Apr 30, 2013
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Marketing In Simple Terms
I believe that most people think of marketing in simple terms. Telling people about your product through media, the internet, or print, to get them to buy it. While that certainly covers a portion of marketing, it does not define it as a whole. Marketing is more than push products on consumers. I would define marketing as creating or discovering a need for something, then filling that need. If you think of it in those broad terms, you can see how marketing is applied to almost every aspect of our life. Relationships, politics, religion, consumerism, the list goes on and on. As I’ve received my marketing education over these past 15 years, my approach to marketing has changed dramatically. Its gone from push marketing, to pull.
The High School Concept
Most guys like me when they were in high school spent the majority of our time trying to get girls attention. Sure, there was a few girls that we singled out, but most of us would do just about anything to get some attention from ANY girl. As I think back on the experience, almost everything I did was to try to impress a girl. From sports to science projects, almost all of my motivation came from the opposite sex. I have a hunch that every other high school boy had the same mind set that I did. What I didn’t understand at that time was that I was using an outbound approach to girls rather than an inbound. While I thought that girls liked manliness and physical strength, I didn’t understand that they really wanted maturity and emotion.
My approach with girls in high school was strictly outbound. That was my problem. If I would have understood the concept of inbound, I would have had lots more female attention. Those same concepts are just as valid in the business – consumer relationship as they were for boys and girls in high school.
An Inbound Approach
If you were to make a pie chart with all the money you spend in marketing, what would it look like? How much of it would fall under the traditional outbound methods? Pushing products on people through telemarketing, TV radio and newspaper ads, or a host of other outbound approaches. While outbound will always work to some degree, it will always be very expensive and competitive. Inbound marketing on the other hand, falls under the category of investment.
A true inbound approach starts in the research phase. Truly understanding your customers needs. You take the time and R&D necessary to be sure your product matches what they truly need. We always tell our clients that our goal is not to get them in front of more and more people, but its to get them in front of the right people who already want their products. With that paradigm shift, the clients business can be taken to a new level.
Take Your Business to New Heights
If now is the time for your to take your business to a new level, you need to call us. Our team understands the difference between outbound and inbound marketing. Its a concept that we’ve worked very had to hone in our own personal business, and we can help you do that some thing. Stop chasing after clients like I chased after girls in high school. If you do, you’ll endup broke and heartbroken.