Why Inbound Marketing Lets You Raise Your Prices

You know inbound marketing helps you generate leads. That’s not what this post is about. It’s also not about the other major benefit of inbound marketing—increasing traffic to your site. No, this post is about raising your prices, a not-often-talked-about, but hidden side benefit, to doing inbound marketing.

Skeptical? I know—it might seem like something I just made up. But bear with me because I’m about to break down the logic behind my claim.

• First and foremost: inbound marketing attracts the “right” kind of customers. Or rather, it doesn’t waste as much time with the wrong ones. Content marketing, a major component of a good inbound strategy, helps establish your authority, which means your company will attract customers who are looking for experts in your field. And they’ll be willing to pay more for the brand associated with that expertise.
• You don’t have to prove you’re worth it. Your trust and credibility are established before you even ask for a sale, and, by that time, your longtime readers and subscribers already know what you bring to the table.
• Because your customers won’t feel as much need to shop around, you won’t have to differentiate on price. Your content will do the work of proving you’re the best choice. Once you’re established as an expert, your customers won’t want to go anywhere else.

As much as I wish I’d thought of this myself, it’s actually a well-established idea. Barry Feldman recently wrote about it in-depth, using quotes straight from the mouths of some of our industry’s leading experts as evidence. Additionally, this great article from Convince and Convert is worth a read and bookmark. But my favorite explanation of all comes from Doug Kessler, co-founder of Velocity Partners, who says:

"With lots of demand, raising prices is a pretty sound strategy (it also lets you buy pretty things). Content marketing supports this because it positions you as THE (metaphorical) DUDE in your field. And top dudes cost top dollar."

So, think of it this way: It’s not that inbound marketing lets you charge more; it’s that it lets you charge what you’re worth. And if you’re the top dude in your field, it’s time your prices reflected it. 

Stephanie Kapera is a Strategic Accounts Manager for Kuno Creative and writes about content marketing, buyer persona development and inbound marketing strategy for Brand & Capture. She lives and works in Raleigh, NC.

photo source: zoetnet