I take a lot of online seminars and I read about 30 blogs a day. One of the biggest debates I have found in the past few months concerns inbound versus outbound marketing. As someone who worked in traditional public relations during the beginning of the Internet age, I have done both. But before I get into some thoughts I have, let's talk about the difference.
Outbound marketing is what most people know. It's placing ads--online and offline--, events, press releases and anything that reaches out to your potential customers. If you are using inbound marketing correctly, you are drawing customers to you with SEO, social media and content marketing.
My nearly teenage child sometimes calls me "old school" but I think some of the old school ways when it comes to marketing are still viable today. I am a firm believer in the power of a well-crafted press release. Note that is said "well-crafted." To get the attention of the media, you need a press release that they want to publish. Getting it published is imperative so that it can be seen.
As for ads, I am also a fan of advertising with local media. I think your outbound marketing--your website, social media, etc..., is great. But people do still read newspapers, listen to the radio and watch local television stations, particularly those in an older demographic.The key to buying advertising is to set a budget and to spend it with the media outlets that will get you the best results. One of the biggest mistakes I see businesses make is spending advertising dollars without a plan.
Don't limit special events to grand openings, open houses or sales. You can host an online webinar about your business or hold a "Twitter party" where customers can use a hashtag to converse with you.
The possibilities for marketing your business online and offline are endless. Don't limit yourself to just inbound marketing when creating your plan.
