To what extent has Inbound marketing revolutionized the customer attraction, engagement and acquisition processes?
Cornen, Léna (2018)
Cornen, Léna
Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu
2018
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018112518076
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018112518076
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this study was to acquire in-depth knowledge about both outbound and Inbound marketing methodologies and gain insight on what extent the paradigm shift from traditional marketing to Inbound marketing has revolutionized the customer attraction, engagement and acquisition processes.
In order to determine if it is relevant to talk of a revolutionary organizational change, the author based the subject study on both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. The qualitative research data consisted in two in-depth interviews with the CEOs of two French Inbound marketing consulting companies. On the other hand, the quantitative research data permitted to analyze secondary data from reliable sources and collect statistics on a sufficiently large to draw reliable conclusions.
Answers of the Inbound marketing professionals highlighted that Inbound marketing has not “revolutionized” outbound practices but has rather taken the best of existing techniques while adapting to new consumers expectations and behavior with the new tools available today. The major difference relies on the tools that marketers now have at their disposal to generate leads and convert it into clients.
Nonetheless, the impact of these incremental changes on companies’ performances remains real and well measurable. A recent survey revealed that seventy-one percent of marketers declare adopting Inbound marketing as a primary approach in their company. Moreover, fifty-two percent of the marketers working in a company that is running an outbound marketing strategy claim it is not effective.
Although the evolution in the practices used cannot currently be considered as a revolution from the semantic perspective, processes implemented by smarketing teams are part of a continuous improvement process, which maybe one day will revolutionize the practices marketers use today.
In order to determine if it is relevant to talk of a revolutionary organizational change, the author based the subject study on both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. The qualitative research data consisted in two in-depth interviews with the CEOs of two French Inbound marketing consulting companies. On the other hand, the quantitative research data permitted to analyze secondary data from reliable sources and collect statistics on a sufficiently large to draw reliable conclusions.
Answers of the Inbound marketing professionals highlighted that Inbound marketing has not “revolutionized” outbound practices but has rather taken the best of existing techniques while adapting to new consumers expectations and behavior with the new tools available today. The major difference relies on the tools that marketers now have at their disposal to generate leads and convert it into clients.
Nonetheless, the impact of these incremental changes on companies’ performances remains real and well measurable. A recent survey revealed that seventy-one percent of marketers declare adopting Inbound marketing as a primary approach in their company. Moreover, fifty-two percent of the marketers working in a company that is running an outbound marketing strategy claim it is not effective.
Although the evolution in the practices used cannot currently be considered as a revolution from the semantic perspective, processes implemented by smarketing teams are part of a continuous improvement process, which maybe one day will revolutionize the practices marketers use today.