Now, I don’t want to brag or anything, but back in my college days I was quite the actor. Got the lead in the school play in fact. John Barrymore; I Hate Hamlet. You should look it up. 

I had dreams of becoming a famous movie star. I wanted to sing and dance on Broadway. But, sometime during my senior year, I realized that a lifetime of auditioning wasn’t  for me. Instead I became an Inbound Marketer. 

Since joining the world of Inbound, something has continually surprised me.  It seems that day after day I apply skills I learnedno, not in marketing class, but in acting class. In fact, some days it feels like I am more actor than marketer! 

How? Why? Do I run around my office performing monologues and soliloquies? No. Surprisingly enough there are just a lot of acting strategies that come in handy when you are an Inbound Marketer. And since I find a continuous use for them, I figured you might too. Take a look at a few ways you can use acting methods to help you in your Inbound efforts. 

1. Get to know your buyers

If you have ever read anything about method acting, you know that actors will go to extraordinary lengths to get into character. As an inbound marketer, you have to be willing to do the same with your buyer personas.

It isn’t enough to know your target demographics. It isn’t enough to identify common customer questions. You need to jump into the heads of your average buyers and discover their underlying motivations. What are their goals? Fears? Worries? Answering these questions will allow you to step into character just as an actor would, and see your content just as your prospective customers do.

2. Sell Without Selling

What defines a great actor? The audience doesn’t know they are actingor rather is so entranced by their performance that they don’t care that they know the actor is performing.

via GIPHY

As an Inbound Marketer, it is your job to provide your audience with the same illusion. You should be providing your visitors and readers with valuable, informative material. You should be showing your readers and viewers that you are a trustworthy source of information. But while you do these things, you should also be driving them to take some form of action. Simply put, you should be selling without the sales pitch. Sell them on you, just as an actor does, and get your audience members engaged with your brand! 

3. Learn to Improvise

Some of the best moments in movie history have been improvised (don’t believe me just watch the video below). Whether it be on stage or in front of a camera, actors have to know how to keep a scene moving when something unplanned happens.

If you have been in the Inbound Marketing business for any time at all, you already see where I am going with this. While experienced Inbound Marketers are able to navigate the world of Inbound without many devastating bumps or hiccups, the unexpected always happens. The sign of a great Inbound Marketer isn’t how well they can predict the future, but how well they are able to pivot when things don’t go as planned.

If you want to see HUGE results from implementing Inbound in your company, you need to continuously analyze the decisions you make and change directions when the data points south. 

4. Try Everything and Anything

Okay, I am exaggerating here. There are obviously some things you shouldn’t try, but the point here is to not be afraid of trying a new strategy or method. During the rehearsal process, actors are often told to give more. They are encouraged to try a plethora of different methods for conveying the thoughts and feelings of their character. To perfect their role, they need to act on every instinct they have while still in rehearsals. That way, when its showtime, they know exactly how to play their character. Think of your company as constantly in the “rehearsal process.” If you have an idea, implement it and test it. You need to experiment constantly if you want to perfect your Inbound Strategy. 

Now that I work in Inbound, “performance” means something entirely different. Hopefully, this post will help you improve yours.  If you want to learn more about  the world of Inbound Marketing, consider signing up for our Create and Execute Training Course. You can get the details by clicking below. 

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