You may be familiar with the term inbound marketing and you may not be! Inbound marketing is defined by Wikipedia as a marketing strategy that focuses on getting found by customers. You want to be found by your customers today because customers search for the products and services they want. Where do they search?…the web of course! So, why do I say inbound marketing is direct marketing? Let me explain…
Direct marketing is measurable and involves calls to action. If you think about a direct mail campaign, there is some type of offer (call to action) and you can measure the exact cost and response of the campaign. Inbound marketing should work the same way except for the fact that your website visitors are searching for a type of product or service and when they land on your site, there are offers (calls to action) that get them to respond.
Let’s look at an example. Let’s say I’m looking for a custom home builder. The first thing I’ll do is type in “custom home builder Colorado Springs” into Google. Chances are, I’ll click on the first result. When I arrive, I’m still in research mode. I’ll check out how the website looks, what kind of information is there, and see if I can find any staff members or employees. I’m not quite ready to talk to anyone because I want to find out more about the process, cost and the company itself. If there is nothing on the site that grabs my attention, I’ll probably leave and may never come back.
However, if there is some type of offer, such as a special report, an e-book or even a free visit to the show room, that might grab my attention. If this company is really on the ball, they will make me exchange some information to get one of these offers. Now I have become a lead. They have my name, email and possibly some additional information. They are providing me with value and I am providing them with my valuable contact information.
Now this company can start to track the effectiveness of their website and generate leads. They can measure how much money they put into the site and how many customers they receive from the site. Inbound marketing is direct marketing. What do you think?