How To Impress Your Boss and Get a Raise

Leading your organization through innovative periods at exactly the right time means bigger pay days for you. The problem many organizations are facing is understanding how to cross over from traditional outbound marketing to inbound marketing. Quite frankly this is an excellent opportunity for you to leverage a changing marketing for the benefit of your organization. But first’s things first--you’ve got to get the boss on board and here’s how you do it.

Define Key Benefits of Inbound Marketing

Do not, under any circumstances, assume your employer understands the world of inbound marketing. Some businesses still think Facebook is just an online website for college students and we both know that’s far from the truth (social media is a very important part of Inbound Marketing ;)). Define key terms and use statistics to represent the why these strategies are important.

Attaching Real Numbers to a Concept

In the business world an idea is only as good as the next one. What does that mean exactly? Well, it means that instead of presenting an idea or concept you need to present an actionable plan by first framing expectations. Define in terms or revenue gains or losses how other companies in your specific industry have benefited from using inbound marketing strategies. Be sure to emphasize the weaknesses of their internet marketing campaign (e.g. losses) and specify how you will rectify the root cause of these weaknesses. This is the first step in putting yourself in a place of information authority.

Identify Specific Organizational Problems

Remember the problem as a whole is not by-the-numbers. Take a business analysis approach and identify the root causes of the problem. For example, a survey conducted by your company regarding consumer satisfaction may show that 25% of your customers are dissatisfied with inventory outages. Don’t make a mistake by identifying the symptom of the problem which in this case would be inventory outages. Instead define the problem as a lack of client information. Therefore, the problem as a whole is not inventory related but instead the way you procure and manage consumer information.

Problems Must Always Be Accompanied By A Solution

After defining the problem remember that a problem is not a problem unless there is a viable solution. Now it’s time to impress upon your employer how inbound marketing can solve your information shortage. First begin by addressing the rationality of 100% in stock items. Second discuss how adding online shopping, community product reviews, and online website visitor surveys can improve the way your company collects and uses consumer information. Take it a step further by discussing how inbound marketing strategies are directly related to information management success rates. Remember this a hypothetical situation which can be altered to fit a variation of problems or inbound goals. Other root causes can also be consumer loyalty, response handling, product development, website traffic, return on advertising, etc.

Discuss the Cost Effectiveness Traditional Marketing vs. Inbound Marketing

According to Hubspot.com, inbound marketing leads cost 60% less than traditional marketing leads. At first glance leading with this statistic may seem rational but remember your numbers must be validated internally. To accomplish this task retrieve your annual advertising expense for the past 5 years. Don’t go with just one year-- the bigger the figures are the more your boss will be willing to listen. Create an inbound marketing budget mock-up. Then post a comparison of the two costs. This is an excellent method for taking ideas out of the abstract and into the concrete. You can create multiple studies and graphical representations to heighten the need for concern. But don’t create stats for stats sake. Be sure you are not repetitive otherwise you are downplaying the expansiveness of the concept.

Identify the Return on Investment

Obviously solving the fundamental problem of ineffective traditional marketing is the primary concern. However, inbound marketing strategies yield multiple benefits. Begin by reiterating the immediate return provided. Then expand on these benefits by elaborating on more direct and indirect benefits of inbound marketing. Your job at this point is to basically present a win-win-win plan. Create a plan that showcases to your employer how inbound marketing strategies will solve and improve not only direct problems but indirect problems and business health as a whole. Be as detailed as possible. Create Gantt charts, system integration proposals, identify campaign venues, and identify automated resources that will streamline costs and productivity rates.

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