Inbound marketing has been the buzzword (or buzz-phrase) of 2013.
The online marketing practices of successful companies are now entirely customer-centric and focus on presenting information and interesting content at a suitable time and place; that is, not pushing sales oriented material upon customers or bombarding them with self-promotional rubbish that makes your CEO feel good but means nothing to your audience.
Interruptive marketing is out. Content marketing is in.
Original, helpful, search engine optimised content is demonstrative of a new era in marketing set to stay. It's time to rally your marketers and piece together your own integrated marketing plan; remembering the importance of inbound techniques.
I've rounded up my top 5 inbound marketing campaigns of 2013 to get your creative juices flowing. Naturally, I've saved the best 'til last. Here goes...
INCOMING! ...inbound Marketing 2013 Winners:
#5 Email marketing " The Air Force Priority campaign. A Webby award winning mailer aimed at new recruits that was highly targeted and impactful.
#4 Blog - Direct Marketing guru, Drayton Bird, has built an impressive online following primarily down to his witty and informative blog posts. His writing will have you in stitches whilst muttering oops; it seems like such a simple yet successful approach to content
#3 Website - Creative agency, HUGE, developed a cutting edge website for Four Seasons Hotel & Resorts. The site increased bookings by 62% and has since won multiple industry awards for visuals, usability and overall user-experience
#2 Social Media - the award winning, tongue in cheek Hashtag Killer campaign focused on highlighting 'first world' Westernised troubles such as non-heated leather seats or forgetting the maid's last name, in a bid to raise awareness about serious third world issues.
#1 Video - it's deliciously disruptive (to the general public) and it's my favourite example of how viral video content can increase sales; just as this video did for the English National Opera - created by Don't Panic London.
