Think you need deep pockets and an outrageously large marketing budget to attract customers? Think again.
Some of the highest growth companies have shockingly low marketing budgets. In fact, companies with the highest growth spend only 4.9% of their revenues on marketing, according to a survey by Hinge. That’s compared to the 5.1% spent by businesses with average growth figures.
The reason high growth businesses can spend so little is because these companies focus on a strategy that has the greatest return on investment – inbound marketing.
Inbound marketing is a strategy that attracts customers to your brand naturally. It doesn’t rely on pushy messages and forcing brands in front of consumers. It instead takes a value-based approach to bring customers the answers needed to make a purchase.
Here’s an example of when this is effective. SEO leads have a 14.6% closing rate, while outbound leads (from print or direct mail) only achieve a 1.7% closing rate, according to Search Engine Journal. Companies with 401 to 1000 pages of content on their website generate six times more leads than those with just 51 to 100 pages of content, according to HubSpot’s Lead Generation Lessons from 4,000 Businesses report.
Companies that see the biggest influx in leads, and in turn higher growth patterns, are those that put value first.
Here are some of the core elements of this strategy and why it works.
It All Starts With The Customer
High growth companies have a relentless focus on their customers. Before any marketing campaign is launched, these companies take an intimate look at what their buyers want, need, and are struggling with. They don’t focus on demographics and statistics that tell an inaccurate story. Instead, they focus on the inner thoughts and desires of their client base.
Here are a few ways they do this:
Buyer Personas
To get to know the people behind each purchase, most high growth companies develop buyer personas. These personas put a face to the buyer and tell their story. They outline:
- The buyer’s wants;
- The buyer’s needs;
- The buyer’s goals;
- The buyer’s desires;
- The pain points the buyer experiences;
- The goals the buyer has for his/her life.
With this in mind, companies are better able to understand the motivations of their customers, making it easier to build a product or service that’s needed by the market.
Vision Statement
These companies don’t just stop at getting to know the customers. They infuse their customers into everything they do. To build a customer-centric culture, high growth companies create a vision statement that’s centered on serving their customer.
This vision statement is crucial. It focuses product development teams on creating products that will attract the market. It focuses the marketing campaigns on developing messaging is clear and compelling.
Instead of just solving problems, high growth companies win over their buyers and develop customer evangelists.
Flexibility Is Key
Getting to know your buyer is just the first step. You must also anticipate their future needs, wants, and desires based on the information you already know. Then, to answer those needs (sometimes, even before the customer knows she needs it) you must develop your product accordingly.
This requires flexibility.
The more nimble your processes are, the faster you can adapt your products and marketing campaigns to your target market’s needs. Reevaluating these needs every six months to a year is important so that you’re always on the leading edge.
Adding Value Through Content
Ultimately, your customer needs to know you’re listening to her needs. She wants to work with a company that “gets it.” Inbound marketing enables your brand to talk to your customer and show the value you offer. Creating content that answers their pain points and solves problems accomplishes this task.
In tailoring a campaign to prospects, it is helpful to answer the questions: What is important for them to know about your company, and what is important for them to know about the products or services your company offers? It is important to understand how the product or service can benefit your audience and to accurately identify a point of pain (or multiple points) that they are experiencing. Once that information is determined it is easier to develop relevant content to answer these questions and help your messaging resonate with prospects. – Launch Marketing
There are several forms of content you can produce:
- Written content, such as blogs or e-books
- Videos
- Audio, such as snippets on your website with SoundCloud or podcasts
When you have content that is easily accessible and available in a variety of formats, it’s easier to be heard by the people who want to learn more from your company. The best part? It doesn’t cost you a fortune to produce, making this one of the most affordable and effective marketing strategies.
Your Marketing Budget Is All About “Show Me The Money”
These low-cost approaches – customer focus, flexibility, and value-based approaches – attract more business and retain loyal customers. It’s a one-two punch that makes it easy for high growth companies to spend less on marketing and still see the high returns they’re after.
Want to learn more about how high growth companies market their business? Check out “The Ultimate Marketing Guide for High Growth Companies” to get more insight into why it works and the details of how it’s done.