The first time I heard this term, I had no clue what Inbound Marketing meant. I was told by a friend that Hubspot is a great resource to know more about it. However like any other curious person online, I googled it and landed on Wikipedia. It was defined as ” Inbound marketing is promoting a company through blogs, podcasts, video, eBooks, e-newsletters, whitepapers, SEO, physical products, social media marketing, and other forms of content marketing which serve to attract customers through the different stages of the purchase funnel. In contrast, buying attention,[1] cold-calling, direct paper mail, radio, TV advertisements,[sales flyers, spam, telemarketing[and traditional advertising[4] are considered “outbound marketing“. Inbound marketing refers to marketing activities that bring visitors in, rather than marketers having to go out to get prospects’ attention. Inbound marketing earns the attention of customers,[1] makes the company easy to be found,[2] and draws customers to the website[ by producing interesting content.” This can be the most newest and different thing we have heard in a decade now. I got more interested in this new concept.
My next step was to visit Hubspot and understand further in depth about the whole concept. I was amazed to know that they provide free Inbound Marketing Certification, and have extensively covered all the topics. They introduced the customer conversion process which is very well integrated in all classes. It’s called “Inbound Methodology”
These 5 stages are the heart of this strategy. The concept is still catching up in the marketing world but is very important for those who intend to nurture their built client base. The certification can be done in one weekend. Inbound Marketing provides a good opportunity for the company to interact with customers who are approaching them and are interested in knowing more bout your brand. So make the best of this opportunity and dwell on this greates discovery to make your marketing funnel more functional.