The outbound marketing strategies of yesteryear are all about the purchase: you pay for advertisements or cold-calls and then you make sales. It is a brutal game of numbers, bombarding the demographic of potential customers in the hopes that some small percentage will wind up making a purchase. It is quick. It is about a single “touch.” It is nothing like inbound marketing.
Inbound marketing is about building lasting customer relationships, which takes time. It is about getting quality content out into the market-place and finding who thinks it is interesting, worthwhile, important. It is about your demographic recognizing that they need something and coming to you to find out how they can get it. It is a game not of numbers, but of interest and attention, whereby every lead actually represents not just a possible conversion but a viable conversion. It is a longer process of several touches, but it is entirely worth it.
Simply put, when you engage with customers who really want your product — who are not bothered by your cold calls — you get someone who is making more than a simple business transaction. A customer who comes to you for your specific service is not someone who changes suppliers at the drop of a hat or a special introductory rate from another business. They are rather invested in who you are and specifically what you have on offer.
Relationships always take time to build, yet we have for so long treated those we make in marketing as transactional. If you want to start to build business partnerships that last through the years, consider beginning to incorporate inbound marketing into your strategy.
For more information on inbound marketing and how you can apply it to your business contact us at MediaWorks.
