Inbound marketing is an increasingly popular strategy for many businesses and there are many strong elements to a successful strategy. At the other end of the spectrum to outbound, interruption marketing, inbound strategies allow consumers to engage with your brand and actively seek you out at their own pace. Instead of relentlessly pursuing leads through cold-calling tactics, it's ideal for businesses happy to be more passive and earn customers' attention organically.

Unsurprisingly, outbound marketing techniques have much lower conversion rates in an era where customers like to shop around, do their research and weigh up their options before parting with their cold hard cash. People are in far more in control of the information that they receive and how they receive it.

So here are a few great reasons as to why you should pursue an inbound marketing campaign:

Perhaps the biggest benefit of a successful inbound marketing strategy is that it relies on earning people’s interest, rather than simply buying it. Communication is two-way and they are contacting you (via search engines, referrals or even social media) because they are interested in what you can offer or want to be further educated.

To help consumers find your brand, content marketing and social media participation are essential to be a part of the conversation with users. Whether it’s white papers, e-books, podcasts, blogs or infographics, any content that’s useful or educational can have an impact. Especially if your brand boasts a strong presence in social media channels, the usefulness of your great content can grow significantly, as can its potential online reach.

As your content is shared and syndicated from site to site, your brand’s online authority will grow in the eyes of the major search engines, resulting in improved search visibility and consistent referral traffic that drives sales or leads.

Digital marketing is fundamentally changing. The days of intrusive advertising and marketing tactics are dwindling fast. The mere fact that inbound marketing costs significantly less per lead than outbound marketing should not be ignored.

But ultimately, for any new and growing company to be successful online, an inbound marketing strategy should be pursued in order to provide added value, earning customer loyalty rather than blindly firing out messages towards your target demographic and hoping they stick.