Times are changing.

Marketing is changing.

If there is one thing that is for certain it’s that traditional forms of marketing, also known as outbound marketing, isn’t working as well as it did in the past. Take a look at some statistics:

Outbound Marketing:

Direct mail, telemarketing, trade shows, television/radio ads, print/publication ads.

So what tactics are working in the contemporary world where more and more people are blocking out these Outbound marketing messages? Meet Inbound marketing. You may know Inbound marketing but have never really considered it marketing before now. You’ve probably heard of blogging before, but did you know having an effective blog can drive a high amount of traffic to your website and be a powerful asset in generating leads? You’d have to be living under a rock to not hear about social networks like Facebook and Twitter but did you know they can be an incredibly cost efficient marketing option for your small business? Did you know that Youtube creates web traffic that is six times more likely to buy your product than any other source of traffic (Source: socialtriggers.com/video-traffic-replay). You may be asking yourself, “That thing that I watch silly videos of talking dogs on can get me highly qualified traffic to my website?!”, and the answer is a resounding “YES”.

Inbound Marketing:

Blogging, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media.

What’s the big difference between Inbound and Outbound Marketing?

What do all these marketing avenues have in common? They are all permission based marketing. No one is forcing people to read a blog, but they choose to because the content on the blog has value to them. No one is forcing you to “Follow” a business on Twitter but you do because you are certain that following them will provide you with value through what they share. Users aren’t required to watch that Youtube video, they do it because they see value in it or they trust the person that shared it with them. The main thing to remember in determining if something is Inbound or Outbound marketing is: “Is my marketing interrupting the user from what they are doing or is my marketing what the user wants to be doing?”.

Marketers who are already practicing inbound marketing have been ahead of the curve for quite a while now and more and more people are taking notice of these new tactics. There are quite a few statistics to back up it’s effectiveness. I’ll share a few of these with you here:

As you can see more and more marketers are jumping on the inbound marketing bandwagon. You will also notice that it’s significantly cheaper to use inbound marketing tactics than outbound. This is great for the small business owner! Now you can make sure you are dedicating your meager marketing dollars in the right spots. This type of marketing requires a significant shift in thought process though. This shift may seem counter intuitive to outbound marketing mindset, which is basically “Get your message in front of as many people possible and hope some bite”, but I’m confident you will catch on quickly!