Reading Reflection No. 2

Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah discussed methodologies and strategies that steer business owners away from traditional information-pushing type of advertising onto customers. Rather than paper pushing and email blasting, Inbound Marketing instead implores entrepreneurs to create a company atmosphere that peaks interest and draws potential customers in conjunction with making routine use of analytical tools to investigate the behavior of their customers. The book truly enhanced my learning in ENT3003 by widening my perspective on the back ends of product development and marketing. The authors specify the necessary steps to enhance company visibility through the manipulation of social media, google, and blogs. I hadn't understood the impact that blogging behavior and content could have on a company's transcendence to the top of the search engine results, or the pull on customers to the page. Additionally, you want to connect with other relevant pages by subscribing to authoritative blogs relative to your product or business and contribute to their comment section. Not only does the author of that blog notice you, but when other users who are reading that relevant blog read your comment, that creates an opportunity for them to view your blog, which brings me to my next point. A crucial component of creating visibility of your company and traffic on your website is creating a network of links that direct users to you and your page. This was my biggest "aha" moment, when I truly understood the definition of "inbound marketing": directing users to you, roping them in not only by peaking their interest and creating a brand that people remember, but by utilizing digital tools to literally direct them to your pages. If I had to design an exercise for this class based on Inbound Marketing, I would have students log their behavior when they conduct searches and use social media, specifying where they started, every link they clicked along the way, things that caught their attention (such as ads) and other links that were provided on that page which were "relevant" to their search, and finally where they ended up and what the results of their search were. Did they find the answer or product they were looking for? Did they stumble upon a new company or concept? How many links did it take to resolve your search? How many pages of the results provided by the search engine did you go through? Did you utilize multiple platforms (twitter, facebook, mobile applications) to find your product, service, or ideal company? I believe that creating an awareness of your own buyer/customer behavior will help students understand inbound marketing and how to utilize it to their advantage for their own entrepreneurial endeavors.