Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

A lot of marketers are rolling their eyes and wondering why we need another term – inbound marketing – when SEO, PPC (or SEM), etc., worked just fine before. So, what is inbound marketing, anyway? And why should you care?

 

Inbound Marketing: When Customers Come To You Just like inbound flights are the ones arriving at the airport, “inbound marketing” refers to marketing activities that bring leads and customers in when they’re ready, rather than you having to go out and wave your arms to try to get people’s attention.

 

SEO is a classic example of inbound marketing, since it typically works like this: A woman’s alarm clock stops working and she realizes she needs a new one. She goes online to research alarm clocks that aren’t too expensive and have good reviews. She uses Google to search for [best alarm clock]. She clicks on a few results and decides to order one.

 

If you happen to be a purveyor of alarm clocks, this is a dream come true for you! You didn’t have to cold call people on the off chance that they might need an alarm clock that week. You didn’t have to spend a lot of money blasting information about your alarm clocks over the radio or on billboards, reaching far more people than necessary. Your target customer found you when she was ready to buy....