By now I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about the benefits of inbound marketing. You know that it involves creating and sharing content, not interrupting your ideal customers with spammy ads. You know that if executed properly, it can be among the best ways to create strong relationships and build loyalty with your ideal customer. 

But you may also know that inbound marketing not a quick fix. It involves a long-term investment of time and resources; it’s not just a tactic that you try for a few months. It takes time to implement, and it involves a lot of moving parts within your organization. When a business is in alignment with an inbound marketing strategy, the effort is worth the gains they can see.

Which business scenarios are well suited for inbound marketing? 

If you’re working on your 2015 marketing plan and budget, here are some good indicators of whether an inbound marketing program could benefit your company:

• Your product is sold through a consultative sales process.
  
• Sales of your product require educating the customer on the benefits.
• Your product has a long sales cycle.
• Your customers are online.

(In other words, you’re not selling tacos.)

Your business sells a product that is not commoditized. It’s a product or service that has a high enough average selling price (ASP) that the buyer wants to make sure he or she is making an educated decision to go with your company. Higher ASP’s and consultative selling go hand in hand with long sales cycles. If you are working with an enterprise-level client, it’s very likely that your product has a long sales cycle.

Inbound marketing supports the sales process with targeted content for all steps in the cycle. It also increases sales productivity by providing higher qualified leads. By the time a lead talks to your sales team, they've been through an educational process about your company. This means that your sales team can focus their efforts on leads who have identified themselves as having the most interest. 

Why should I care about inbound marketing?

Your competitors are employing inbound marketing strategies. According to the 2014 State of Inbound Marketing Report, 85% of B2B companies already employ an inbound strategy. And the is strategy is giving them more leads: twice as many respondents said inbound marketing was their main source of leads (45%) as outbound marketing tactics (22%). It’s a proven methodology, and early adopters are benefiting from establishing their websites as sources for quality information.

It’s never been a better time to be a consumer

As consumers, we have more information within reach than ever before. When considering a purchase, we go online to search for product reviews, get answers on how to solve business problems, and get advice from experts. We also want to easily find information on companies we are considering doing business with. The company website is often the buyer's first impression. 

It’s important to remember that all online communications are with a real person. When asking yourself if inbound marketing is the right fit for you business, consider if your company is customer-centric. Is it focused on solving a customer problem or making an impact? An inbound marketing strategy is absolutely worth considering if your business objective is to is develop long-term relationships and delight your customers. 

The inbound methodology is built around providing relevant and useful content with the understanding that a sale may not be right around the corner. Your objective is to grow loyal customers who love your product and recommend it to their friends and co-workers. 

To learn more about how an inbound marketing strategy has changed the game for other companies, check out these 10 Powerful Inbound Marketing Charts from The State of Inbound 2014.