Let me guess -- you are reading this article because you doubt your audience is online? Welcome to the club! Many marketers and business owners share your hesitation and dip their toes into the waters of inbound marketing with caution. But the truth is, your business needs to transform in order to match the needs of a new marketplace.

Today, we tap into online social networks to search for product recommendations, ask for reviews, and share experiences. We conduct research by typing keywords into search engines and browsing through the list of results. We feel delighted when customer service representatives instantaneously respond to our questions and challenges with an email or a tweet.

Yes, Your Audience Is Online 

First, you need to realize that your audience is online. Businesses worry too much that their prospects are not sophisticated enough for this new type of marketing. Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is a false assumption.  

As a case in point, let’s look at a question we received from an attendee of our recent webinar, " Social Revolution: Connecting with Today’s Customer ":  

“What if your customers aren’t on any type of social media at all? My customer base is male, age 55 plus. They still prefer catalogs over online transactions.” 

A few seconds after we received this question, we noticed the following comment from another webinar attendee, 

“I am 55, and I am here.” 

This example is a beautiful illustration of how reality gets distorted because of a common fear marketers face. It’s time you put your doubts and hesitations aside, and trust the data .

Leverage the Data Your Audience Gives You  

After our Social Revolution webinar , one of HubSpot’s sales representatives received a lead notification alert for someone who had arrived to the webinar registration page from Facebook:

That person had signed up for the event, returned to watch it, and then checked out the bio of HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan:

These are powerful insights, aren’t they? They demonstrate how top-of-the-funnel content (ToFu) & middle-of-the-funnel (MoFu) intelligence can work together to bring in engaged leads and facilitate the day-to-day conversations our sales organization has. So not only are your prospects online, but they are also coming to you with intelligence that you can leverage for smarter marketing.

How are you planning to take advantage of these new marketing opportunities ?

Photo credit: sarihuella