Seybold Scientific’s Marketing Recession Guide 

It’s official. We are in a recession. Not that you needed confirmation from the government to tell you that especially as a business owner. But now that a recession has been officially declared – What is your company suppose to do to take advantage of the current business climate? Two words: Inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing is marketing focused on getting found by customers.

Companies have been using traditional or outbound marketing since the dawn of advertising to find customers. They have used techniques such as cold calling, print advertising, television ads, junk mail, spam and trade shows to get their message in front of the right person.

However, technology has helped make these techniques less effective, less successful, and ultimately more expensive. Caller ID blocks cold calls and telemarketers, digital video recorders make television advertising less effective, spam filters block mass emails, and tools like RSS are making print and display advertising less successful.

Of course, it is still possible to get a message out through these channels, but it takes more time and effort. Did I mention it also costs more money? And in today’s landscape spending more is not an option.

Today’s competitive environment demands that enterprises leverage each customer interaction for maximum benefit.

Instead of interrupting people with television ads, people and companies create videos that potential customers want to see. Does YouTube sound familiar? Instead of buying display ads in print publications, people create their own blog that people subscribe to and read on a daily basis. Instead of cold calling, companies create useful content and tools so that people call them looking for more information.

Inbound marketing is where you help yourself get found by people already learning about and shopping in your industry.  Your website needs to attract visitors naturally through the search engines, the blogosphere, and the social media sites.  In order to do this, you need to set up your website so it is smoking hot. It needs to be the place people bookmark. The site people subscribe to; the domain that gets top of mind awareness.

The game has changed. Are you ready to play ball?

Your potential customers are no longer driving to the mall to spend their hard-earned money. They are gathering online to find what they need. You are trying to sell a pay phone to a cell phone nation. They have all migrated to a new solution. Are you ready to sell to the new consumer?

With the inbound marketing tools that have become available over the past few years, the scale of any business can be unlimited. If you have a great product and the skills to communicate with your customers, you can compete with the biggest advertising budgets.

Pretty exciting, and for small businesses it is empowering.

To learn more about inbound marketing and how it can help your business in 2009, give Seybold Scientific a call at 208.639.0781.

About Seybold Scientific
Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, Seybold Scientific is a Google certified online marketing company offering a range of services from search engine optimization, paid search marketing, website development and social media strategy. Seybold Scientific is a rapidly growing company enabling organizations to get found online through the innovative use of technology.
http://www.seyboldinc.com