Why you should be using inbound marketing in the age of ad blockers

Ad-blocking software is becoming more and more popular all over the world. In South Africa, for example, 49.2% of the population uses it, according to Statista. The increase in ad blocker usage has become an obstacle for marketers who cannot reach this audience with traditional advertising methods. A good way to avoid being affected by ad blockers is by using inbound marketing approaches. In this blog, we'll take a look at some of the whys and hows of inbound marketing.

What are ad blockers?

Okay, let’s take a step back for a second. If you don’t already know, ad blockers prevent ads from loading on your browser through extensions, plugins or other software, including banner ads, text ads, videos and sponsored content.

The benefit for users is clear: they mean that your webpages load faster, and you aren't subjected to potentially overwhelming advertising. It unfortunately also means that website publications don’t receive revenue for the advertising that they feature, and it can affect user experience because ads will probably be replaced by empty spaces or broken links. And the downside for us marketers is that not as many people will see our messaging and also that our reporting can be affected by this software.

Join the inbound marketing movement

Ad blockers are not going anywhere though, AdBlock for example, has 60+ million users and is one of the most popular Chrome extensions with over 350 million downloads. So what’s to be done? Well, new problems require new solutions, and we suggest that you avoid being affected by ad blockers by using a different approach: inbound marketing.

As we mentioned before, using inbound marketing platforms such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter is a great alternative. You can increase organic traffic to your website without being affected by ad blockers. Stick with us for a little longer to learn why Inbound is so great.

Marketing for millennials

Millennials currently make up the largest segment of consumers. And this shift in our target market also requires changes to the way we try to attract consumers. This generation of consumers doesn’t like to be treated the same way that we have been treating previous consumers. A recent survey found that what millennials value most of all as consumers is authenticity: 90% of millennials said that authenticity was most important to them when deciding which brands to support.

Why inbound works

This generation has more technology at their disposal and an appetite for research. They are not about to buy into your product just because you throw a few platitudes at them. Ads are perceived as contrived and are not likely to be successful in this market. That's where inbound marketing comes in. Using platforms like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter can increase organic traffic and strike a chord with millennials who value authenticity over perfectly packaged content.

Since ad blockers are here to stay, marketers need to find an alternative. We should focus more on creating quality content that will be worth consumers' time, even if it cannot be monetised through advertising. The more consumers use ad blocking and the less they trust ads, the more engagement we see our content and campaigns gaining on behalf of our clients.

If you enjoyed finding out more about inbound marketing in this blog, we think that you will also enjoy reading 80+ strategy-changing digital marketing statistics for 2022.