‘Tis the season for family gatherings and holiday parties. For those of us in the digital marketing field, it can be a little tricky to discuss our job, especially when it comes to explaining inbound marketing.
Not everyone has a good grasp on technology or the Internet and not everyone understands how it all comes to together when it comes to marketing. I came across some helpful tips on HubSpot to make explaining inbound marketing easier to your friends and family.
Try to compare inbound marketing to less desirable marketing efforts, like interruptive media. For example, start with how telemarketers always call during the most inconvenient times, like during dinner. Telemarketers use a marketing technique that interrupts people in the middle of what they are doing.
Inbound marketing is different. Explain that you are responsible for the content that people are looking for. Whether it is for entertainment or informative purposes. People are using the Internet to look for things and you are the person that gives them the information they want and need. Instead of you having to go after people like telemarketers, people find you through your content.
This is a logical way of explaining inbound marketing. Just make sure that you are using an interruptive media that your friends and family can identify with.
Another way you can go about explaining inbound marketing is by thinking of it like a puzzle. Take the different tools that make up inbound marketing and turn them each into a piece of the puzzle. When you explain all the different pieces and put them together, then your family and friends will see the complete picture of the puzzle, which is inbound marketing in this case.
Start by isolating the different pieces of inbound marketing. Things like blogging, social media, call-to-action buttons, lead capture forms and even analytics. Try to explain each piece and how they benefit customers and your company. It might also come in handy to act out these tools, if you want to be creative when explaining inbound marketing.
If all else fails, you can just simply tell your friends and family that you write articles and content for companies on the Internet. You can go into as much detail as you want, but if you can just try to explain the basics of inbound marketing, your friends and family might catch on easier than you think.
These methods may not give a lot of detail about your job, but they at least give your friends and family an idea about what you do for a living. Explaining inbound marketing doesn’t have to take all night, these tips will give you time to focus on celebrating the holidays instead of the small talk.
Interested in MORE Inbound Marketing?
If you want to learn more about inbound marketing, download the “How to Run an Inbound Marketing Campaign” ebook for FREE!
Lean Digital Systems is a digital lead generation company that specializes in inbound marketing, local business marketing, and website development.
