Inbound Isn't Dead. It's Just Slower Than You Want.

The 18-month rule

Inbound — SEO, thought leadership, community, podcast — compounds on an 18-month curve. Teams that quit at month 6 see a flat line and conclude the channel is dead. The channel isn't dead. The patience is.

Budget the curve, not the quarter

If you can't fund 18 months of inbound at a constant burn, don't start. Run paid and outbound instead. Inbound rewards consistency more than spend, but it punishes pauses brutally.

Measure leading indicators

Pipeline from inbound at month 6 is the wrong KPI. The right ones: branded search volume growth, share of voice on three target keywords, time-on-page for cornerstone content, and qualified hand-raise rate. When these move, pipeline follows.