Inbound Marketing And The Mall Food Court

Imagine walking through the mall constantly surrounded by representatives from every food court vendor trying to explain to you why you should buy your lunch from them.  This would be convenient if they all offer samples, but they don’t.  It eventually gets so annoying that you leave and eat lunch on the way home.

Now imagine walking through the mall and, after buying a sweet pair of baby blue Dunks, you feel hungry and head to the food court.  You start to crave a dish of Chinese food, one of those sauce-laden chicken deals that bloats your stomach just by breathing in the calories.  Entering the food court, you see “China Wok” in big letters, and know that you have found your destination.

These two scenarios depict (with obvious weaknesses) the difference between inbound and outbound marketing.  Outbound marketing is what people typically think of when they picture marketing: advertisements, cold calls, etc.  Constantly being barraged by marketers vying for your attention in this manner is numbing and increasingly ineffective.  Picture the vendors following you around the mall.  The first one to approach may be enticing, if only because he was the first, but after that it becomes annoying.

In contrast, inbound marketing is like the second scenario.  You know what consumers are searching for, and you provide the best and most applicable information for them, thus leading them to you.  Bloggers can do this easily by blogging on topics of interest and by SEO.

When planning how to marketing your internet venture, be sure to optimize your site in terms of inbound marketing.  While outbound marketing may be a viable asset, proper inbound marketing just as effectively recruits customers, and does so without annoying them on their mall shopping trip.