prospects—relevant enough for them to view your content as a valued resource they look to for answers. Your online content should share your unique perspective and educate your prospects. Once your content is published, it doesn’t go away or expire. It resides on the web in perpetuity. There, it works for you 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year. Unlike the people on your sales and marketing teams, it never takes a vacation. 

The permanence of online inbound marketing content means it really never loses its ability to generate leads for you—especially if it was written with a sound SEO/keyword strategy in mind. This allows your prospects to find your content organically. If they search for terms that are relevant to your content, then there’s the possibility they’ll find it and be directed to your website or blog. At LeadG2, we have numerous examples of blog articles we published several months ago (and in some cases, years ago) that prospects still find organically via web search. This content still drives traffic and still generates leads. 

The decision to own or rent a house, condo, or apartment can vary, depending on each individual situation. The same is true for owning or renting your marketing. Before you invest all of your marketing budget in a temporary/rented strategy, you should at least explore the potential benefits of ownership. Explore the benefits of inbound marketing.