Inbound marketing is a concept I wanted to briefly touch base on. It helps explain the basic mechanics of building online business ‘socially’.
‘Outbound’ marketing is traditional marketing. It’s you, finding people. Finding people, then interrupting them in their daily routine by telemarketing, cold calling, email blasts or advertising online, in print or on TV, and so on.
Outbound does work. To an extent. But it sure isn’t a ‘social’ way of doing business. Seinfeld sums up why in 15 seconds flat.
‘Inbound’ marketing flips ‘outbound’ on its head. Instead of you finding customers, you help customers find you.
Here are the 3 basic things you need to do to:
1. Get your site SEO basics right.
Having your site optimised (and most often it’s not that big a job) makes it easier for people to find you online. By fixing your site with the SEO basics, you can get higher up in google’s search results: right where your prospects or customers begin their buying cycle.
2. Publish great content!
Stuff like blogs, eBooks, case studies, podcasts, videos, web pages. It’s what attracts people to your business. When you make content meaningful and relevant to your prospects or customers, you build trust and draw people along their buying cycle.
3. Use social media!
Social media amplifies your message. It gets you many more eyeballs for just one piece of content. It also allows people to interact with you and your content, share it, comment on it, download it.
As ever, great content is the key. Content is the stuff social media and search engines are made of. It’s what people search for online. And when you publish it, they will come!
