Book Review: Inbound Marketing

I’ve just finished reading Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media), and wanted to pass it along to my readers as a pretty good starting place for those new to marketing services and products on the web.

Inbound Marketing is a good primer on the basic foundation of an online presence. The phrase “inbound marketing” hits me well because I hate selling, and so do most people. If you’re like me and hardcore sales isn’t your thing, you’ll especially identify with the basic premise here – do what it takes to get found in ways that people are finding goods and services today.

The rules have certainly changed as far as how we market. When I was young, the yellow pages were your source for all things local. Now it’s Google and a variety of other tools. And as for getting the word out about a business or product, it used to be advertising or sales. Now, it’s just being found. I recently wrote about how if you’re not on Twitter, you may not exist. I didn’t mean that literally or universally. I simply meant that the economy of things is changing. Being found is the future.

This book does two things well. It provides great basic principles to shape our thoughts about marketing. And it also provides some very practical and doable things. Within a week, much of this book’s suggestions can be integrated into your current strategy.

I will say that the book won’t provide a lot of new insights for those of you who are already super web savvy, but I don’t think that’s the intended audience. There are three ways I can see this book being quite helpful.

1. For companies who want a basic introduction to marketing on the web.
2. For consultants who wish to convince potential clients of the value of web marketing.
3. As a framework for advising clients on the basic building blogs of inbound marketing.

Disclosure: I bought this book (the Kindle version) with my own money to read and review. The links above are affiliate links.