27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

The book I read was “Inbound Marketing” by Brian Halligan. The overall theme of the book is the old way of marketing using outbound media (print media, tv, radio) is dying. In the future, a more effective way is the use of inbound marketing which at its core is leveraging the internet to help consumers find you. Since people are more inclined to find what they need through an online search, make sure that you are using all tools available to help your market to find you and sales will come.

In my opinion, this book directly connects to what we are learning in ENT3003. One of the most important themes in class is the ability to solve problems. Since traditional marketing is not yielding the results it has in the past, this is now a problem every entrepreneur needs to solve. Getting the message out about your product or service is no longer the key to successful marketing. Helping consumers find your company quickly and easily is now the issue. Moreover, providing help to that consumer is even more important because your company now has value.

If I had to design an exercise for this class, I would have the students build a landing page using free website builders like Wix for lead generation. This activity would give students practical hands on experience with doing something that every marketer will have to do. Landing pages are design to promote a call to action and increase conversion rates that will lead to greater sales. Data collection is the holy grail for any online business.

My “aha” moment came when I realized that the type of marketing the author was speaking about required for other websites to market my company. In other words, with traditional marketing, the guy with the biggest bullhorn wins. With inbound marketing, what others say about you is the way to market. Linking to other websites and blogs and using social media skillfully leads to more page views, which leads to a higher conversion rate, which leads to a more sales. In a way, you are not responsible for your success, but others are. That idea is more than a little unconventional.