MBA2685 Does Inbound Marketing Still Work?

With AI reshaping how people discover and consume content, it’s fair to ask whether inbound marketing still delivers results. If you’ve been wondering whether blog posts, videos, and guides are worth the effort or if it’s time to rethink your strategy, this episode has the answers. Omar takes a clear-eyed look at the current state of inbound marketing, backed by fresh data and real-world examples. You’ll learn why inbound still drives results when done right, how buyer behavior is shifting, and what steps you can take to stand out in a crowded, AI-driven landscape. From common mistakes to smart adjustments, this lesson gives you a practical roadmap to attract leads, build trust, and grow your business through content. Curious whether inbound still belongs in your strategy? Hit the play button at the top of the page and dive into a lesson that helps you make smarter marketing moves in today’s fast-changing world. Watch the episodes on YouTube: https://lm.fm/GgRPPHiSUBSCRIBEYouTube | Apple Podcast | Spotify | Podcast Feed Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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  Marketers know that feeling. They optimize for the numbers that look great, like impressions. But then we don't see revenue. LinkedIn has a word for that: bullspend. Instead, you can get the highest ROAS of major ad networks with LinkedIn ads. Cut the bullspend, advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 and get a $250 credit. Go to LinkedIn.com/MBAShow. Terms apply. Does inbound marketing still work? Inbound marketing is also known as content marketing or media marketing. Basically creating content so customers come to you rather than you chasing them. With AI changing how people search and content consumption evolving faster than the speed

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  of light, is the traditional strategy of publishing blog posts and videos and guides still going to pay off? Is that still working these days? That's what we're going to explore today. We're going to be using fresh data, fresh statistics that I pulled up for you, real-world strategies, so that we make sure that whatever you do moving forward works in today's environment.

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  Welcome back to the $100 MBA Show. I'm your host, Omar Zenhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to help you start, grow, and scale your business.

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  Real quick, if these episodes help you in any way, hit the follow button on this podcast app. It helps us to keep bringing you practical business insights three times a week for free. Thanks. Let's start with the data, because the data says yes, inbound still delivers. Companies using content marketing as a part of their inbound strategy see three times more leads for 62% less cost per lead than outbound approaches. That's according to Ping Back. That means you are getting more leads for less money per lead. That's incredible. Here's another stat. 89% of marketers report inbound produces higher return on investment than outbound methods like ads or outreach. Doesn't mean that ads and outreach don't work.

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  It just means that inbound works better. And that study is cited by Kiwi. Now, I'm not saying don't run ads. I'm saying ads are very effective in a lot of ways, especially when you don't have an audience. But when you do inbound marketing, we do content marketing, this produces more return on investment on the efforts of that inbound marketing. There's a report by HubSpot, by the way. HubSpot is like the godfather of inbound marketing or content marketing. And their report shows that SEO blogs and short form videos are still delivering the highest return on investment in 2025. These numbers clearly show that inbound isn't just alive, it's thriving for businesses that execute it thoughtfully. When you actually are thinking about creating high-quality content

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  to attract your customers, this really pays off. It actually is worth your time and money and effort. Next, modern buyers prefer inbound marketing. Research shows that today's buyers want to discover solutions on their own terms. They don't want to push in their face with intrusive ads. Inbound really aligns perfectly with this preference, with the fact that people want to search for the answers themselves. Through AI or SEO or social media or whatever it might be. A B2B focus report points out that inbound actually attracts high intent organic leads and is scalable because it minimizes costs. It's not going to cost you an arm and a leg to create content on a regular basis versus ads

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  or just doing ads. Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room, AI. Does it kill inbound? Let's face it, it's a shakeup. AI is changing search results drastically. Google AI overviews are starting to replace the click throughs that people normally get to their website via Google search, meaning that people just stop at the Google overview where it has the AI, the Gemini overview, where it just gives you the answer. In fact, some sites are reporting 70% decline in search traffic. So that might make you question whether inbound is dying, but it's not. It's actually shifting. Here what HubSpot CEO has called this moment. Their CEO calls this the color TV moment. The game is changing and brands need to be everywhere and not just on Google.

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  They need to be on social, they need to be on YouTube, they need to be wherever their audience lives. You need to expand beyond blog, LinkedIn, Instagram, whatever your audience consumes information. Next, let's talk about the common pitfalls that you need to be aware of. If you're not seeing results, here are a few traps that a lot of marketers fall into, and I want to make sure that you avoid them. So here's how. Number one, tactic overload. A lot of people are just searching for the latest tactic and forgetting about strategy. Inbound doesn't work without purpose. Strategy across the funnel, across everything you do, needs to be aligned. How you attract, how you engage, how you delight your customers is still very essential.

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  So if your strategy is to earn trust with your audience with your content, then you need to make sure that is the pillar of every piece of content you put out there, that you're not trying to convert them every five seconds, that your whole idea is like, hey, I just want them to be part of my community, part of my newsletter, you know, part of my email list. So that eventually, when they're ready to buy, they know how to buy because they can just click on one of my offers. What I just said right now, what I just described. Is a strategy. So you need to have a strategy and follow through. Don't worry about all the little tactics that people talk about. Well, your butt needs to be green. No, it needs to be red. All these little things don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. If your strategy is solid, for example, my strategy with the hundred dollar MBA is that 95% of everything I produce is absolutely free.

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  I want to make sure that everything I produce is high quality. It's helpful. It's engaging. It's action packed. Whether it's our podcast episodes or the videos on YouTube, whether it's my newsletter, whether it's anything I do, I want to make sure that I show my audience. I have their best interest in mind. And then when they are ready to buy any of our programs or anything that we do, I only want them to buy then when they are ready. And when they trust the process and trust what I I offer them and what I teach them is going to work. That allows me to serve people that are interested, that are better students, that are going to get results. That's my strategy and I got to really focus on that and go back to that strategy. Every single time I create a piece of content. These days you can get an answer from the internet, an influencer or AI in seconds.

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  Next, content saturation. Just pumping out blog posts won't cut it. You need to stand out content wise. Your content needs to be thoughtful. It needs to be distributed across the platforms where your audience is, like we mentioned. But you also need to understand that, hey, I need to have a take. I have to have a perspective that is a little bit different, but also just valuable to my audience. Because that's how you're going to be able to tribe, your raving fans, where they're going to be like, hey, I like this perspective. This is why I subscribe to this person because he offers or she offers something that others don't. Number three, no measurement or optimization. You gotta measure what you do. If you don't track performance, odds are your efforts are going to go wasted.

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  So anything you do, email campaigns, social performance, SEO rankings, track it all. Inbound only works when you know when it's working, okay? And when you know when it's working, you're able to then adapt, double down on what works and stop doing what doesn't. Now, if you want to go total boss mode, combine inbound with modern outbound. Outbound is back and it's back with precision. I'm talking about targeted outreach, AI-powered messaging, retargeting ads. These things work in combination with people that are already in your funnel or in your system. Because you're just showing them things that they're already interested in. Use inbound to build trust and then use smart outbound to accelerate the results.

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  It's not either or. So for example, somebody joins your email list, you send them newsletters, you give them great content. You nurture that audience member and then you can send some retargeting ads to them on social media for a low ticket offer that might interest them, something that can get the ball rolling for them, get them a quick result. See how it works hand in hand? So does inbound marketing still work? Yes, absolutely. As long as you adapt it to how people consume your content, not only now, but in the future. You want to deliver genuine value across the channels that they live in, where they go. So here's a quick action plan to get you started.

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  Number one, build high-quality content that solves real problems for your audience. You want to optimize this for whatever platform you're using, whether it's for SEO, or whether it's for Instagram, or whether it's for YouTube. Make sure that you post this content and optimize it for that channel. So for example, on YouTube, I want to make sure that I have a great description, I have great links, it's edited properly, there's chapters. I want to go all out, make sure that I'm doing everything I can using that platform to get my content a fighting chance. Use AI for efficiency when creating your content. Track results and then optimize. And then, hey, you can use a hybrid of inbound and outbound to get more sales.

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  Before I go, I want to leave you with this. One of the things I love about content marketing and inbound marketing is that when somebody discovers you, Googles you, goes to your website, checks out your YouTube, Instagram, whatever it is, you're giving them something to chew on, something to get to know who you are, what you're all about, to start to get to know you, get to like you, okay? This matters in business and sales. So if you don't have content for people to consume, how are they going to know if you're a right fit for them? How are they going to know what you're all about? If they actually need your product or service, or can benefit from what you have? And the reason why having regular content is so important is because you're going to need to create content for different types of people, different types of avatars, different types of needs, wants,

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  stages in life, stages in business, whatever it might be. So don't let people starve when they find out about you. Give them something to consume.

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  If you found today's episode helpful and you want more practical business lessons to help you start, grow, and scale your business, the best thing you could do is subscribe to this podcast. Hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app, the one that you're using right now, whether it's Apple or Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. By hitting subscribe, you get our next episode automatically, and it's the best way to support the show. It's absolutely free, and it's a way for you to commit to growing your business. And now that you've subscribed, I'll check you in the next episode.

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