What is inbound marketing?

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Thursday, 14 April 2011 19:58

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I have always believed that when it comes to business terminology is secondary to action. After all it is more important to put in place a structured way of marketing what you do to those who need it than know that what you are doing is called ‘email outreach initiative’ or ‘permission marketing’ or even ‘inbound marketing’.

The reason I am covering it here however is because some terms represent a significant enough change in doing something that it really is worth understanding what they mean and what they really stand for.

Broadly speaking there are only two types of marketing you can engage in: One is Outbound Marketing where you have to shout at your potential customers, telling them how great you so they can notice you and maybe do business with you (think of this as not an untypical example of fruit stall holder in a really busy outdoor market). The second is Inbound Marketing.

Inbound Marketing works in exactly the opposite way of Outbound Marketing. Instead of the figurative yelling which Outbound Marketing implies you talk and, if anything, you lower your tone of voice. This forces concentration from those who listen and concentration implies engagement. Engagement leads to a relationship.

The traditional view of Outbound Marketing is one where the supplier and the consumer are locked in an antagonistic relationship which has each trying to gouge as much value out of the transaction as possible to their exclusive gain. In Inbound Marketing the entire relationship changes. The pressure to communicate well is upon the supplier who then enters into a synergistic relationship with the consumer that is mutually beneficial to both. Whatever communication goes on between them in the process of a transaction is markedly different in tone and aim even if the outcome is the same.

I know I am being a little too theoretical here but that’s because I am excited by a concept I have seen in practice on a national retail chain in the UK and one which I passionately believe in. Let me paint a fairly simplistic picture to drive the point home.

Think of two used car dealerships standing side by side. You walk past the first and the salesmen are on the forecourt. They point to their cars, the yell about the sticker price, they tell you this is the best deal in the country and you’d be a fool to pass it up. They even have a trick up their sleeves where, when you go by a massive screen, mounted above the used car lot comes to life and shows you close up one of their most attractive cars on offer. If you are anything like me you look, you nod and you walk on by.

Then there is the second used car lot. The salesmen there are all inside. There are no overhead screens and no one yelling about the great deals. Because it’s quieter you take your time a little longer walking by. You look at the cars on offer on the lot. You notice more things about them, like the great condition they are in. You walk up a little closer to look at the sticker prices and they seem very attractive and since you are so close looking at them you also take some time to read all the information displayed in tasteful small stickers, placed on the car windscreens.

Without realising it you have become engaged. You are thinking, new car. You are imagining yourself in one of them. You are now thinking of whether you should walk into the car lot building and talk to a salesman.

The second used car dealership is practising Inbound Marketing.

Over-simplified as this may be it actually shows the change in approach required. Think about it and think about the tools you will need to turn your online business into one which uses Inbound Marketing techniques.

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