Inbound Series Part 1: Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing

Hearing more about inbound marketing? The new buzz tool for 2018, inbound marketing, is the natural evolution in line with our society’s changing buying behaviors. But what exactly is “inbound marketing?” Grab your seat on this fast-moving train. Today #justbelucid gives you the lowdown to get started.

Knowing the difference

Even marketers don’t like to be marketed to. That concept is outbound marketing, the traditional means of marketing. Think of billboards, radio advertising, cold calling and the like. Outbound marketing is based on interrupting your customer’s experience and their day with your messaging. A mainstay in our lives for decades, we, as consumers, now are viewing it as intrusive. Worse (for marketers) but better (for customers) we now have the means to shut it down and block it out. Certain forms of outbound marketing are still going strong. But wouldn’t it be great for the customers you want to find you on their own? Now this is inbound marketing. Inbound marketing aligns powerful marketing tools with what the consumer is already looking for and brings them to you.

2 easy ways to get started

If you’re new to inbound marketing, here are 2 ways to get going right away. The best part is you’re already using these techniques, but with a little beefing up, they become inbound marketing.

1. Keywords

You’re a keyword guru, we know. One of the many reasons we love you! But did you know to truly deploy inbound marketing through SEO calls for a bit of nuance? Here’s the mistake many businesses make: they choose many different keywords in order to

get a top google ranking when the customer searches. This is a good practice, one to keep, and a mainstay of what we do. However, try the following to get started with your inbound marketing efforts:

A. Choose only a few very specific keywords that are valuable to the customer looking for your service or business

B. Create specific pages on your website that are only for those keyword phrases

2. Social media engagement

Social media platforms, which are very conducive to interactivity, are a huge tool for inbound marketing. They are last for overall conversions, but in leading customers to you on their own (inbound), social media leads the way. Platforms with strong messaging and sharing components like Facebook and Twitter are a good first place to start. So, if you have these pages but just simply post, start engaging your audience interactively more. They’ll be more likely to hashtag your business in their own posts, share on their own feeds, etc. This increases your brand visibility and brings more customers your way on their own.

Be on the lookout for Part 2 in our 3 Part Series: Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing!