Inbound marketing is an interesting marketing methodology that is designed to draw potential customers towards a brand or a business. In the digital marketing space, this basically means using a combination of various different marketing channels such as content marketing, search engine optimization, social media, and so on in creative ways in order to attract attention.
When it comes to the aim of a successful inbound marketing campaign, it is always to increase reach and drive quality traffic and conversions by using ‘earned’ and ‘owned’ media.
This phrase was coined back in 2006 by the software provider Hub Spot. According to them, the inbound marketing methodology happens to be one of the best ways to turn strangers into customers of your business.
Difference Between Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing
Now that you have been informed about inbound marketing, you must also try to understand what is outbound marketing. As the name suggests, it is exactly the opposite of inbound marketing. It focuses on pushing a business’s offerings outwards in order to generate leads and customers. Thus, the main difference between inbound and outbound marketing is the fact that the prior happens to focus on earning attention while the latter involves buying it.
Owned Media and Earned Media
This uses two types of channels to engage potential customers in creative ways – owned media and earned media. Let’s find out more about them.
What Is Owned Media?
Owned media refers to those channels which a brand or a business has complete control over. For instance, it could be your website, your brand’s social media profiles, landing pages, and so on. In these types of channels, it is you who decides what to publish, how to publish it, and when.
What Is Earned Media?
Earned media refers to the coverage that your brand or business ends up earning as a result of hard work. In the offline world, this can include coverage in newspapers and magazines. Online, this can be anything from coverage on news websites that is gained via digital PR to mentions on social media and conversations in online forums. In this type of channel, you are likely to have very little if at all any control.
Advantages of Inbound Marketing
Effective use of the strategies can help you provide many benefits and strategies. You can potentially reach out to the right audiences in all the right places. It is all about giving your potential customers all the information that is needed for them to become your customer in a creative and engaging way.
You can present your brand as a useful and reliable resource by using inbound marketing. Which will then make your potential customers purchase from you when the need arises. Also, a huge bonus point is that you will reduce the reliance on one marketing channel alone when it comes to inbound marketing. This will help you diversify your risks associated with marketing and give you substantial returns if you put in the work.
This brings us to the end of our discussion on inbound marketing. Now, let us know what are some of your personal thoughts on the same.
