Have you recently heard the phrase “inbound marketing” bouncing around? As with most new fangled terms it actually means something quite simple- being found by your customers instead of you seeking them out. Basically you are playing a grown up version of hide and seek where you actually want to be found.
If you own a company you know that it’s much cheaper and more effective to make a sale with a customer that is actually seeking your services. Essentially you are cashing in on someone else’s work. Someone else has already convinced the customer that they need your product or services. Maybe a friend, a co-worker, peer or a blog. Doesn’t matter really, the bottom line is that this customer has their wallet open and is ready to go. All you have to do is not screw it up!
Since we all know and agree that Inbound marketing is much more effective than traditional (Outbound) marketing the question becomes now do we most effectively practice Inbound marketing?
The answer is in how your company uses the web. People are looking for your products and services. More than ever their first stop is a search engine. Are they finding you there for your industry related searches? If you are selling “green widgets” and when they type in “where to buy green widgets in Indianapolis” are you the first listing? If not then you aren’t being found and it doesn’t matter if you have a better green widget. The customer has already completed the transaction with another company.
So don’t hide from your customers, get found. More specifically, use the web to get found or get you will get left behind.
Note: Thanks to Hubspot for their informative post on Inbound Marketing that I referenced in writing this blog.
As search engines started people weren???t hoping that search engines will become the way of marketing even website promotion was not the term among the people but by and by search engines become popular and important part of internet marketing