Inbound VS Outbound Marketing

Despite dramatic changes in the world of business, in regulations and in consumer’s shopping habits and behaviors far too many business owners are failing to embrace the most effective and profitable marketing methods.

Both new entrepreneurs and those who have owned or managed businesses in the past continue to assume that they need to launch large scale, outbound marketing campaigns in order to hunt down customers and win business. This includes marketing strategies like telemarketing, door-to-door sales, TV commercials, bulk SMS and direct mail. While there is certainly still a place for these types of marketing and they can work they are certainly, perhaps no longer the most cost effective and efficient channels out there.

Consumers are tired of being bombarded by marketers and hard sales pitches. Even if they want and need what you have, too often the pitch is just a turn off. In contrast, inbound marketing focuses on getting in front of highly targeted prospects at the right place in the right time.  Not only is this a much more pleasant experience for both sides but it also means much higher returns on your marketing budget and in turn a lot more marketing for your money.

Inbound marketing includes social media, blogging, article marketing, press releases and video marketing. All of these clearly rely on one thing, content. It can be articles, blog posts, videos, white papers or podcasts but it is all content. Those business owners who master content marketing will not only be positioning themselves to win more business now, for less but also catapulting their organizations ahead of the competition.

So what should you know about content marketing and how can you become better at it? Know that great content marketing relies on quality, delivering value and targeting. Recognize that as the cornerstone of the majority of your future marketing efforts you shouldn’t underestimate the need for great writers. Hire the best and you will have the best marketing. Targeting means paying attention to keywords, titles, your style and tone and where you post your content.

However, do not overlook the need to organize your content into a focused funnel which propels readers and prospects closer to acquiring your goods and services. If you are new to this type of marketing strategy then don’t spread yourself too thin and take on too many channels and mediums at once. Instead focus on developing and master a couple and then expand as your revenues increase.

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