Demystifying the New Face of Marketing: Inbound Marketing

With the increasing importance of online shopping and social media to business, marketing strategies are undergoing something of a sea-change. Consumers have become more aware of advertising and marketing strategies and their omnipresence in daily life.

Outbound vs. Inbound Marketing

The old style of marketing was one in which potential customers were targeted by marketers, interrupted as they went about their day and otherwise ‘bothered’ or persuaded into making a purchase. Examples of this tactic include the use of target-driven salespeople and paid advertisements in magazines and on television. Today this marketing strategy is known as ‘outbound’ marketing.

By contrast, inbound marketing focuses not on finding customers, but rather enabling a company or product to be found by those who are already looking to make a purchase or may make a purchase in the future. This approach is less adversarial and focuses on developing a partnership between provider and consumer.

Examples of Inbound Marketing

A basic example of inbound marketing would be a Search Engine Optimization strategy that seeks to put a company’s products high in the Google search engine results for searches for that product. The user is seeking to make a purchase to fulfill a need, and the company simply wants to present their products as the most available and convenient solution.

Another inbound marketing strategy that many companies are using is to host a helpful blog. The focus of the blog is not a hard sell, or a showcase for individual products, but rather to be informative and useful to potential customers.

This approach offers several opportunities for sales. Firstly, the company embeds itself in the mind of consumers as a helpful and useful resource. When customers need a product or service in the future, they will likely have goodwill towards the company. Secondly, when advised of products or services that could be helpful in solving their problem, the consumer is less wary of the company’s motivations – after all, the advice given so far has been free and informative. Lastly, the customer may become a regular reader of the blog, and so learn of a product or service that they find interesting or useful from that company, making them more likely to make the purchase from that company in the first place.

Social Media and Inbound Marketing

Social Media can be an excellent tool for any inbound marketing strategy. Social media is in essence about personal connections and relationships. The successful use of social media can make a company seem like a trusted friend, whose intrusion into daily life is welcomed rather than treated with suspicion and hostility.

A company or brand can take on the role of a social media user themselves, setting up, for example, their own page on Facebook. Importantly, the company’s penetration is dependent on users choosing to add or ‘like’ the product. The decision to associate with the product or brand is made by the consumer. Additionally, the company’s updates and promotions can then be shared by users, allowing added penetration without any imposition by the company; rather it is something that people must opt-in to.

Inbound marketing can be a very successful tool in generating sales and raising awareness of a company’s brand, products and services. Focusing on inbound marketing can reap dividends for any company.