Sharing is Caring
What I love about the digital marketing industry is that it is full of people ready to help, advise, answer questions and generally fix people's problems. There are forums everywhere where experts in their field share their information and experiences with others for free, that’s right FOR FREE!
In no other industry have I experienced such an undercurrent of generous knowledge giving and openness. It’s not one-upmanship or competitiveness, far from it, just a want to give free help and advice and the satisfaction of solving someone else's problem.
I believe that this is the reason why the digital age is the most progressive.
The concept of ‘helping to solve people's’ problems with no apparent benefit to oneself’ is the basic ethos behind ‘Inbound Marketing’. The wonderful thing is that this ‘inbound’ approach can be utilised by any industry not just the tech companies. This graph shows that it doesn’t matter who your customers are, inbound is the most effective method of reaching them.
Helping instead of marketing has become the new way to sell, because it doesn’t feel like you’re selling anything and nobody likes to be sold to. This is how digital marketing is evolving, look at inbound.
Inbound works for every company type
We are lucky to live in an age where people help one another. Don’t get me wrong there will always be people “looking out for number 1” but the majority of us are happy to give someone a lift up and save them in their hour of need.
So why in an age where helping is the new way to sell are sales departments still using the same tired old methods. Sales and marketing departments still pitch to customers who barely know them, regardless of whether their product/service is even needed or wanted. They spend time and finance broadcasting their sales message to as many people as possible, in the hope that someone will buy something.
It’s time to think differently about sales and marketing.
Consumers buy differently. They are far more research led than ever before and more savvy in their buying decisions. Knowing this and reaching out to help these potential customers is the way to sell in the digital age.
“By creating content specifically designed to appeal to your dream customers, inbound attracts qualified prospects to your business and keeps them coming back for more.”
By HubSpot (the leading company in automated marketing and inbound)
How do your define this generation of helpers?
I came across an interesting blog recently by Philip Bump about when each generation begins and ends. He talks about the titles/labels given to each generation. You’ll probably recognise the first three.
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“Greatest Generation” named by Tom Brokaw– Those that sacrificed, fought and died in WWII for our freedom
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“Baby Boomers” named by the Census Bureau- From 1946 to 1964 when WWII ended and there was a post war increase to the standard of living and a rise of the nuclear family.
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‘Generation X” novelly named by the Harvard Centre- From 1965 to 1984
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“Generation Y” named by the Harvard Centre and from the mid 1970’s to 2000
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The “Millennials’” named by Strauss and Howe from the beginning of the new millennium where we saw technological advancement, especially the progression of social networks.
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??? From 2004 to 2015 is not yet labelled!
He notes that the latest generation from 2004-2015 has no name? So before the media label it for us, send your answers on a postcard please!
What would YOU label this generation? Are we the “Heroes of The Digital Age.”?
Submit your comments below and we’ll choose the top ten and will post them in a future blog (please no “Generation Z” suggestions everyone I’m sure you can be more creative than that!). And…stop selling and start helping!
By helping people solve their problems/ Inbound Marketing can increase your companies brand awareness, website traffic and sales.
“Sharing is caring and inbound is about creating and sharing content with the world.”
HubSpot
Inbound is 3x as popular as outbound worldwide
In the spirit of sharing, download this checklist which will help you create your 1st inbound campaign.
Ensure you don't miss a thing.
Attracting New Customers With Inbound can help your business grow.
What we love about inbound is that we get to help people by sharing our knowledge and expertise with them. Job satisfaction is high in the inbound marketing industry which is probably why it's such a growing field.
Whether we're helping a start up company, a business that's struggling and needing help, or an organisation that's o.k but has the ambition to grow. For further info' on inbound read our blog "Attracting new customers with Inbound marketing").
PHOTO CREDIT: Helping Each Other, and old fashioned postcard.
