In my opinion, inbound marketing is great for lean startup. Even for those not adept with social media or blogging, it is fairly easy to setup a Facebook and Twitter account and there are plenty of articles and tutorials on how to effectively use these kinds of tools for marketing purposes. Of course, things like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) likely require a hired consultant and will present a decent upfront cost. Maintaining a social media presence and blogging however should not require much more than a part-time college student. It blows my mind to see companies paying upwards of $75,000 a year to hire someone to manage social media.
Some mature companies can scale back on outbound and rely more on inbound marketing, but that is due mostly in part to their reputation. Apple is a good example. While they still spend a considerable amount on outbound marketing, Apple has the benefit of an army of unpaid sales staff who dedicate their free times to blogging about Apple's products. Without Apple's reputation however, I would bet they focused more on an outbound strategy.
One issue I see with inbound marketing is the reliance on people actually looking for your product. The absence of outbound marketing significantly reduces the market size because one can no longer reach those not specifically looking for their product. Losing this customer base results in a loss of impulse purchases that occur due to a successful outbound campaign.
I see that we agreed that a fringe benefit to outbound marketing is generating that "critical" mass of social awareness in your product that active seekers alone can not provide. How would I even know that I need something if it is not thrown out into the great expanse of media?
ReplyDeleteI disagree that a social media management can just be outsourced to a college kid on a part time basis though. Maybe smaller ones but larger companies have entire PR departments that scrutinize every syllable that goes out the door or is published about the company, I doubt that something as visible as social media would be handed over to someone who lacks true professional communication experience.