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Why Inbound?

Inbound marketing is simply the way we do business most of the time in this age of Social Media and Google. Let’s start with a little definition. Inbound sales refer to sales and marketing you do where the customers find you and then get in touch in one way or another to learn more about what you and your business do. The end goal is of course to turn these prospects into paying customers – ideally repeat customers.

Inbound sales isn’t a completely new idea. Back in the day it used to be called word of mouth advertising. Before the internet, this left us with a fairly limited reach and slow growth. To grow faster and get more leads into the sales funnel, businesses would rely on outbound marketing like most traditional advertising channels to gain their customers. The internet and content marketing have changed the game. Today inbound marketing is a much better play and frankly a better way to attract customers. No one likes to be cold called and sold to. But we are all on Facebook and Google each day actively searching for information, products, and solutions. The goal with inbound marketing is to make sure you and your business are there when those searches are made.

In other words, instead of spending thousands of dollars in advertising both online and offline, or paying for direct mailers, you’re creating and sharing lots of content in a variety of formats so your future clients can find you.

In the introduction we briefly talked about inbound and outbound phone calls to explain the difference between inbound and outbound sales. Let’s look at that in a little more detail and how it translates into online sales. !Outbound calls are calls where you, the sales person, call a list of numbers, hoping to come across a potential customer. Often you don’t know much about the person you’re calling and you have no way to qualify if they’d make a good prospect before making the call. And of course you have no idea if the person you’re calling is even remotely interested in what you have to offer right now.

Let’s say you work for a car dealership and are making outbound calls to try to sell a new car. You have no idea if the people you’re calling are in the market for a new car right now. That makes finding the right prospect and closing the sale a pretty tough proposition.

An inbound call on the other hand is when the customer calls you. He or she has learned about you through various advertising methods or word of mouth and is calling you when they are ready for what you have to offer. Going back to the car dealership example, this is when a potential customer calls you with questions about a particular car, or wanting to set up a test drive. Here the chances of making a sale are much higher.

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The Takeaway Understand your audience's needs better than anyone else, and play to them in your videos. In addition, don't mistake "longer" for "better" -- if your message can be expressed in just a few seconds, don't drag out the length of your video unnecessarily. 4. Intel: "Meet the Makers" Series Intel's five-part "Meet the Makers" series looks more like the inspirational, uplifting stories you see on the news rather than videos created by a brand. Each video profiles a person around the world who uses Intel products to create amazing experiences and new technology. In this video, for example, a 13-year-old named Shubham Banerjee tells the story of how he used Intel's technology to prototype and build an affordable braille printer to help more people who are blind read. The common denominator? The folks in these videos use technology to help people and make the world a better and more interesting place. By providing viewers with an inspirational look at how technology is changing our experiences, they were able to drum up interest in a way that a traditional, product-centric advertisement couldn't. The Takeaway Think in terms of macro and micro in your video marketing. Evaluate the macro effect that your product or service is having on your industry or the world as a whole, and then hone in on someone's micro experience to deliver a relatable and compelling story.

5. Google Earth: "Homeward Bound" This emotional account of Saroo Brierley's journey to trace back his original roots after a tragic separation from his family is nothing short of powerful. By inserting their product into a story of loss, love, and restoration, Google Earth was successful in positioning its capabilities as life-changing -- but it doesn’t feel too showy. The video makes you feel that Google Earth isn't out to make money, but rather, they're out to build a service to improve the lives of their users. The Takeaway Again, appeal to emotion. While you don't want to abuse this approach, emotion is an incredibly powerful driver that can influence the way people act and respond to your product or service.

6. Stream an Online Sale The Funky Fairy is an online store based in the United Kingdom that sells personalized, embroidered gifts for kids. Owner Vicki Stewart decided to do a sale via Facebook Live to liquidate the personalized items with kids’ names in her overstock inventory. Here’s the process: Plan and Have a Sale The Funky Fairy did three sales over four days. Each was a stand-alone Facebook Live that ran about 20 minutes. The first sale went so well, Vicki did a second (the first and second each had about 7,000 views) and then a third (which got about 10,000 views). During the Live, Vicki chatted as she showed the names and available sale items and people would comment to request the names they wanted. If

customers wanted an item she didn’t have on sale, they were directed to the special order page. The Funky Fairy closed out their overstock by showcasing available items on a Facebook Live sale. To make the most of it, do a sale on Live as a limited-time or limited-inventory sale or series. Whether the reason is summer, weekend, or closeout, always give a credible purpose. Alternatively if you’re a consultant without physical stock and you want to get more of a certain type of client on your roster, offer a limited number of coaching slots for people in that industry. Another option is to limit a sale to only people who are commenting during the Live broadcast. You can then make a different offer available to those who are watching the replay. Engage With Viewers As much as possible, interact and respond to comments while you’re live. If that isn’t an option, be sure to go back to comment after the fact to make sure you responded to everyone and met all the needs of your audience. To avoid being overwhelmed, the best solution is to have a moderator help you out. The moderator doesn’t even need to be with you. Ask a team member to respond to the comments during your Live, and take note of the comments that will need your immediate attention.