Is inbound marketing the future of internet marketing?

In my networking and business coaching, business owners tell me that their biggest challenge is getting their message out there. It is a huge cause of anxiety. Many business owners are passionate about what they do well. They're usually highly skilled, but marketing is usually the biggest bugbear.

Basically filling your "sales pipeline" is the essence of keeping your business afloat and buoyant.
A lot of internet marketing experts are talking about inbound vs outbound.

Traditionally most businesses and business owners think about outbound marketing which might include:

leaflet drops
cold calling
advertising
email

These techniques are called outbound because they involve the business initiating the conversation. From a potential customer perspective, the timing is in most cases off. How can you effectively match your communication with the potential customer at the right time?

The answer is in "inbound marketing" where a customer finds you. The growth of google is a testament to this where most people use google to find out info. Another key area of success is in generating trust. Amazon with their recommendation stars and ebay with their seller positive feedback points have contributed massively to their success.

Brian Halligan's post has a great analogy. Rather than hunting around in the jungle, why not set up shop in a watering hole.

So, how do you go about creating a successful inbound marketing campaign using the internet?
Going back to the watering hole analogy, your website or page needs to have something essential that the customer cannot do without. The equivalent of a watering hole in an arid region.

Here's some tips

1. Offer information and advice - for free via blogs, mini pages and social media
2. Have a partner site which already has traffic (use amazon and ebay to your advantage)
3. Participate in feedback and get yourself personally known for your expertise.
4. Repeat regularly and be consistent.


references:
Brian Halligan's post on inbound marketing
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/2989/Inbound-Marketing-vs-Outbound-Marketing.aspx