The term inbound marketing or attraction marketing or inbound marketing has been one of the common terms in recent years in marketing and specifically in digital marketing .
Those who propose this style of marketing contrast it with the more traditional style of marketing communication, i.e. outbound marketing .
It is better to use the term inbound marketing as its equivalent to inbound marketing and preferably not to use attraction marketing for it. Because when we talk about attraction marketing, we implicitly accept that there is another form of marketing called repulsion marketing. While this is not the case and considering outbound marketing as repulsive, it will not be very accurate and defensible.
Definition of inbound marketing
Inbound marketing is a form of marketing in which the conversation between the audience and the business or brand is initiated by the audience.
If your set of activities is such that the first time the customer feels that he came to you and you did not go to him, your marketing is inbound.
The following are examples of inbound marketing:
Your audience searches for one of their questions and needs in one of the social networks and reaches you.
Your audience searches for a website through Google or other search engines and reaches your site. Therefore, he believes that he was attracted to your site himself, not that you sent him a message to make him visit your site.
A friend of yours has a little tutorial on homemade sweets. He gives you that booklet and after reading it you see that company X published it. The content is so persuasive and high quality that you decide to contact the company and buy a sample of its products once.
The concept of inbound marketing
Businesses shouldn’t get their message across by interrupting the audience while they’re busy pursuing something else.
Do you need people’s attention? There are two ways to do this. or you have to do something to draw their attention to you; Or you have to buy their attention. The first requires more thought and time, and the second requires more money and capital. For this reason, we can guess that the second option is chosen more.
But it is important to know that the term inbound marketing was first used in 2005 by Brian Halligan, the founder and CEO of Hub Spot .
He believed that inbound marketing could be suitable for two groups of businesses:
- Small businesses with big profits
- Knowledge Based Companies
Of course, he emphasizes in his new writings and interviews that in today’s environment, inbound marketing can be useful even for a company that is in the list of top 500 companies, and with the possibilities that exist today, we should no longer focus on the two types of business that he has more than A decade ago, we should limit ourselves.
The position of inbound marketing
The following trends may vary from industry to industry and market to market. But their generality is approved by many marketing and advertising activists .
Nowadays, the probability of opening anonymous emails is less than in the past and the number of people who are bothered by unwanted and advertising SMS is more than in the past.
While the effectiveness of traditional media has decreased, or at least not increased, their cost has remained constant or increased. The tariff of TV teasers and billboards in many parts of the world confirm this trend.
The percentage of clicks on banners has decreased compared to the total number of visitors. Audiences have learned how to ignore banners and not be distracted by them. At the same time, they recognize deceptive banners better than before. These days, few people try to catch a moving duck with their click in the hope of winning an iPhone lottery, but a few years ago, such an offer would have tempted more visitors.
People have gradually learned which part of the movie the TV commercials are playing and adjust the time to go to the bathroom and rest and check calls.
Inbound marketing has an important message for us, and that message is that today’s customer is not willing to accept that advertisements disturb his normal life.
Today, the diversity of the media has increased and this situation has increased the power of the audience, and of course, the dependence and trust in the mass media is not as much as it used to be.
At one time, the only powerful visual media in our country was the Radio and Television.
If for a weak one-hour series, half an hour before and half an hour in the middle of the series, the advertisement was broadcast, and all the speeches and unpopular programs were broadcast before the TV series, we would have to watch all the advertising content in the hope of that one hour of the series. do.
It was in this situation that television and other mass media became a tool for marketing companies and brands.
But today, television and similar traditional media, even without advertising, can hardly make us tune in to their programs.
The same is the case with newspapers and other publications.
Today’s audience is more demanding and if they feel that marketing and advertising activities in the media do not create value for them, they will lose their interest in the media .
The effectiveness of inbound marketing
One of the main thrusts of inbound marketing is that people like to be involved in decision-making and customers want a greater share of the right to choose.
We can no longer ask them to change their behavior based on our wishes and tastes, or at least we cannot do this directly.
In order to solve this problem, you must find the right answer to the following questions:
If I don’t want to advertise directly, what are the ways for the client to come to me?
Is there a way for others to introduce me to the client and he will come to me?
Is there a way for the audience to find me on search engines and feel excited that they found me instead of feeling sad when they see the ad?
Is there a way for the audience to become interested in me on social networks and come to my services and products later?
Is there a way that I can change his concerns and the day he decides to buy a product or service based on his new concern, I will be the best available option?
Can I change his decision making and evaluation patterns so that he chooses me as the best supplier during his research and search?
Finally, after answering these questions, we come to the conclusion that we can make the audience happy, satisfied and entertained today; We can educate the audience; We can inform the audience; And we hope that as a result of these activities, we and our products will become his final choice.
The importance of inbound marketing
It is only after understanding the importance of inbound marketing that we can understand the role and place of content marketing .
Today, the competition between brands is much more and more serious than in the past; At the same time, most brands meet the basic needs of the audience.
A few years ago, when someone wanted to drive a long drive or stay up late for an exam, they heard from their friends that energy drinks could help them.
You probably also hear that they don’t taste very good; But they can keep him awake, and you might hear warnings about overdose. But today everyone knows what energy drink is.
Some are in favor of using it and some are against it; But there are few people who do not know about the existence of energy drinks.
If you want to buy an energy drink, right now in the nearest supermarket, you can find dozens of different brands that are almost the same in terms of their main function, because they all contain taurine and caffeine, and their taste is slightly different.
The same situation exists in other fields, for example, take a look at the automobile field .
Facilities that were once reserved for luxury brands such as Benz, BMW and Lexus are now available on cheaper brands such as Hyundai and Kia and even unknown Chinese brands.
It is simply not possible to convince the customer that by paying three or four times the price for a car, he is really getting three or four times the quality.
In the past, these types of challenges were solved with traditional brand and branding methods. more advertising; creating visual identity of the brand ; choosing the right name; creating a slogan for the brand; Widespread advertisements and lotteries and all those things that were called advertisements in the past and are given various names today.
It is in this space that we see companies like Red Bull extensively turning to storytelling and film making, holding large events and creating regular publications.
So much so that today Red Bull is a content production empire , which, of course, produces energy drinks in addition to its activities.
In the end, perhaps with a little exaggeration, it can be said that content marketing is the only form of marketing communication that remains, and the use-by date of other methods has passed.
If you have experiences in the field of inbound marketing, we would be happy to share it with us.
