Inbound marketing

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Inbound marketing and its opposite outbound marketing have various meanings depending on the context.

• One pair of definitions^[1][2][3][4] are:
  • Inbound marketing is a style of marketing that focuses on getting found by customers. This sense is related to relationship marketing and Seth Godin's idea of permission marketing. David Meerman Scott recommends that marketers "publish their way in" (via blogs etc.) in contrast to outbound marketing where they used to have to "buy their way in" (via paid advertisements). Next best action marketing can also be applied.
  • Traditional marketing (outbound marketing) is where companies focus on finding customers by advertising. This sense is related to intrusion marketing and Godin's term interruption marketing.
• An older pair of definitions^[5] are:
  • Inbound marketing is market research. In this sense, pieces of information about customer needs, not customers themselves, flow into the company. Knowledge of customer needs drives future product capability. This sense is related to the term product management. Peter Drucker believed^[6] this to be the quintessence of marketing.
  • Outbound marketing is marketing communications. In this sense, information about finished product capability flows out to prospective customers who have a need for it. This sense is related to the term product marketing.

See also

• HubSpot
• Internet marketing
• Soprano Design

Notes

1. ↑ Burnes, Rick (18 November 2008). "Inbound Marketing & the Next Phase of Marketing on the Web". http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4416/Inbound-Marketing-the-Next-Phase-of-Marketing-on-the-Web.aspx. Retrieved 22 April,2009. "Inbound Marketing is marketing focused on getting found by customers." 
2. ↑ "Inbound Marketing Summit". http://inboundmarketingsummit.com/. Retrieved 22 April 2009. 
3. ↑ Vittal, Suresh; Anderson, Elana; Joseph, Jennifer (January 9, 2007). "How Technology Enables Inbound Marketing: Evaluate Interaction Management To Optimize Real-Time Recommendations". http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,40760,00.html. Retrieved May 7,2009. 
4. ↑ Halligan, Brian; Shah, Dharmesh (2009). Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs. John Wiley & Sons Inc. Template:Citation/identifier. "Scheduled for publication in October 2009" 
5. ↑ McNamara, Carter. "Marketing - A Commonly Misunderstood Term". http://managementhelp.org/mrktng/mrktng.htm. Retrieved 2009,April 19. 
6. ↑ Drucker, Peter F. (1974). Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. New York, NY: Harper & Row. p. 64-65. Template:Citation/identifier. "There will always, one can assume, be need for some selling. But the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy. All that should be needed then is to make the product or service available..." 

External links

• InboundMarketing.com: a community website for marketers where marketers can learn, share knowledge and build relationships. (Uses 'inbound' in the sense of getting found by customers.)