I went out for a nice long hike yesterday to take advantage of the “warm” (42 degree) Michigan “winter weather” and started to reflect on some of the recent conversations I’ve had with business owners and marketing professionals regarding Inbound Marketing.
Yeah, I know…I’m a real party animal, huh? I hope I don’t immediately lose all credibility now that I’ve shared the reckless life I lead.
Anyhow, there were a couple things that stood out to me as a result of my reflection.
I’ve noticed that…
there seem to be quite a few marketing professionals and business owners who are unfamiliar with the methodology, or at least the term, “Inbound Marketing.” Usually if I dig a bit deeper into my arsenal of marketing terminology and start throwing around terms such as “content marketing” or “search engine optimization,” I see a more comfortable and knowing look appear on their faces.
I’m quite sure you’ve experienced this same type of “awakening” within your own business around terminology or industry jargon that you thought everyone else was familiar with, haven’t you?
It’s one of those situations where you assume since you talk about it every single day (and have for years), that everyone else must know what it is. How couldn’t they, right? Well maybe because they have more of a life than you (or me) and don’t sit around all day googling marketing terms and methodologies, or spend hours of their weekend reflecting upon conversations they’ve had with business people.
I promise not to spend the rest of this post proving the value of Inbound Marketing or explaining about why Inbound Marketing is the new SEO. If you’d like to read that, you can simply click those links and view previous posts on these topics.
I’d rather spend my time discussing an interesting phenomenon which is … why so many people end up saying something like the following…
“Inbound Marketing sounds like an excellent marketing option, but do you think it would REALLY work for MY business? I mean, MY business is very unique, and I’m just not sure it would work.”
First of all, there isn’t a week that goes by where I don’t hear this statement at least twice. I’ve heard it so many times that I can see it coming, and it’s become so frequent that I have a hard time keeping the smirk off my face when I hear it.
Not because I’m a know it all who likes to smugly showcase my knowledge of Inbound, but because I know exactly why I’m hearing the question…yet again!
I personally like to call it the “forest through the trees” problem, and it’s definitely something we’ve struggled with here at MINDSCAPE as well. In fact, Paul wrote about it here as he called us out for being hypocrites with our own marketing approach.
The good thing is I don’t believe it’s a real “problem,” nor is it limited to MINDSCAPE and your company if you’ve experienced the same thing. It’s simply a difference of perspective and whether you’re directly “in” the situation, or if you’re safely giving your opinion on a situation that doesn’t include you, or your company.
The bottom line is this…
- Inbound Marketing will definitely work for your company and the industry in which you operate as long as you do business with people who:
- Don’t like being interrupted
- Aren’t obsessed with making uninformed decisions
I truly feel as if Inbound Marketing addresses so many challenges, and makes so much logical sense, that marketing professionals and business owners have a hard time believing the answer to their marketing challenges could be so simple.
I’m not saying it’ll be all rainbows and sunshine once you get started, but I can confidently state that you can never go wrong if you’re focused on serving and educating the personas you’re trying to do business with. Especially when you’re helping solve the pressing issues they’re dealing with, and doing so without receiving any monetary return.
If you still feel your business is too unique, and you question whether Inbound Marketing is applicable, please leave a comment below telling me why. If you build a good case and prove me wrong, I’ll treat you to a steak dinner in your town! Come on now, prove me wrong!
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