Traditional or outbound marketing uses paid advertising to promote products and services. It is directed mostly at the general public, even those who may not want or need the services offered. In contrast, inbound marketing is the process of attracting interest from customers without necessarily paying for it. This method includes tactics like content marketing, social media and SEO. It targets individuals who are more apt to use the products or services being promoted. In other words, outbound marketing uses paid ads to push products to people, while inbound marketing strategies relies on earning people’s interest and gaining their trust.
Inbound marketing is creating and sharing useful, compelling and fantastic content with potential and established clients. It’s inviting them into your way of thinking and business culture. Traditional marketing is just “talking AT the customer”, whether they want to listen or not.
Needless to say, inbound marketing strategies require more complexity than the tactics used in the traditional marketing arena. But the outcome can be well worth the effort. Outbound marketing is reaching increasingly diminished audiences, while inbound is more engaging and more accessible to the people wanting and needing what you are offering.
Why try to buy customers with traditional outbound marketing when most consumers aren’t even paying attention? Here are a few statistics that indicate that outbound marketing is highly ineffective:
So how do you implement inbound marketing for your business? Here are four suggestions to get you started:
A great resource to help in developing personas is available using the Hubspot persona creator. It’s a step-by-step wizard that will help get you started.
You don’t think you’re qualified to write a blog? If you really think about it, you have a lot of information to relay about your service or product. There are plenty of sources online to help you in creating blogs. They don’t have to be perfect, although it’s always a good idea to have someone proofread them, or even have a professional create the blogs for you. If the blog is engaging and informative, viewers will read it.
These tools should be set up to monitor conversations related to your brand, your competitors, and your industry. Chances are they will find an ongoing discussion between your prospective customers and your competition and will want to get involved immediately.
And don’t forget to post regularly, or you’ll get lost in the mass. Don’t fall off the radar!
Changescape Web, the SEO for Growth consultant in St. Louis offers a total online presence audit for just $799. This inbound marketing audit is a great way to understand your current state online, as well as to provide competitive landscape and a set of recommendations to build a more effective total online presence which is essential for inbound marketing.
At St. Louis SEO for Growth, we are inbound marketing certified. We build content-driven websites that get you leads and will help you get found in search engines. We have the expertise to build your online marketing strategy so that you can concentrate on attracting and keeping customers.