Inbound Marketing – What is it?

Inbound Marketing – Meeting Marketing Objectives Through the Laws of Attraction

I know what you?re thinking?”Inbound Marketing! ??Please God, not ANOTHER trendy marketing technique!? And yes, we understand. You?ve done so many new things over the past few years, like join Twitter, begin email marketing or launch a blog. Despite taking the plunge into these digital marketing tactics, there is probably still something missing?like a guiding strategy to pull these tactics together.

That strategy is Inbound Marketing. ?

To explain Inbound Marketing, we need to examine the world as it is today?busy.

As you know, people don?t have time to listen to marketing messages (or so they think). ?We call this interrupt marketing.

“I’m busy… and you want to interrupt me…no way.”

So they spend time and money to block out marketing messages with things like ?DVR’s, voice mail, caller ID, spam filters, and?web browser pop-up blockers.

On average, a U.S. consumer is bombarded with over 2,000 outbound messages each day. ?Because consumers have learned how to ignore these thousands of outbound messages, the effectiveness of traditional outbound marketing diminishes. No longer can marketers stand on the rooftops and shout to the world, because chances are…nobody?s listening.

Traditional ads in the local newspaper just don?t seem to carry the same weight as they used to either. Who seriously wants to be bothered and who is subscribing, much less reading? ? Broadcast television viewership continues to erode and broadcast radio?listener-ship?has become hyper-segmented as it attempts to compete with Pandora and Spotify, both platforms in which the listeners actively participate in the medium. ?The message is this:

Customers still want to buy; they simply want to buy on their own terms. ?

Maybe?you’ve?heard the term ?Google it.? Heck, even the Merriam Webster Dictionary lists ?Google? as a verb?not a noun. How does this relate to Inbound Marketing ? the simple fact is that we, as consumers, rarely buy anything any more without searching for it on the web first. ? That is where the opportunity with Inbound Marketing lies.

When consumers search for content, we are ready to take them from search engine query (ranking on Google), to the website, and finally into the sales funnel. Great marketers achieve this attraction by producing quality, relevant & contextual content about their product or service in a helpful, informative manner. People want to read good, relevant content because it answers the question or need they have (information that they already told us about through their query in the search bar). ?We are no longer interrupting them. ?We are where they are already looking when they need or want something.

This is why Inbound Marketers rely on dynamic landing pages as portals to their websites. By creating offers around the product consumers are researching (i.e. – a percentage off, a free estimate, or a comparison tool), an effective website nurtures the prospect through the complex decision-making process. ?By providing information valuable to someone who is interested, we can trade our information for their information; their email address. ?Once we get their information, we can continue re-marketing through secure email in a contextual content manner. ?In other words, if handled properly, our prospect will never see the same offer twice and will be systematically led through the decision making process.

Still wondering how Inbound Marketing fits into your marketing objectives? Consider these three points.

1. Save Money
   Buying ads and email lists are expensive. The start-up costs for a website capable of inbounding visitors is small, with a large ROI. Plus, Inbound Marketing on average brings in 32 percent more leads per month.
2. More Targeted
   Is there anything more targeted than a customer finding you? No direct mail piece or cold call could ever deliver that.
3. Investment
   Inbounding with content is not an expense, it is an investment. Unlike an ad, content, like blog posts for example, lives forever. As long as you keep it in the public domain, your content will always be indexed by Google and available in search results.

If screaming your marketing message from the roof tops just isn?t reaching your audience anymore, it?s probably because nobody?s listening. ?Inbound Marketing is the answer. Your leads will be better qualified and more likely to convert into a customer.

What?s the next step to inbound your marketing? ?Download this free checklist to see where you stand.