If you own or manage a Philadelphia area business and are looking to increase your web traffic, you may have heard of inbound marketing. Many marketing agencies in Philadelphia have begun to urge their clients to focus on inbound marketing rather than more traditional online advertising in order to improve their web presence, bolster their SEO, and ultimately grab more customers. But not every agency does a good job of explaining what inbound marketing is or how it helps. Inbound marketing is a little counter-intuitive, so let’s look at the basics.

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing is a general term for marketing that invites customers (and potential customers) closer to the company and its brand without directly selling to them. For example, if Coca Cola creates a video series about surfers on its website, that’s inbound marketing. Properly promoted, people will come to watch the video without necessarily thinking about the fact that they’re visiting the Coca Cola website. The video itself doesn’t try to sell soda, it only serves to bring people in—inbound—to Coca Cola’s website. That makes inbound marketing fundamentally different than traditional advertising, which can loosely be called “outbound marketing.”

Why is Inbound Marketing Better than Traditional Advertising?

In outbound marketing, you try to get your message out to consumers wherever they are: on radio, on TV, or with a guy in a polyester suit knocking on their front door. An online example of outbound marketing would be banner ads on a website. Outbound marketing can work, but it’s invasive – and consumers make an effort to avoid it. With inbound marketing, they voluntarily choose to spend time on your branded website, essentially giving you permission to market to them.

How is it Done?

So what do you have to do for inbound marketing? Make valuable content. Valuable content is something people are seeking (even if they aren’t seeking your brand) and that they will want to consume (even if they don’t plan to consume your product). Informational blog posts, viral videos, funny social media posts, how-to videos, and vlogs are all valuable content.

The results can be big and because you’re making the content people want to consume, traffic rises. That’s the big one. Since more people link to you, you may also bolster your SEO through inbound marketing efforts, and your social media base will probably grow. All of these factors combine to lead more web visitors to convert.

Not all marketing agencies in Philadelphia have experience with inbound marketing. Choose one that focuses on inbound and you can see massive growth in your web presence—and sales.