Online Marketing Basics
The marketing industry has witnessed a major shift with the growth of the Internet. Gone are the days when businesses preferred to advertise themselves through TV, Radio, Printed Ads and other such mediums. Of course, these channels are still very much in use, but have been relegated to a lower level.
Businesses no longer wish to come across as impressing themselves upon their prospects. They no longer wish to be that annoying salesman who knocks on your doors, upsetting your schedule. Instead they wish to promote themselves in a subtle and intelligent manner. And what better way to do that than going the digital way!
In this blog, let’s take a look at some of the basics of online marketing.
Outbound vs Inbound Marketing
Online or digital marketing was not all that sensible when it began. We are creatures of habit and the businesses going the digital way adopted the same old tactics that ruled traditional marketing. They would announce out loud to the world, they had arrived. Very similar to distributing business cards to just about anyone who cared enough to take it from them.
This type of marketing, where the business reaches out or pushes itself onto the customers is known as outbound or push marketing. It’s still effective and in practice today. But is no longer the only way of conducting online marketing. The other method, which is proving much more effective, is inbound or pull marketing.
Inbound or pull marketing is about bringing your customers to you, rather than you going in search of them. It works by generating quality content, which appeals to the search engines like Google, Bing and others. They thus, make your business more noticeable (or rank higher in SEO terms) to your prospects or customers.
Simply put, inbound marketing is about giving customers what they want. That is, relevant and precise content. With such a good quality and precise timing, that they come to you in search of it.
For example, users searching for how to build six-pack abs would be put off if their search lands them in an e-commerce site (totally irrelevant!). Or what if they have to go through a lot of fitness related information before they arrive at what they want (relevant, but not exactly precise).
Some differences between Inbound and Outbound marketing are:
Popular Forms of Inbound Marketing include:
Performing Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Research your industry related keywords using free tools like Google analytics and Keyword.io and make your website content search engine friendly. Simply put, this means producing the sort of content your target audience (customers) would search for, in general.
Publishing Content in Multiple Forms: Include videos, infographics, presentations, surveys and other forms of interactive content in your website. Any form of content which, using the shortest possible time, can make your readers understand the reason to subscribe to your business.
Using Social Media Marketing: Another platform which can generate awareness about your business. Use your social media accounts to generate interest in your business. If your customers like and share your posts, your business will eventually grow!
Using Freebies to Generate Traffic: Have you ever downloaded free e-books which got you interested in a particular business or website and made you revisit it again? That’s another popular method employed in inbound marketing. Create such attractive free e-books to increase traffic to your business.
Final Thoughts
Outbound marketing is not totally outdated. You still need it to announce your online presence. But use it in a limited, non-intrusive manner. Ensure your marketing strategy contains the right mix of both outbound and inbound marketing methods.
Because this is the only way using which you can knock on your customer’s door without appearing too intrusive. To make them let you in, and to make them perceive you, as someone who is going to solve their problems.
And if you are a business which is yet to go the digital way — meaning your business does not have a website yet, it’s never too late to get one!
