Inbound Marketing v. Content Marketing: What's The Difference?

Associations have been using marketing techniques to reach members and potential members for centuries (Aside from printing the Bible, Gutenberg likely had orders in to print the guild newsletters). In today's world, the old techniques like direct mail, magazine ads, and promotional email, are having less and less effect on a savvy audience who's learned to tune them out. That's where inbound marketing comes in, and why it's been so heartily embraced by organizations looking for the next big thing.

What is inbound marketing? Well, according to Mashable, it's any marketing technique which focuses on earning people's interest, instead of buying it. Giving someone an early bird discount to your conference is buying their interest as is a member/non-member webinar pricing scheme that leaves one only to choose webinar, essentially trying to bribe a customer into buying something. Inbound marketing is a two-way street, allowing customer interaction and participation. The idea is that you put yourself out there, and customers (whether you want to call this registrants, members or online learners--they're customers) find you because you're helping fulfill a need they have.

Inbound Marketing VS Content Marketing

This is where we get into the "inbound" versus "content" argument. One form of inbound marketing is creating valuable content that people need, and will look for. For example, a professional membership for project management might run a blog with organizational tips & tricks. Potential customers who are having trouble staying organized, keeping on track, or who are looking for advice on career advancement in project management may find the blog and become regular readers. In fact, the goal is to have people rely on you for great content and trust that your content is authentic and there to provide value (not to cover up your next product or event offer). Good content marketing requires organizations to let go and serve value first rather than to expect payment from a customer before the value is received.

That is content marketing, according to Forbes. An organization creates some form of content, whether it's a blog, a vlog, a podcast, infographics, or something else entirely, which has value to potential customers. The goal is to make something customers will like, and which will draw them to your business proposition as a result. Popular content will garner you a great deal of attention, and regularly produced content will keep viewers coming back for more. Best of all, though, is that when you produce content, it positions you as an expert, or at least someone knowledgeable in the field. It also builds a relationship with your readers, and that relationship means that when they have a need to buy, your association is top of mind as a reliable resource.

In summary, there are two big takeaways. First, content marketing benefits associations by re-positioning the organization as a trusted source of information/entertainment and second, because you didn't try to bombard them with more traditional advertising, thus souring their opinion.

So What's The Difference?

But what's the difference between content marketing and inbound marketing? Well, as mentioned above, inbound marketing is the overarching style of marketing, and content marketing is one type of inbound marketing. It may be the most popular, and the most visible, type of inbound marketing (since content creation is a huge part of most business's inbound marketing plans), but it's only one method.

At the end of the day, though, the lines between content and inbound marketing are blurry at best. It can help to put different marketing strategies and theories into different boxes for organizational purposes, but semantics will only go so far. The important thing is that an organization understands that inbound marketing- any form of inbound marketing--is going to provide value to the customer, and that it's going to take some time to build. While it's an effective solution, and one that will deliver results if it's properly invested in, inbound marketing is not something that will lead to a quick influx of traffic and sales. Over a purposeful course of time where a structured program is in place using personas, buyer's journeys and associated content, it will grow and retain an organization's member base.