1999/2000 was the absolute peak of the outbound marketing era because small startups raised hundreds of millions of dollars and then spent that money on outbound advertising (TV, print, billboards) thinking that the more you spent on outbound marketing, the faster you would grow. This proved to be a completely false assumption, and the era of outbound marketing ended, including a gigantic crash of the stock market (only surpassed by the most recent financial crisis) and the loss of many jobs in the startup and Internet industries.
For those of you who do not know the Pets.com Sock Puppet, it was the mascot of a startup Pets.com that was trying to sell pet supplies online. Not a bad business (in fact, people are making money in that business today), but their strategy was based on how you built a brand in 1950, not 2000. The Sock Puppet starred in numerous TV ads, including a Superbowl ad, and became quite famous... So famous that the company started selling toys based on the sock puppet. But none of that helped Pets.com build a profitable business. In fact, in their first year of operations, they spent $11 million on advertising to gain $600,000 in revenue.
Big brands used to be built on outbound marketing. But then inventions like the remote control, cable TV, and the DVR made it more possible for people to control what they view, and ignore advertisements. The Internet and other new technologies take this to the extreme. Today, the outbound marketing model is broken, as Pets.com proved. The next 50 years are the age of inbound marketing. If Pets.com had built their brand differently, the Sock Puppet might not be collecting unemployment today.
How are you building your brand? What do you think marketers can learn from the Pets.com example?
Inbound Marketing Blog Feed
Pete Caputa 11:00 AM on May 26, 2009
I thought it was the "Dot Com implosion" that happened?
Are you saying it was really the "outbound marketing implosion".
Do we really have enough $ to rebrand 2001?
Catie Foertsch 11:07 AM on May 26, 2009
Clearly, the one element that would make Hubspot TV even better than it is - a sock puppet mascot! Tho I'm not sure Rick would want to spend the entire half-hour under the table...
Terrific video!
Joan 11:13 AM on May 26, 2009
I completely agree! The "old skool" marketing is out! Hola to new inbound marketing. The inbound marketing is very effective for small businesses that do not have $$$ to spend on TV or magazine ads.
JC 3:41 PM on May 26, 2009
Conventional media still command large audiences. The most effective campaigns hybridize the best of conventional and internet elements. Some well chosen outbound for awareness and well chosen inbound for delivery and closure.
Jamie Favreau 5:24 PM on May 26, 2009
I think you need to combine the two. Maybe not spend millions of dollars if you are a big brand but if you are a small brand. I think you need to build your audience through the social networks. Especially if you can't afford to have a million dollar campaign.
Hadlee Wright 7:08 PM on May 26, 2009
Brilliant! Great video.
Manuel Keppeler 8:15 AM on May 27, 2009
Every day I see businesses investing into outbound marketing and traditional forms of marketing. Would they only get inspired by these people from Hubspot, man they would be laughing!
Great video guys, you must have so much fun @Hubspot!
Cheers
Robert Wickman 10:14 AM on May 27, 2009
Hah! Mike's innate talent finally comes out...as a puppeteer. Will he be the new Mr. Rogers? Way to go, Karen and Mike.
Momblebee 10:15 AM on May 27, 2009
Agree 100%!!! I co-founded a children's startup footwear brand 2 years ago, focused a grassroots marketing almost completely on blog reviews and giveaways, generating hundreds of thousands of google and yahoo search results for the BRAND, not just key words related to the brand. The company became a multi milion dollar brand inside of 2 years. I now am taking that formula to build a new company of my own. Ads are dead. And expensive. Word of mouth is so alive. And cheap.
Bob Nunn 10:39 AM on May 27, 2009
Explain GoDaddy.com's success with outbound then.
Pascoal 3:02 PM on June 25, 2009
I absolutely agree. Inbound market is part of my MBA internship and is focusing the years to come where it will be a key factor to business success.
Nilson Pascoal