We have been talking a LOT about content and driving traffic for business in the lawn and garden industry, but did you know that this kind of marketing has a name?  It's called, Inbound Marketing and it's the latest trick in Garden Media's bag to help our clients succeed.  What is inbound marketing you ask?  If there is such a thing as inbound marketing, does outbound marketing also exist?  So many questions. 

Today we will focus on the answers, the differences, and how you can use both inbound and outbound to create an awesome public relations campaign. 

Let us start out by defining inbound and outbound marketing.

Inbound Marketing: focuses on creating quality content that will attract site visitors and convert them into leads.  Inbound marketers rely heavily on the quality of content with the goals of getting found online, building trust and credibility with potential customers, and turning leads into customers.  

Outbound Marketing: one-way communication through traditional channels such as print, broadcast, radio and now online.  Outbound marketing working with targeted media to have stories written about your company.

Definitions always provide a stale nugget of knowledge that often is hard to understand, so let us dive deeper into what inbound marketing is using common language.

Inbound marketing is a tactic that relies on earning people’s interest instead of buying it. Content marketing, blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, is the best way to directly attract people to your products and services. Engaging content allows information to be found easily online and encourages interaction. Content means your business has an increase in visibility on search engines, a growing search engine rank, and increase referral traffic back to your website.

Once this valuable content is distributed, it can be supported with social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest are the leading social networking sites today. Repost your information via these channels to increase exposure. Be sure to provide links that drive leads back to your website, which is why you are doing all of this work in the first place!

Just because we are tooting the inbound marketing horn doesn’t mean that we don’t have love for outbound marketing and recognize its importance. However, we admit that there are some issues with traditional marketing.

One big example of outbound marketing is advertising. This one way form of communication is controlled by a company which pushes its product or service on people. But traditional advertising isn’t working as well today. People are tuning out commercials on tv, closing banner ads on mobile devices, and instantly deleting subscription emails. People are ignoring the message and refusing to participate. Plus, simply seeing an ad does not promote interaction or the chance to learn more information. It’s more of a dead end than a one way street.

Outbound marketing also means exposure in newspapers, magazines, television and radio and offers the chance for your business to be seen by millions of potential customers. An article about your company, a quote from an employee, or product endorsement stemming from any of these mediums can lead to new business overnight. Having an expert feature your company’s products or services validate its quality and increases your credibility.

Although both function differently, when used together, they can greatly improve your business’s reach, exposure, and credibility. We know exactly how to do that. We are versed in generating inbound marketing tactics and have the connections to get your business featured by the media. If you’d like to talk to us about driving traffic and increasing credibility, give us a call!