Renowned Lebanese-American poet Kahlil Gibran popularized the aphorism, “Should we all confess our sins to one another we would all laugh at one another for our lack of originality.”
Gibran's words are certainly true in marketing. The costliest marketing mistakes are surprisingly common.
In fact, most can be summarized in these seven deadly sins of Inbound Marketing:
Sin 1: Sloth – Don't be slothful about content creation! One of the foremost tenets of inbound marketing is to constantly create fresh, remarkable content that is helpful to your customers, prospects and community and attract them to your business.
Sin 2: Lust - Don't lust after short-term results. It takes a while to build a successful blog. Be patient and focus on creating good content rather than becoming a mechanical publishing machine. The desire for short term results hurts long term gains.
Sin 3: Gluttony - Don't be gluttonous and stuff your content with information about your company products. Focus on solving problems and helping your customers and community first and not jamming your product pitch down their throats.
Sin 4: Greed – Don't be greedy for people's attention! Interrupting their daily lives with cold calls and other non-permission based outbound marketing can turn them off. Inbound marketing is about attracting people to your site like a magnet using remarkable, keyword-rich, optimized content.
Sin 5: Wrath – Don't respond to your nay sayers with wrath! It's easy to delete a non-flattering comment on your blog or site, but remember transparency is key as is open dialog! Foster constructive criticism so everyone can learn from the differing view points.
Sin 6: Envy – Don't copy your competition out of envy! Watch your competitors, but don't mimic them. Inbound Marketing is about playing a different game on the same field as your competitors who are using the age-old interruption outbound marketing tactics.
Sin 7: Pride – Don't be too proud to put yourself out there. Take a risk! Blogging and social media are not about works of art. They are about sharing raw information, videos and opening ourselves up. Sometimes we are too proud to put ourselves out there or linger too long trying to perfect our creative.
Are you guilty of any of the above sins? I know I am and try to correct course on a regular basis. Please share your thoughts in the comments!
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Lori Robinson 8:37 AM on June 18, 2009
There's a lot of truth in this clever blog post about blogs. Listen up people! - Lori
Noreen Vincent 9:18 AM on June 18, 2009
Prashant, a fun take on the 7 Deadly Sins. I believe there is a purpose for "Greed", when it comes to cold calling and it is in the authentic voice that you bring to the conversation on the phone that makes the difference. For B2B, Marketing (especially "demand generation") is a delicate balance of attraction and interuption.
businessethos 9:21 AM on June 18, 2009
First, Khalil Gibran was a righteous choice.
Absolutely loved this post. Nothing like a reminder...an ethos reminder...to help us stay on track!
@businessethos
Prashant Kaw 9:51 AM on June 18, 2009
@noreenvincent - I see what you mean. For most cold calling is still a necessity but kicking the habit should be the goal?! Thanks for sharing!
@businessethos @lorirobinson - thanks!
Jessica Ojeda 10:21 AM on June 18, 2009
Wish all marketers thought this way! Good stuff.
John Geraghty 10:21 AM on June 18, 2009
I loved the integration of the seven sins into the barriers to successful marketing. It makes it easier to remember the pitfalls before us and provides clear guidance on our path to success. Pride, identified as the need to be perfect, has definitely been a barrier to creating content. Still working on it and appreciate the vivid reminder.
Michael Mallory 10:41 AM on June 18, 2009
Great post. I loved it "as is", but would also love to see it expanded as a paper, or maybe a webinar.
Matt Soreco 12:09 PM on June 18, 2009
Very clever. And great advice. Thanks.
Prashant Kaw 1:19 PM on June 18, 2009
@michaelmallory - Wonderful suggestion - will see if we can expand to other formats!
@johngeraghty - I'm guilty of the same sin - trying to be perfect hurts!
@wayneweeks thanks for sharing!
Tara Nemeth 1:26 PM on June 18, 2009
Thank you for a wonderful, humorous look at inbound marketing. I especially appreciate the reinforcement that inbound marketing techniques are not a "quick fix" and that they do take time - I believe this is especially important for people new to this process to understand! And thank you for risk-taking encouragement - I know how easy it is for me to say "oh, a YouTube video won't be 'professional' looking enough." I will definitely be sharing this post!
Danielle 1:54 PM on June 18, 2009
Any tips on integrating this into sales training?
JC Whitted 3:51 PM on June 18, 2009
You are guilty of pride. Even DMScott recognizes conventional media as a powerful marketing tool. You are selling from the shoes you're standing in ie. you're selling inbound marketing. Why would you embrace anything else? Not all conventional media is interruptive in nature, only theoretically. Lots of folks welcome commercials and when used to generate awareness or desire of an offering, TV especially becomes a very useful tool indeed. When combined with an ecommerce website to further inform a prospect and close a deal, its the perfect combination. Get real.
Prashant Kaw 4:33 PM on June 18, 2009
@jcwhitted - Thanks for sharing your view point and in part I do not disagree with you. In fact the tenets of this post (sharing relevant, quality information, avoiding salesy info when trying to help prospects, respecting your audience with permission based ethics) are inclusive of conventional media.
Prashant Kaw 4:42 PM on June 18, 2009
@taranemeth @jessicaojeda @mattsoreco glad you found the post helpful! thanks.
@danielle There really is nothing new here that good sales people don't know -- keep the conversation focused on the customer -- it's about them. Build relationships and they will buy because they like you. If your people and products are remarkable, your customers will market for you and make it easy for sales (as per Seth Godin's idea virus)! People don't like to be sold but love to buy (Jeff Gotimer - Little Red Book of Selling). Hope this helps.
Jamie Favreau 6:59 PM on June 18, 2009
Thanks for bringing this up. I think it is important to have quality content but it is also equally important to be commenting and gaining some insight from others. People don't know who you are if you living in a bubble.
Lou 10:00 PM on June 18, 2009
What I like most about your blog, is that you back up your own words with quality content. Thanks
Jenny 10:01 PM on June 18, 2009
Just another great blog post in a long line of great ones. Thanks for putting a solid effort into your work.
Justin 11:00 PM on June 18, 2009
Great article Prashant. Love the list of the& deadliest. Very informative and really makes you think. Nice job.
Davina Brewer 10:51 AM on June 19, 2009
#7. Pride. As in - performance anxiety, fear of failure, fear of rejection, trying to get everything perfect; that's probably my worst sin. Thanks for the good post!
Cindy 6:31 PM on June 19, 2009
As always thanks for a great post. Liked the concise easy to read context you placed this "stuff" in. "Sometimes we.... linger too long trying to perfect our creative."
You were writing directly to me on that one!
Dale Berkebile 9:04 AM on August 20, 2009
This is an excellent example of how to use inbound marketing effectively. Great article, I will pass it on.
Thanks!