Inbound Marketing. What is it and why do you need it?

Transcription

1 What is it and why do you need it?

2 let s start with the basics What is inbound marketing? If this is your first encounter with this term you re probably a little intimidated. Either that or you re a little infuriated with the word marketing. I don t blame you. Let s face it, we ve all been burned by marketing. The word itself has left a sour taste in all of us. We immediately think of telemarketers cold calling us or picture those annoying flyers left on our windshield. We may also think of the ads running right before a YouTube video or imagine those banners which surround all web pages. The truth is marketing has changed - or rather is changing - and is being transformed from something cold and invasive to something that is much warmer and welcomed. It s gone from trying to push your product or service out to consumers to pulling in new customers. 2

3 let s start with the basics What is marketing? We all have an idea of what this is and can easily answer this. A quick Google search will tell us that Marketing is the act of promoting and selling products or services. Simply put, it is trying to catch your customers attention so that they can buy your product or service. There s nothing wrong with this, right? People need things just as much as businesses need ways to attract people. The problem lies with the methods used. 3

4 traditional vs modern marketing Outbound Marketing Tradi'onal methods of marke'ng, or Outbound Marke'ng, consist of trying to push your product or service out to customers. It requires you to go out, grab a customer s a@en'on, and deliver your message. Think of TV ads, sales flyers, telemarke'ng and billboards. They re invasive and don t feel natural. Inbound Marke'ng, on the other hand, takes the old model and not only flips it on its head, it completely throws it out. Inbound marke'ng consists of pulling customers in. Instead of trying to find customers, Inbound Marke'ng focuses on being found by customers. It requires you to build an organic rela'onship with them based on what products or services they re already looking for. This is done by sharing and promo'ng content such as blogs, Youtube videos, or social media posts that educates and entertains customers. In essence, you create content relevant to your customers needs and allow them to find you on the internet. You no longer need go out to find customers, you let them come to you. As Brian Halligan, who coined the term inbound marke'ng in 2005, put it: create content, give it away, pull people in. 4

5 Why Inbound Marketing Wins And why it s important for your business As modern consumers in the internet age, we want to learn as much as we can about what we buy, this increases our purchasing power and extends the perceived value of the product or service. We also don t want to be force-fed information about a product, we want to seek this information out ourselves. Inbound marketing helps educate and entertain a possible customer and it helps attract them in way that feels organic. This is why wins. Consumers no longer want to be fed information, they want to go out and find this information on their own. They no longer want to sit through TV ads telling them such a product is superior, they want to research on the internet and find out for themselves. They want to be active participants in the buying process. Consumers have always looked for the best value for their money, the only difference is that now, thanks to the Internet, they can research any product or service on their own and decide for themselves what is the best value. 5

6 The good news is that consumers are already on the internet. The bad news? Well, there isn t any. Since they re already online, this is where you implement a process to pull them in. You simply set up an online presence, produce entertaining content, and they will be organically 'ed to your product or service. Customers can then share this content through social media sites such as Facebook or Twi@er and it can spread virally, a@rac'ng or pulling other customers, and exponen'ally increasing the number of customers that come in contact with you. This is also the best place to find them: on their own 'me, when they want to be found. They no longer want to be found through TV commercials or billboard ads. Aside from feeling unnatural, it is inefficient. Through Inbound Marke'ng, a consumer can reach you at any 'me, anywhere. Think of the last 'me you researched a product or service: perhaps you were at your home or work computer, or maybe even on your phone. This is exactly where and when customers can reach you: any'me, anywhere. 6