Is Outbound Marketing Going the Way of the Dial-Up Modem?

When I was younger, I used to wonder if anyone ever purchased anything from those obnoxious telemarketers who always seemed to call in the middle of dinner. Would some poor man suddenly realize that he had been waiting years for someone to call him up and offer him a great deal on vinyl siding? And how about those teenagers who came to my door selling fancy sets of knives at exorbitant prices? Fact is, these simply are not very effective marketing methods. Telemarketers and door-to-door salesmen only continue to exist because they contribute just a bit more to their firm's profit than their near-minimum wage salaries detract.

Of course, outbound marketing is still necessary for most businesses. Print ads, television ads, billboards, PPC campaigns are all examples outbound marketing, and we still see these things every day. Actually, we see A LOT of them, and therein lies the problem. It is simply too easy to tune them out. Is your favorite radio station playing a commercial? Just turn the dial. Or, better yet, subscribe to satellite radio, which does not air advertisements at all!

The high costs of outbound marketing prove another detriment. To purchase a 30-second spot during Super Bowl XLV (2011, for those not following the Roman numeral system), you'd have to shell out almost $3 million! Will you be able to recoup that huge sum via increased sales? Possibly, but there is no way to be certain. I, for one, do not like those odds. This is obviously an extreme example, but outbound marketing efforts almost always come with a hefty price tag.

All of this leads us to a discussion of a (somewhat) radical, new idea referred to as inbound marketing, which will serve as the subject of my next post.

The Benefits of a Web Presence, Even for the Smallest Businesses

Last weekend, my friend and I decided to order some take-out after a busy day. We faced the invariably contentious decision of where to order from - Chinese or Mexican? Pizza or burgers? Craving carbohydrates, we decided to go with Italian. Searching Google for "Italian food in [location]" brought several dozen results on Google. When the first result brought us to an informative, professional-looking site, we were sold.

Even for a small-town, mom-and-pop operation, having a strong web/social media presence is crucial. Those of my generation, who are used to doing anything and everything online, will greatly appreciate being able to find your business quickly and easily. Having a poorly designed or outdated website (or even worse, NO website) will only serve to drive people to more web-savvy competition.

Take Burgerittoville, a novelty fast food place in my hometown. Although their website is a bit barebones, it does convey most of the essential information customers will be looking for: Menu, contact info, directions, special deals, and a link to their Facebook fan page. One mysterious omission, though, is hours of operation. Another weak point is the fact that Burgerittoville's Facebook page has not been updated since November '10 (how much business do you think that is generating for them NOW?).

Small businesses would be wise to hire part-time employees or interns to maintain their website and associated social media accounts. A website should not be "one and done" deal. It needs to be constantly revised and updated to include the most relevant information. This is especially true in regard to social media. Facebook and Twitter pages need to be updated at least several times a week in order to garner significant results. At the same time, students and those new to the marketing arena will receive invaluable hands-on experience.

A Word on Filter Bubbles

A few weeks ago, I listened to this TED talk on filter bubbles, given by Eli Pariser (I highly recommend it!). In short, Pariser discusses how Google shows different search results to different people, based on myriad factors including location, age, gender, browsing history, etc.

While I appreciate what Google is doing with local search (I really don't want to search for pizzeria and come up with results in Arizona), I find it a tad frightening that there is no standard version of Google search. Before listening to Pariser's talk, I always assumed that if I was logged out of my Google account, I would see a "standard" set of results, and that those same results would displayed to any user who was similarly not logged in. But alas, this is not the case. Even while searching "anonymously," Google will still consider your location, your operating system, and your browser choice, among other identifying characteristics.

My advice to Google: Offer more options in terms of tweaking the search results that an individual user sees. Users most likely don't always wish to search locally, or to see only results that were popular with others of a similar age or ethnicity. It is critically important that people see certain information, even if their demographic data and browsing history indicate they might disagree with it. Progress cannot be made if Google spoonfeeds to us only content we find agreeable. Let's pop the bubble!