Inbound Marketing is Fun Or It Just Doesn’t Work
Posted by Julia Stewart on Fri, Sep 03, 2010 @ 01:45 PM
As a coach, my first introduction to inbound marketing was over ten years ago when I began following the work of the creative genius, Thomas J. Leonard, who’s credited with founding the still-booming Coaching profession, as well as inventing the Virtual Assistant profession (Think: Tim Ferriss’ Virtual Assistants in India).
Thomas made millions using content marketing before the social web made it easy to do. He just created his own tools, as needed. His written works often carried ‘shareware’ licenses, long before Creative Commons was founded, and he was essentially blogging before blogging software was even invented. He also created and led online communities before social networks existed.
I studied directly with Thomas, so I had a head start and an amazing role model for this radical approach to marketing. He called it Attraction Marketing. Sharing great content attracted the right people to him, versus him having to promote his work. Now it’s called inbound vs. outbound marketing. Same stuff, new tools.
Moving from promotion to attraction as a strategy requires new thinking for most folks, so I’m going to draw on one of Thomas’ Principles of Attraction (not Law of Attraction). The attraction principles are less about how-to do inbound marketing, than why-to. Make the underlying shifts and inbound marketing will get much easier and more fun.
The most fundamental principle to get is this: Add value just for the joy of it. When you add value because you enjoy it, people are naturally attracted to you.
When you add value just to get something (i.e. an email address or a sale), people sense it and they’re that much less attracted to you and your business. But if you freely share content that they value and if it’s remarkable enough, they will love it and tell all their friends! Now your offering is not only viral (spreading itself via social contagion), it’s creating a fan base for you. Fans buy stuff.
This is what D. M. Scott, author of World Wide Rave, means when he says an ebook, video or podcast is more likely to go viral if you don’t ask for an email address before you share it. People enjoy sharing value with no strings attached, but you need to start the momentum by sharing it in the same spirit. When Seth Godin writes about the difference between a freebie and a gift, he’s looking deeper into the same subject.
Thomas famously had a ball making two million dollars in 2002 with a staff of just two, by freely sharing enough content to keep even a cheapskate busy for life. Sadly, though, he passed away in early 2003. If you’d like a peek at what he was up to from 1995 to 2003, visit the WayBackMachine and type in ThomasLeonard.com. And don’t forget to have fun!
What parts of your marketing strategy are fun and beneficial?
About the author: Julia Stewart is a coach, coach trainer, and seminar leader, who uses her creativity and humor to expand people’s thinking and inspire them to work brilliantly.
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Photo credit: haskins