Is inbound marketing for you?

Flying Solo’s survey, Understanding MicroBusiness, 2010-2011, reveals that nearly half of all soloists consider finding new customers to be their biggest business challenge. 

To achieve that, many businesses turn to traditional marketing tactics, such as print advertising, telemarketing, letterbox drops, and even television and radio advertising. 

Ironically, when you think of these types of activities, you can’t help but recall all those times you’ve tuned out, switched over, hung up, thrown out or flipped the page the second even a hint of any of these forms of marketing have crossed your path. 

So if these traditional marketing tactics are turning people off, what do you do? Without these tactics you may feel as though you’re without a marketing leg to stand on, but that’s far from the case.

I’d like to propose that you move on from these traditional marketing activities and turn to the much more effective marketing system known as inbound marketing.

The low down on inbound marketing

All the traditional marketing methods discussed above are termed outbound marketing because you’re pushing your message out there. And they’re all becoming less and less effective as technology improves. 

Inbound marketing techniques are those that pull recipients of your message towards you. They predominantly use the Internet to get your message across, and include blogs, RSS feeds, webinars, e-books, You Tube videos, search engine optimisation (SEO) and social networking portals. 

Inbound marketing techniques have a more “softly, softly” approach than that of outbound marketing. They allow potential customers or clients a chance to connect with you and your business and hear you out before becoming hostile, resistant and defensive. 

The result? Your integrity is maintained, your business has a great reputation and you land more clients for less cost. Sounds good, doesn’t it? 

The three corners

Inbound marketing can be divided into three components: content, SEO and social media. To fully engage with inbound marketing and achieve maximum results, embrace all three components. 

Think of them as the three corners of a triangle, all connected to one another, with your thriving business in the centre. 

Content

Content is the information or advice you supply to people who seek it. It can be compared to print advertisements in traditional marketing, and can be published online in various formats including blogs, e-books and RSS feeds. 

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO has become a major buzz phrase in marketing – but do you know what it means? 

These days, whenever we want to find something or find out about something, we Google it or (less frequently) check it out on another search engine. 

SEO is all about getting your web page to rank highly in those searches so that it’s your business that appears when potential customers or clients look up what they need, making them more likely to use you instead of your competitors. 

SEO allows you to reach your target audience at large. 

Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, forums and other social networking portals allow you to connect with clients and prospects. 

They also let people tell their friends about your business with the click of a button and as an added bonus, they can help to increase your SEO ranking. 

The final word

In the scheme of things, inbound marketing is still an extremely new concept - so there’s plenty of room to grow. Be creative when finding ways of attracting people to your blog, website or social media pages. 

If done well, inbound marketing can leave you with double the exposure at half the cost. It’s definitely worth your while to give it a go. 

When it comes to attracting new clients, does outbound or inbound marketing work better for you? Please share your experiences with us below.