By Suzana Build Your Brand With Inbound Marketing and Promotional Gifts
In order for a person to understand how best to market their company, they must have a good handle on the difference between inbound marketing and outbound marketing. In general, the difference can be summed up by begging (outbound) vs. relationship-building (inbound). Most of the marketing techniques that have permeated the industry for decades, such as cold calling, trade show crawling and more fit into the outbound marketing category. The fact is, however, many people believe that it may be wiser to utilize inbound marketing techniques, as they tend to support the business longer than outbound techniques do.
The basic tenant of inbound marketing is that people find you, rather than you finding them. This may sound rather difficult to pull off, and it can indeed be. However, it builds a much more trustworthy relationship between client and business than radio and print ads do. Letting people find you instead of begging them to support you gives you the upper hand, and can be great for business.
In order for people to learn about and discover your business, you need to provide the adequate breeding grounds. These days, this translates to setting up the best online presence you’re capable of. Since most people get their information from the internet and websites like Facebook and Twitter, it’s important that your online presence is multidimensional. Blog posts, Facebook/Twitter accounts, a robust website; the possibilities are endless, and you can rest assured that, if you build it, they will come.
So much about inbound marketing is keeping people interested in your business. This is why it’s crucial to not only have a strong online presence, but one that is constantly in flux. People want to read news updates every few days, and they even want to be entertained. Some of the most savvy businesses have taken to Facebook in order to hold daily contests in which their “friends” need to post the correct answer to a question. Thinking about this methodically, holding a contest will make people interested in winning, and they can only win if they go to your page, which they will have to do every day in order to finally win that prize. It soon becomes obvious how useful this resource truly is.
So don’t get stuck in the past making cold calls. Inbound marketing is the wave of the future, and is a much more client-centric approach to advertising.
Back it all up with top quality incentives to follow you or ‘like’ your company Facebook page and your business will grow. Good inexpensive incentives are useful promotional products such as promotional pens, logo printed mugs, promotional mouse mats and other promotional desktop items.
