Most companies spend their marketing budget using a combination of outbound marketing techniques, such as direct mail, e-mail blasts, TV, radio and print advertising, and trade shows (or expos), to reach potential buyers. As we’ve become more adept at filtering out unwanted information, these techniques have become less effective. We don’t answer the phone if we don’t recognize the number, we don’t open unsolicited e-mails, we use DVR or TiVo to skip commercials and most mail is considered “junk mail” and goes right in the garbage without a glance.
And then there is inbound marketing. Two key things have happened in the last decade to dramatically change the way people shop and learn: Google and access to a high-speed Internet connection. Think about it. How many searches did you perform last week? One? Ten? Or, if you are like most people – including your customers – hundreds. Here’s the thing: You have customers looking for you every day. The question is, “Are you showing up?” so they find you and not your competition.
So how do you become an inbound marketer? How do you make sure you show up? There are three key ways people find information using the Internet: through a search engine like Google, through the blogosphere (more than 100 million of them and growing) and through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit and StumbleUpon, among others.
To be successful and grow your business and revenues, you must match the way you market your products with the way your prospects learn about and shop for your products. And, you do that by generating leads through inbound marketing.
Where do you start? I am going to tell you where NOT to start. DO NOT START BY REDESIGNING YOUR WEBSITE. Most websites are nothing more than static brochureware. But rather than spend a lot of money redesigning it and getting caught up in where the logo should go or what colors look better, take what you have and add some simple things that will turn it into an interactive hub for your marketplace. An easy way to do this is to add a blog and RSS feed to it – even make that the home page. Then, add relevant, compelling content that people want to consume. If you aren’t sure how to create relevant, compelling content, start reading other blogs. (P.S. I’ll give you more ideas for this in Part II of this series.)
What worked before in the off-line world is no longer effective. You must learn new skills and become an inbound marketing expert if you want to compete and win today.
The good news is it doesn’t require that you have a huge budget, but it does require your participation. Use the next 30 days to evaluate your marketing efforts and notice how much of what you do is outbound marketing vs. inbound marketing. Stay tuned for the next two articles in this series that will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to become an Inbound Marketing Expert.