I’ve officially jumped on the Inbound Marketing bandwagon, and I hope you do, too. Inbound marketing is a way to enable your target audience to find you at the right time — precisely when they are seeking knowledge and information. You’re pulling them in gently, and they are allowing it to happen. In a push, you are broadly sending your message out, hoping against hope that someone takes notice. And the less they notice, the more you push. Because you want to sell them something. And they know it. No one wants to be sold to. However, when we are ready, we appreciate having the information and resources at hand to enable a smart buying decision. Inbound marketing transforms the marketing engagement from interruption-based to permission-based.

I don’t believe it replaces the outbound process, especially for aerospace marketing, but I do believe we need a better balance. In general, interrupting people who have no interest what you want to tell them does not make a lot of sense beyond perhaps planting a seed for the future. But, what if you create compelling content and become a hub of valuable information for your potential customers? What if you optimize your website to improve the ranking in search engines, so it’s easy for prospects to find you? And what if you engage in social media as a force multiplier where others share your content with their networks? Try it and see what happens. By embracing inbound marketing techniques, BDN averages 16 leads a month just from people who visit our website looking for information about aerospace marketing. Inbound marketing is not a panacea. But it’s an important and effective tool that marketers must acknowledge and understand to stay relevant and effective