Inbound Marketing: It Takes Time or Money
Inbound marketing is hard. But, it's not hard because you need to be
a genius to understand it (come on, it's not rocket science). The
concepts are pretty clear - create remarkable content, optimize it for
the search engines, promote it to your audience, and create
opportunities for conversions with compelling offers, then analyze and
repeat. It's hard because it takes time, energy and creativity.
The
number one complaint I hear from marketers is, "I don't have time to do
it." My response - "well, I guess your company just doesn't need any
more leads then." That usually gets their attention, but they still say
they don't have time. So what are these marketers doing? They're
attending trade shows, planning events, writing press releases, and
buying ad space - activities that aren't helping their bottom line.
Marketing has often been thought of as an expense for most companies,
when in reality, it should be a revenue generating department.
So, my advice to
marketers who say they don't have time for inbound marketing -
outsource. Gone are the days when a marketer can work for a company who
creates a product they know nothing about. Marketers need to be content
creation factories. You know what I'm talking about...you've seen those
marketers who work for silicon chip manufacturers or engineering firms
or biotech companies who have no idea what their company actually does.
How can they be thought leaders? How can they create remarkable content?
The
answer is, they can't. So they should find others who can and then
start learning. Learn by reading blogs, marketing books, attending
webinars, downloading whitepapers and articles. Become an inbound
marketing expert because your job and your company depend on it.
