What marketing and fishing have in common: The inbound approach

Inbound marketing: Is it more than just a buzzword?

Inbound marketing is a strategy focused on building engaging, insightful and educational content to draw your buyers in. In comparison to outbound marketing—a more traditional approach to selling that involves pushing your message in front of buyers with tactics like advertising or cold outreach—inbound marketing pulls your audience in by strategically placing useful resources in places your buyer is known to search for them. 

LET'S GO FISHING… 

Outbound marketing is a lot like spear fishing. The fisherman carefully chooses his target, and when he's ready, he goes in for the kill. It's sudden. It's disruptive. It involves actively pursuing the buyer and getting in front of them with your message.

Inbound marketing is more like pole fishing. Businesses study where their buyers spend time, attach the bait to the line—perhaps a valuable piece of content—and then cast the line for the buyer to find. Once the buyer bites, the line is slowly drawn in with a series of touchpoints. 

An effective marketing strategy will combine inbound and outbound approaches, but organizations are increasingly practicing an inbound approach for several reasons. With inbound marketing, you're not fighting for the attention of your customers. Instead, you're helping them solve their problems and in the process, building credibility and capital for your business. Inbound marketing also employs tactics that are typically more cost and time effective such as blogging, social media and search engine optimization (SEO).