by 
By Lisa Kirschner
So you’ve dipped your toes in inbound marketing in the past and never really saw much return on your investment. Maybe you decided to create a lot of content yourself or perhaps you paid an entire team of writers to crank out content, but it just never took off. You finally walked away, shaking your head at your naiveté and vowing to never get duped into inbound marketing again.
But then a funny thing happened. You learned about another supposedly “hot” tactic or approach and tried that too…with no better results. Or even worse, you found that you could only get good results with online marketing when you paid for it with an expensive paid search budget—which brought in loads of traffic and even some opt-ins, but those leads never converted into paying customers. So what gives, you ask? Does your content suck? Are you using the wrong marketing tactics? Should you fire your team members? There’s a really easy answer.
Nobody wants what you’re selling. Or rather, nobody wants to buy from you because of the WAY that you’re selling your products or services.
You might have the best widgets in the world or you might be able to offer the highest-quality services to your customers, but don’t spend all of your time and marketing dollars describing YOUR product or service. How does that solve THEIR current problem or issue? They don’t want the journey that you’re selling them; they want to get to the destination.
If you’re spending all of your time focusing on “me, me, me” and touting the features and specifications of your product or the qualifications of your team members, you’re essentially a street peddler standing at the corner of a busy intersection with a megaphone, trying in vain to capture someone’s (anyone’s) attention.
Now, let’s flip a switch…imagine that you’ve heard that there’s a place in the neighborhood where lots of people gather on their lunchbreak to grab a quick bite to eat. Maybe it’s a hot summer day and everyone’s wilting in the heat. You, with your newfound love of inbound marketing, decide to go out and offer free samples of your Italian ice to everyone who is walking into the plaza trying to find something quick and easy to eat during their 30-minute lunch break. Maybe some of those folks didn’t even realize they were hot or thirsty and maybe some did, but you’ve met a need that they had and solved their problem. Now who do you think those people are going to buy their lunches from—you or the guy standing two blocks away shouting into a megaphone?
It’s the same way with inbound marketing. You need to make absolutely sure that you understand your target market, as well as their needs, motivations and challenges. Where do they visit (the plaza), what challenges do they face (limited time for lunch and limited offerings), what will make their lives easier (a cool drink or snack on a hot day) and how can you build a relationship with them instead of just being a pushy salesperson (help them, don’t just sell to them)?
Helping others is at the core of inbound marketing. If you’ve been thinking that you can just crank out tons of content with information about your product or service, you’re going about it all wrong. Help others first, and your generosity will be rewarded. You can still include information about what you’re selling, but don’t hit them over the head with it. Remember the “cocktail party” rule: get to know other people 80 percent of the time, then talk about yourself after that. When’s the last time you wanted to spend more time with the obnoxious guy in the middle of the party who’s in everyone’s face talking about himself? My guess is NEVER!
Have you had success with inbound marketing or are you still struggling to make it work? Tell us about it in the comments or schedule a free 15-minute consultation to learn how we can help create a better inbound marketing strategy for you.
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