Digital Marketing – Inbound Marketing
Same… But Different? 

In the world of online marketing, we encounter a lot of jargon. Terms like inbound marketing, SEO, digital marketing, conversion, PPC, call-to-action, outbound, content marketing and so on. One that many find confusing is the difference between digital marketing and inbound marketing. 

On the surface, the two seem similar: Both occur primarily online, and both focus on creating digital content for people to consume. But there is a difference, albeit you undoubtedly use some digital marketing tactics in your inbound marketing strategy. 

The term "digital marketing" doesn't differentiate between push and pull marketing tactics or what is referred to as ‘inbound' and ‘outbound' methods. Both still tend to fall under the umbrella of digital marketing.

 

Digital Marketing 

The term digital marketing is often defined as an across-the-board marketing tactic that’s done on a digital medium. Digital marketing is the use of the internet, mobile devices, social media, search engines, display advertising, website banners, and other channels with the aim to put a marketing message or advertisement directly in front of as many consumers as possible, regardless of whether it’s relevant or welcomed. There is a lot it can be used for, but the term really doesn’t indicate any sort of strategy. It’s more like a toolbox that has all the marketing tools you can utilize to be seen online, acquire more traffic and increase brand awareness. 

 

Inbound Marketing 

Unlike digital marketing, inbound marketing is a clear and prescribed marketing strategy that has definitive steps and best practices. Inbound marketing does use a lot of digital marketing channels, however, it’s a set methodology that works to attract qualified visitors and generate leads. It is a continuing, holistic strategy that embodies a set of specific steps. It’s more of a philosophy that puts customers first and the digital marketing tactics help you to achieve that philosophy. 

 
Brand awareness + Short term goals = Digital Marketing

If your goal is to get your brand out there and get just anyone to visit your website, then a few digital marketing approaches may help. Using digital marketing methods alone only works to solve short term goals like increasing traffic to your website. 

For example, you can run a Facebook Like campaign or place banner ads, but those techniques alone will only produce results that are limited to those actions. A Like campaign will almost surely get more likes and banner ads might get more people to your site but that’s about the extent of it. If you’re wanting to generate leads that convert to legitimate, qualified customers, an inbound marketing approach is a proven way to go.

 

Qualified leads + Long term goals = Inbound Marketing

An Inbound Marketing strategy uses each of the digital marketing tactics and incorporates them into a greater strategy creating results of each tactic. Effective inbound marketing strategies consist of creating useful and interesting content that appeals to qualified leads. Developing landing pages and calls-to-actions that capture the contact information of the people who have shown an interest in what you are offering and deploy email campaigns that are relevant to those specific contacts. 

Ultimately you’ll have created a full strategy that makes each of the digital marketing tactics work hand in hand to create a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. This performs long term to continue to deliver qualified leads and boost your conversion rates over time. 
  
Inbound marketing is like playing the long game. it leads to more solid, consistent results, adding value at every stage of your customers’ buying journey. 

Digital marketing is playing the short game, where you get immediate results, but very often they’re not worth as much in the long term. 

 

Content Creates Trust

Content is an important component of Inbound Marketing. Blogging or writing articles of helpful information discerning their needs and defining a solution even if they aren’t aware they have a problem or a need initially, is a great way to build trust. Informative content that anticipates the prospects’ questions and needs is the best practice to demonstrate that you genuinely care about the consumer. 

A study showed that 78% of purchasers want to build genuine bonds with companies offering customized material, which is content that has been created specifically for the customer that has purchased.  Another report demonstrated 53% of consumers were more willing to buy goods and services if they previously read an article about it on the internet.  Needless to say, this applies to all types of conversions in any industry.

Content Is The Best Approach To Millennials

The main consumer segment will very soon be the millennials which are people born from the 1980s to the early 2000s. One of the standout features of this generation is that they do not trust traditional advertising. They don’t even notice it. Traditional advertising fails to speak the language of generation Y, but blogs or articles do. 

 

But It’s Not Just The Younger Generations 

Many studies have been conducted involving thousands of men and women of all ages which demonstrated that most of them do not even closely trust advertisements alone.

70% of people made the decision to purchase on the advice of a friend or family member or because they saw the blog post about the company on the internet.

55% purchased after reading an article online. In fact, 70% of buyers prefer to learn about the company from articles, not from an advert. 

If we want to appeal to all customers of today, we need to produce engaging content and have it in front of our audience wherever they may be. Fundamentally, the real value of informational content is the fact that it is portable. In other words, being viewed on many different platforms creating an overall presence and exponentially increasing your reach. Creating quality content is a good investment and you will feel the effects of your investment for a long time to come.

New Era, New Attitudes, New Technology

We saw how the internet changed traditional offline marketing back in the 1990s. Now we will witness how Blockchain will transform the digital world in terms of marketing and advertising. The essential objectives of building trust and nurturing relationships will never change, but will Blockchain technology be able to clean up and enhance the industry?  

There are many ways that blockchain can assist marketers and consumers and improve a somewhat chaotic space. It can bring transparency and honesty to the marketing table that has been inundated with a huge amount of spam and bots. 

Greater transparency strengthens trust between brands and customers. One example is since Walmart and IBM collaboratively introduced blockchain, customer confidence increased.  Thanks to blockchain, Walmart’s supply chain became more transparent and customers were able to track the origin of the products.

Copyright Issues Solved With Blockchain

There is a solution to the copyright problem which gives more control tools to creators. Article 11 (link tax) and Article 13 legislation which is designed to stop users from uploading copyrighted content by forcing platforms to build massive filters or face huge lawsuits and fines, seems to be an archaic and inadequate solution and would impede online development and innovation. 

A more appropriate response is needed to protect not only artists and their creations, but also the platforms that enable mass content sharing. Platforms that have shaped the internet and have connected our world more inclusively and comprehensively.

Markethive with its blockchain in development and broader vision gives you your own domain for all your content, videos and images to originate from. When you join Markethive you receive (for free) a CPanel which is a control panel and WordPress system built into your assigned domain, a subdomain of hivesfeed.com. This way you control all your content, without the worry or hassles of government overreach and anti-freedom regulations designed to stifle the small entrepreneur. 

It is a marketers dream and a complete solution. Markethive has integrated the digital marketing tools along with an inbound marketing system and it’s built on the blockchain, giving you privacy, transparency, freedom of speech and the autonomy you need to overcome any obstacles experienced on the internet today and let’s not forget you get paid for using the system while marketing your business. 

Blockchain Gives You The Edge

The internet has become so noisy that it’s not that easy to attract attention. Furthermore, there are so many platforms and choices willing to assist you in your marketing efforts. You need an edge and Blockchain can give you that edge. Companies that have adopted the blockchain technology can offer cryptocurrency in the form of loyalty programs, micropayments, etc which levels the playing field bringing new ways to earn an income. 

 

Is Blockchain Harmful to Marketers? 

The only way blockchain can harm marketers is if they refuse to accept and learn about this new technology and become proficient at it. This is just the beginning. In the early 90s, no one even dreamed of search engines, social media, and smartphones. Today, blockchain takes us to new heights of self-sovereignty as the possibilities of Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency are almost endless.  

 

Conclusion

It is an exciting time in marketing, as marketers start to realize the benefits of blockchain technology. Above is an outline of just some of the ways it will transform the marketing industry. Additionally, there have been numerous studies asserting that blockchain technology is destined to disrupt the fundamental nature of the global economy, including major changes like:
How organizations are funded and managed, how companies create value and how businesses perform basic functions such as marketing, accounting, and incentivizing people. 

 

 

 

 

Deb Williams 

A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

What Is A Market Network? 

Back in 2015, it was exhibited that the next 10 years would be all about Market Networks whereas the last decade was focused on Social Networks. There were a few companies mentioned that were deemed to be market networks and essentially had the key factors of a market network and what it is purported to be. However, since then we have gone next level with blockchain technology. But has any of those market networks actually adopted this new and beneficial technology?

 

So what exactly is a Market Network?

 A market network is a combination of a marketplace and a social network that includes SaaS which helps the individuals in the market network to work with customers and other service providers to build relationships rather than just quick transactions we experience on eBay or Amazon. 

Marketplaces are essentially about selling your product or service even though reviews of goods purchased by the customer are there to guide potential customers’ purchasing decisions. However, marketplaces are predominantly where buyers and sellers meet for one-off transactions. Typically, marketplaces are an accumulation of sellers. 

 

We all know what social networks are. Over the last 15 years, most of us have participated in Facebook or Linked to communicate with people and build relationships for whatever reason. However, commerce is not the core objective of social networks. 

 

SaaS (Software as a Service) are business applications, including email and collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), billing/payroll processing, sales management, human resources management, financial management, database management, enterprise resourcing planning (ERP), content management, and document editing and management.

So what we had was two separate places for your online presence and commerce. A marketplace to sell stuff, and a social network to build relationships. The SaaS doesn’t exist on these platforms, that’s separate and an added expense for business owners and marketers.

But what if you provide a service that is more involved than a simple buy-sell transaction. On top of that, what if you need collaboration with other professionals in your industry to form a team to provide a complete service?

Well, that’s what market networks are all about. In the market network, you are a service provider, but also a person with a profile, with history, reviews, score, etc. You can team up with other people to provide a complex service to a customer and channel the workflow through a SaaS solution.

 

How Does Blockchain Fit Into The Market Network Model? 

To be successful in online branding and operating a business in the ever-expanding internet world, you must maintain your profile in many networks, social and market. It’s difficult to effortlessly scale your reputation from one network to a different one. They are pretty much isolated from each other and they can’t communicate with each other, nor do they really want to because they generally belong to someone. And it so happens that “someone” is never the community that brings value to the platform.  It’s not easy for a centralized market network to diversify among service providing platforms and it takes a lot of effort to build and maintain individual profiles that you can only use in an isolated network. 

What if your online identity always belonged to you, not a service or platform? And also, the reputation of your branding was maintained by the network and that network also belonged to you? In other words, a decentralized reputation that would enable you to plug into any other centralized network. You see, when your reputation is decentralized, the entire digital space becomes your network. 

Blockchain is the ultimate framework or infra-structure tool that gives individuals true ownership of their digital selfhood and reputation. It creates self-sovereignty.  

 

Decentralization In The Marketplace

Decentralization has many features that are beneficial for industries and users around the world. Reduced fees, increased efficiencies, removal of biased agendas and tiers of corruption and greed.

There have been companies like Airbnb and Uber that introduced a new era allowing people to rent out and monetize items. Or eBay and Etsy allowed people to sell products online and Upwork and Fiverr helped freelancers to sell their services. At this stage, these companies are all centralized and very linear with no collaboration between them.

Enter Blockchain.

A decentralized marketplace allows for true peer-to-peer transactions without centralized authorities taking their fees. This is made possible through blockchain technology and smart contracts. We no longer need the trusted third party verifying sellers and ensuring payments. 

 

Decentralization In Social Media

The traditional social media platforms are losing their edge, and their users have taken a massive beating. While some have given up on their social media world completely because it’s affecting their psychological well-being, some have become very disappointed with the fact that the benefit of their work was being passed onto the site more than them or their hard work has been deleted by centralized authorities due to hidden agendas. 

If this wasn’t enough, user data, which is meant to be confidential, is being made available in the open market, with governments, advertising companies and more having access to it. This has made users apprehensive about sharing personal details of their lives.

 

Enter Blockchain

Blockchain is going to transform the user experience in social media networking. These are important factors like the users’ information is encrypted on the blockchain network, so the privacy of data is maintained. Also, a platform can offer monetary compensation and loyalty programs for any and all activity performed by the user. Imagine producing viral content on the platform and getting paid for it? This does not happen on traditional social media, fast becoming a product of drama, agendas, and antiquity.  

There are upcoming platforms that are classed as social media on the blockchain whereby you can monetize your blogs, some even have a messaging app integrated, but it stops there. Imagine a complete Market Network as described above that is decentralized, pluggable, and portable which are key components and that have the capabilities to have your marketing, blogging, Storefronts, in fact, all your branding goes viral across all platforms in the internet space?

Enter Markethive – Embracing Blockchain Technology 

Markethive is a social marketplace, digital media platform for entrepreneurs that have the combined power of Facebook/LinkedIn, Marketo/Hubspot and Amazon/eBay along with Crypto News Sites like Cointelegraph/Bitcoin.com. Delivering a dynamic social network, integrated with Inbound Marketing (SAAS), numerous commerce platforms, storefronts coupled with augmented reality, and multiple traffic portals, built on the blockchain.

Does It Pay?

Markethive is a next-generation Market Network and the first to adopt blockchain technology that has positioned itself as a complete ecosystem for Entrepreneurs. Using the latest technology, it provides prosperous solutions for all business owners, marketers who require an online presence. Including Markethive’s own Coin (MHV) and Crypto Exchange for ease of liquidity as well as purchasing products and services within the Markethive ecosystem.

Creating a “Universal Income” for entrepreneurs, Markethive is delivering an infinity airdrop incentive to new subscribers, Bounty, and Loyalty programs and has set up the entire system with faucet like or micropayment rewards for using the system, including “Tips” instead of “Likes” This means the whole system is monetized for the benefit of all users. The income potential is huge and the MHV Coin ensures that all users will earn money for everything they do in Markethive.

 

So What Do You Get?

Markethive's functionalities include SEO features, Analytics, Customer Management System, Traffic Portals, Capture Page and Lead Creation, Profile Page, Resume, E-commerce portals, Video Conferencing, Blogging Platform, Messaging, Press Release, and Sponsored Article distribution, Banner Program and much more. Also included are significant training tutorials and weekly live support meetings, with a step by step automated tutorial system in the works.

Inbound Marketing is a key component of Markethive’s embodiment. Markethive plugs into all Social Media, simplifying your marketing efforts, with automated email campaigns allowing for lead flow into your designated business. Markethive incorporates collaboration building relationships within the community. 

Did I mention that the inbound marketing component is free to use while being rewarded with MHV? The only thing that is more rewarding beyond your wildest dreams is the loyalty program which enables you to profit from all facets of the Markethive system including receiving dividends from the company’s net profits. It basically means you as part of the Markethive community own a piece of Markethive, unlike the centralized companies with their venture capitalists and shareholders.

Conclusion

The potential of what the blockchain offers is extremely exciting. And although we are seeing some companies integrating the blockchain as they see what it can do for them and the world holistically, large scale adoption may still take some time. However, the unconventionality of this next-level technology shouldn’t deter marketers, business owners, entrepreneurs, in fact, anyone with a social or marketplace profile from embracing this new protocol given that it offers people many advantages in the form of transparency, security, anonymity, and performance with the added benefit of self-sovereignty. 

In the next article, we will explore Inbound Marketing and blockchain. Stay tuned… 

 

 

 

David Ogden

A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

 

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden