As someone who admittedly isn’t the most business-savvy person in the world, Inbound Marketing does sound dangerously like corporate jargon, but it really is quite a simple concept. It is the practice of reaching out to potential businesses, doctors, top dentists or market leaders through a number of methods, including producing high-quality copy. This is the opposite of Outbound Marketing (or push marketing), which is focused on pushing people towards a business through techniques such as cold-calling.
Analogy time
Imagine there are two people on the highest diving board at a swimming pool, but they don’t want to jump into the water. They are then approached by two marketers, one who practices outbound marketing techniques and the other uses inbound marketing strategies but they both only get paid when the person jumps in the water.
The Outbound Marketer would maybe just approach the person from behind and give them a shove over the edge. It might be quick, executed using a tried-and-tested method, and the marketer will get paid, but there will have been almost no trust established between the marketer and the unwilling diver the chances of them going back to the top of the diving board are minimal at best.
The Inbound Marketer would go and stand next to the unsure person. They would engage in a conversation, asking why the person didn’t want to jump into the water and perhaps what had led them to the diving board in the first place. They might go on to explain what the person can expect to achieve by taking the leap what to expect and how it would benefit them. The Inbound Marketer might also offer a few tips to ensure that the dive goes as smoothly as possible. With a form of trust established, the marketer would ask of the person is ready to take the plunge and if they are, they’re more than willing to come back and dive in again.
- Perhaps this analogy is biased towards inbound marketing, but it still illustrates some of the key differences between the two business approaches. Fortunately, with Twitter, you have a perfect platform to exercise inbound marketing.
Why X, aka Twitter?
Why use Twitter when there is arguably a more established social network in Facebook and a more professional business network in LinkedIn? You might say. As discussed in the aforementioned blog, both do have positives and negatives, but perhaps the thing that makes Twitter such a valuable business tool is that it is consistently used for customer acquisition.
Its intuitive UI makes it an incredibly accessible tool, and the old 140-character limit helps curb the time that can be spent developing the social media marketing campaign. The search can also be a fantastic feature when used correctly. For example, you can conduct searches for keywords that describe your business. If you are a wine merchant, find out who on Twitter is talking about wine, and what questions they are asking. And if you know the answer, be sure to help. That is almost the definition of inbound marketing interacting with the community, asking the relevant questions, displaying your expertise and crafting the foundations on which you can build a successful business relationship.
As with most things there are certain ground rules that must be obeyed by businesses on Twitter a social-media etiquette. However, these guidelines are quite instinctive and it is important to remember that you should conduct your business online the same way you would offline. Things such as not constantly spamming links to product pages or promotions that are being run, but rather discussing relevant points of topic within your industry that will win you acclaim from relevant market leaders and consumers alike.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember in regards to Twitter, is that it is a social tool, not a business tool. People use it to communicate with their friends, not necessarily to conduct business so, if you can communicate effectively as a company, and as a brand, then you have a fantastic opportunity of finding success on Twitter
