5 Tactics to Convince Your Boss That Online Marketing is a Good Investment

So you are sold on online marketing. You understand how an optimized website, fresh content, and social media strategy can drive business, but there is one small problem; upper management is not yet convinced. We don't blame 'em. Investing in more traditional marketing methods and relying on a sales force to drum up business has been common practice for decades. While many are sold on the importance of having a website, spending money to promote it is another story.

Rather than give you a slide deck of the latest marketing statistics, here are five tactics to help make a case for online marketing that will resonate with upper management.

Talk about your competition

Nothing lights a fire quite like finding out your competitors have an edge. Do a bit of competitive research. Show your boss how they are engaging with customers, writing interesting content or how informative their website is. And if their web presence is nothing impressive? Even better. This could be a huge opportunity to win business that is just waiting for a helpful online resource like you to guide them in the right direction.

Find relevant case studies

Odds are, similar companies to yours have had great success with online marketing and there are case studies out there that prove it. HubSpot (Inbound Marketing Software Company) makes it easy to find relevant case studies by allowing you to search by industry, goals, company size, etc. Otherwise, feel free to contact us directly and we would be happy to relay a client's success story.

Compare #'s spent on offline marketing and their results

Take a closer look at how your past marketing budgets were allocated and results. Perhaps you spent thousands of dollars last year assembling and mailing a print catalog that only generated a few dozen sales. That budget could be reallocated to producing a digital catalog and download form that captures valuable contact information. Viewing the numbers and also proposing a less expensive alternative can be quite convincing.

Show how online marketing can improve your sales team effectiveness

Improve sales team effectiveness? That's a buzz phrase I'm sure any business owner likes to hear. Fortunately, the internet is the best tool around to help you capture and analyze important data. You can now track lead sources, generate reports, and view complete customer histories with the click of a button.

In fact, "61% of B2B marketers send all leads directly to Sales; however, only 27% of those leads will be qualified." - MarketingSherpa

Integrating you CRM with not only your website but also an inbound marketing platform can improve this statistic significantly. Your associates will be able to identify the most engaged leads and be educated about the prospect before even making a sales call.

Conduct client interviews - because the customer always knows best, right?

Defining audience personas and conducting customer interviews is one of the most revealing (and fun) marketing tactics. Ask your customers questions such as: Did you conduct research online before contacting us? What could we offer online that could help with the purchasing process? What social media networks do you use and how frequently? These interviews will not only be helpful in convincing your boss but also incredibly useful as you structure your marketing strategy.

As always, feel free to contact us. We would be happy to make a few suggestions and help convince your boss that online marketing can grow your business.