Business

Daily Buzz: The Subtle Power of Inbound Marketing

Why organizations should move away from standard promotional strategies. Also: Become more efficient with digital automation tools.

When it comes to marketing, an in-your-face approach is a common one—think loud TV commercials or emails aggressively pushing a product. But these mass marketing techniques are no longer effective, argues Mahnoor Sheikh on the Sprout Social blog.

“Customers now decide for themselves what to buy, who to buy from, and whether they want to be advertised to or not,” Sheikh says. “And this is exactly why brands are embracing inbound marketing.”

Inbound marketing focuses on drawing in potential customers and visitors rather than interrupting them with promotions. Instead of shoving a product in your customers’ faces, you create valuable content that answers their questions and solves their problems, Sheikh explains.

Why should your organization adopt this strategy? For one, it creates trust and credibility. “When you empower customers to do their own research and find you organically, you come across as more trustworthy than a billboard screaming, ‘Buy this now!’” Sheikh says.

The key with inbound marketing is to create content, such as blog posts, videos, case studies, e-books, guides, and infographics, that addresses the pain points of your audience. “Creating insightful content and promoting it on the right channels is the most effective way to attract potential leads,” Sheikh says.

Save Time With Automation

If your digital responsibilities are taking up too much time, think about where you can automate your tasks, suggests a recent post on the Fonteva blog.

“When it comes to technology in the workplace, outdated systems are making administrative tasks extra time-consuming,” the Fonteva team says. “Luckily, the right technology can put your laborious tasks on autopilot.”

For example, digital communications can be automated to save time and energy. With automation, emails can be scheduled to send to a desired list at a designated time so you don’t need a full team to send out newsletters and promotions.

Other Links of Note

Looking for an event conversation starter? Use attendees to create a human spectrogram map, suggests Adrian Segar of Conferences That Work.

For event planners, there are many digital experiences you can offer to keep attendees engaged. The Event Planners Talk blog rounds up ideas from around the industry.

Overthinking things at work? Robert Rose of The Content Advisory explains how to stop ruminating over the decisions you need to make.

(VLADGRIN/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Michael Hickey

By Michael Hickey

Michael Hickey is a contributor to Associations Now. MORE

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