Never pitch again

How do you generate new business? Or find a job? Or get ink in mainstream media?

Do you cold call? Do you send email pitches? Do you hang out in your tradeshow booth and approach passersby? Do you go to networking events and hand out business cards?

Each of these methods for generating attention requires you to approach others -- potential new customers or employers or journalists -- to tell them about what you do in the hope that they might be interested.

These classic outbound marketing techniques are all we really had prior to the ability to become brand journalists by creating valuable information on the Web. Yet many people operate as if we are still in 1993 and the only options available are outbound strategies.

Inbound Marketing

Many organizations are finding tremendous success by planting hundreds or even thousands of new business seeds in the form or blog posts, ebooks, infographics, videos, photos, how-to guides, research reports, Twitter feeds, and other forms of Web content.

In a technique called Inbound Marketing, each of these marketing assets gets indexed by Google, Bing, and the other search engines so when people enter search terms related to your business, they find you via your valuable information. When people find something interesting you created, they may share it on their social profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, and the like.

Here are some real-world examples of Inbound Marketing in action in healthcare, from a rock star, in finding a first job, in retail products, for PR agencies, in politics, and for B2B products. You can acheive similar results.

INBOUND 2012

I'll be delivering a keynote at INBOUND 2012, a 3-day inbound marketing conference and training event produced by HubSpot.

More than 2,000 inbound marketers, entrepreneurs and executives are expected in Boston August 27-30 and the agenda includes keynotes, breakout sessions, parties, learning, and fun. I'm speaking the first day but will be at the event the entire time.

HubSpot has kindly offered readers of this blog a 25% discount on tickets to INBOUND 2012. Use the code DMS25. This link has the discount code already applied.

Disclosures: I am Marketer in Residence and on the advisory board at HubSpot. I wrote the foreword to the book Inbound Marketing, by HubSpot co-founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, which is part of my New Rules of Social Media book series.

Comments

[UMESH SAMANI]

It is so amazing different views depending on who you talk to..but I guess ALL work inbound or outbound it’s trying to find the one that works smarter than harder. I also think the inbound will probably work better as the prospective client is actively looking for the information/service/product so are ready to buy/use m whereas outbound is hit & miss all depending if people/person is looking at that precise moment to buy or use your service- if not then its failed to achieve results or maybe they might put you on their shopping list when they are ready.

[Rj_c]

I could have not said it better most people operate as if they where in 1993. Even with inbound marketing they want to control it.

The most common mistake I see is how people expect people to search on google for their business based on Keywords etc. A good example is if you sell widgets in New York people want to pop first if they write widgets New York City. But the key is popping up when people write something relevant like Where can I find Widgets in New York City etc.

I think conferences like these are critical so people can get a better understanding on how the full eco-system works!

[David Meerman Scott]

Umesh and Rj_c - Yes, the big difference is with inbound, people are looking for what you have to offer.

[Louis Gudema]

Well said, David. And if someone contacts you, the odds of closing a deal with them are far higher than if you're the one who initiates the contact.

Louis Gudema
VP of Business Development
Overdrive Interactive

[David Meerman Scott]

Louis -- That's exactly right. The math is much different with Inbound vs. Outbound.

[Signalintegrity]

Hi David, Thanks!

I sometimes wonder if in a hundred years people will look back on outbound marketing as a brief anomaly of the TV-industrial complex.

Originally "market" was a noun: a physical place and time where willing buyers came (inbound) to meet willing seller. Farmers didn't knock on your door during a family sing-song around the piano to sell you carrots. No, you sought them out. TV turned "market" from a noun to a verb meaning "to interrupt you while watching Seinfeld to tell you about the latest Toyota whether you are thinking about buying a car or not."

The internet equivalent of the old farmers' market is Google (or Bing) search. Search is the moment someone is looking to fulfill a need or want. They are giving you permission to help them. That why inbound beats outbound: it gets back to "market" the noun. And that's why Google has a market cap of $184bn.

(End of pontification :-) )

-- Colin

[David Meerman Scott]

Colin -- I totally agree with this and have been writing about it for years. Back when the USA had three networks, an advertiser could reach most people in the country just by hitting those channels. Not any more! Even top rated shows like American Idol only reach a tiny fraction of the population.

[Jordan J. Caron]

I''m fully on board with this. More businesses and individuals should be focused on opening rather then closing.

[Josie Muehlhausen]

I would like to reach out for a sponsor enabling me to attend this conference.

I am a young business woman with a new company, Keep Customer, we specialize in Word of Mouth Marketing and PR.

This would be a great learning and networking opportunity for me. Please, if you have the resources, sponsor my trip!

Thank you,
Josie Muehlhausen

e-mail me at Josie@KeepCustomer.com
or Call me for an interview, 541-490-8199

[James Thomas]

How much are tickets going for?

[David Meerman Scott]

Jordan - yes. "Open" is putting yourself out there.

Josie - Hope to see you there.

James - Just go to the INBOUND 2012 site (here is a link).
http://inbound2012.eventbrite.com/?discount=DMS25

[Shawnccpr]

Despite engaging in inbound marketing for years, our company recently hired an old school sales VP. Shortly thereafter the cold calls started--arrgghhh.

Amazing how the old rules still permeate whatever industry we happen to be in:)

[David Meerman Scott]

Shawn, Yes. There are traditional executives who still get hired. For some reason, sales VPs are among the slowest to adapt. They tend to stick with the playbook that worked for them in the past even of the tools have changed.