COMMENTS
Inbound marketing is most cases is doing the exact opposite of everything your traditional VP of Marketing leader tells you to do to grow and convert leads.
For instance,
He says, go buy a list, create a campaign to email, direct mail and phone to drive sales (generate leads).
The inbound marketing guru (IMG) says, "we'll come back to that!" First, they'll pptimize the web site for search engines on key words your target (or new) audience may use to find suppliers. This includes linking the search terms with in your sight and getting inbound links to use descriptive text versus your URL. Then create really cool and meaningful landing pages that contain "gates" to demos or white papers. The gates are used to create the list of interested prospects. And then, use emails to nurture the organic list.
He says, "let's start a SEM Adwords campaign."
The inbound marketing guru would research keywords... and might even test a few SEM campaigns with the intention of not growing SEM, but eliminating words/phrases/campaigns once those results hit page one on google. The IMG realizes optimizing pages isn't 100%, so buying a few words doesn't hurt.
He says, "we need more brochures to talk about features and benefits... then put these online for downloading."
The inbound marketing guru laughs out loud and whispers in the traditional marketing VP's ear, "Ahhh the 90's are calling... they want their brochures back." Once he says, "really?" the IMG enlightens him by telling him the company needs a blog with a personality and that this blog will in turn attract prospects. He would would start this blog by making bi-weekly posts focusing them on key words or hot industry topics their audience may search for. Since google loves new content and each blog post is optimized for search engines. The blogger would then link key words in the post to different areas of their web site (cool landing pages). All these additional google indexed pages would drive more traffic (more leads).
The inbound marketing guru might also spend time reading and commenting on other industry blogs to gain exposure and possible reciprocation to their blog.
This isn't to say traditional marketing (e.g. emails) are dropped, in fact these methods are used to drive traffic to your blog (to obviously gain a subscribed audience). The IMG might have to place (or purchase) listings on other popular industry sites to build more inbound links.
Lead generation is important, but the inbound marketer doesn't stop there. Converting those leads to sales opportunities is just as important. One might even invest in some marketing automation tools to further drive the prospect down the pipeline. Mining the data... knowing what keywords drive leads, keeping a pulse on the industry and the competition and using that data to take action (more optimized content or blog posts) is very important. Having a tool (e.g.,
www.hubspot.com) for this just makes the IMG's job easier.
Inbound marketing is the proper employment of strategies to have potential customers/clients seek out your company to do business - rather than your company reaching out to the customer/client through traditional advertisements or mailing pieces, etc.
I just wrote about this earlier today in response to some questions in an AMABoston network.
Inbound Marketing with Social Media.
Inbound Markeintg, imo, is the natural progression of marketing after bring introduced to this massive form of communication called the internet.
Now it's all about becoming the result.
The key is transparency and knowledge. I never expect anything from anyone I help or interact with online. I've come to look at it as an extension of the telephone, of which I would not be caught dead making cold calls.
I think your question is a little too easy. The world is a buzz of what Marketing in a Web 2.0 (Inbound Marketing) world is. If Web 1.0 (or most traditional advertising for that matter) was advertising TO your customer. Web 2.0 (Inbound Marketing) is about listening to, and interacting WITH your customer.
I will take this thought one step further and add that my vision for marketing in a Web 3.0 (future of Inbound Marketing) world will be your customer telling YOU what you should make/market or sell to them. I just blogged about a company that actually exists today - Whose products were thought up & designed 100% by a community. You can read about the details here; http://bit.ly/4FshUl Now THAT is the future of Inbound Marketing and what it will really mean in the future!
www.twitter.com/A_F
I think a good way to explain Inbound Marketing is graphically, through a PAINTING:
http://elhilonegrodevicco.blogspot.com/2008/10/inbound-marketing-evolutionary-stage.html
Inbound Marketing is like "gravitational attraction" that comes from inner resources (Sustainable Competitive Advantage). Potential clients/customers come to you because they are being pulled and not pushed.
I work as a Marketing Associate for Nearsoft Inc, but I am also an artist, so this is a good opportunity for me to create a link between my work and my hobby.
Go to my blog and read the full post called "Inbound Marketing: An evolutionary stage", as well as the painting:
http://elhilonegrodevicco.blogspot.com/2008/10/inbound-marketing-evolutionary-stage.html
An let me know your thoughts :)
I'm kind of in the Pete Blackshaw camp, on a macro level re: the terminology you suggest. I am, however, intrigued on some level by the concept of "inbound marketing" in that it adequately reflects two ideas: one-push communications in an age where filters are abundant (TiVo, DNC lists, Satellite radio, etc.) are at best poor tactics in a lead development strategy and at worst, ineffective; two-"inbound" also implies that a consumer/audience/target holds enough interest in your product/service that they initiate advancing the "relationship" to the next level. Likely not to the affinity or advocate stages yet, but certainly warm.
However, I'm not convinced that "inbound" marketing is sufficient. I think it still implies a singular path or message rather than a reciprocal one. Now in that manner, it doesn't differ from traditional "push" marketing. I'd prefer to land on a term that rests more on the concept of building consumer connections. In my opinion, a connection is a type of relationship and implies a level of trust, a responsibility. I believe that if brands are to compete and survive, they have to identify very relevant ways to connect with their consumers, provide value or otherwise make a difference in their lives. THAT's when the communication can be cultivated into a relationship...and relationships can be enduring.
Would love to know your thoughts. Heather (http://insightsandingenuity.com)
Oops! Almost forgot--link to my post, scheduled to come out Oct 7 around 8am CST: http://insightsandingenuity.com/2008/10/05/what-is-inbound-marketingwhat-is-inbound-marketing/
Heather, I agree with your comment, "I'm not convinced that "inbound" marketing is sufficient."
Having an integrated approach (rather than a singular approach) to expose your message and your brand to clients and prospects is very important.
- emails
- tele sales
- seo
- blog
- sem
- tradeshow/expos
- directory listings
- contributions to industry list servs
- direct mail
- webinars
- serving clients above expectation (WOM)
- ensuring your entire staff is client focused
I like to think of my marketing like a symphony band working in concert. Some instruments are stronger, some make different sounds, some cost more and even take more to manage, but the sum of the tools working together creates a full blend of music.
However, knowing that 92% (according to stats) of adults research online before buying, one better make sure their company name or product can be easily found via internet searches - here is where the optimization of inbound marketing is big!
I founded chelpixie.com with my sights set on making people's lives easier by providing a service. It turned into a successful virtual assisting and marketing consulting business. One of the major points was learning how to connect with people and be at the top of people's list of who to call.
My method was simple: Do a great job, Be dependable, and Talk about what other people do. My clients talk about me because I execute on my goals- I do a great job and am dependable.
Now, when I created my website, I did all the traditional stuff: SEO,
maximizing my website for action, and checking out my competitors marketing techniques. In the end, however, it's connecting with others that's made me a success.
The results (so far) may not have put me on the top of the list of Google in virtual assistant results, but by reaching out to people, I achieved a better effect from word of mouth than I ever could have, say, by just advertising with AdWords alone.
Word of Mouth resulted in a lot of work for me without a lot of effort involved- I just had to be me and concentrate on doing the best job possible.
I think of inbound marketing as doing all the right traditional things, but also finding the key market and being helpful in the community that surrounds it. If you do a remarkable job and really help people solve a problem, it sparks a circle of word of mouth and referrals from conversation
that has people ringing your phone off the hook.
Thanks everyone for all the great comments and articles! We'll be reviewing all the answers and will post a winner early next week.
Congratulations to Victor Velasquez, the winner of the free ticket to the MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer!
Thanks to everyone for all their great comments, blog posts, and also artwork! It’s great to hear all of your thoughts on a subject that we are passionate about. If you haven’t already, I encourage you all to read each other’s comments and posts to see what others have said.
Victor put together a very thoughtful post on his blog about the “gravitational” nature of inbound marketing, the importance of community and interacting genuinely within your environment, and also touched on the multifaceted approaches necessary in inbound marketing. Accompanying his post is a graphical representation of his idea of inbound marketing – thanks, Victor, for incorporating different kinds of media!
We hope you can all join us at the event – if you don’t have your ticket yet, you can use the code ESPNA08 to get $200 off the ticket price. Hope to meet you all there!