Selfless Inbound Marketing.
I heard this term for the first time on a cold January winter evening in Delhi around New Years.
It came from a dear friend, marketing thought leader and the CoFounder of MindTickle – Mr Mohit Garg. Mohit was visiting India and squeezed in some time to meet the Znbound team in Gurgaon. As we chatted about weather and family, Mohit’s India phone buzzed. The voice on the other end said out loud. ‘Sir, property investment ke liye dekh rahe hain’ (Hindi)
The telecaller was asking, “Sir, are you looking to invest in property?”.
Real estate calls and pesky property SMS’ are very regular in Gurgaon. Mohit, like a true gentleman politely declined. And almost simultaneously, we inbound marketers burst out laughing. Mohit smiles and says, “When will they learn?”
I nod.
Then I ask, “Mohit, does inbound marketing also run the risk of going the tele-marketing way?” I go on. “In the name of inbound, are we also being pushy? Are you seeing this in the US? Where does one draw the line? Mohit says almost immediately, “It is all about Selfless Inbound Marketing”.
It was an ‘Aha’ moment. A moment of insight. When the skies open up and the Sun shines. I had never heard of ‘Selfless Inbound Marketing’ before. I registered it. And it went straight to the hippocampus.
Mohit left. I flicked out my android phone and googled. ZERO results!!!
I was on my own, thanks to Mohit. Three months after that eventful meeting, Google still shows ZERO results, but Znbound has started counting. Thus, this post.
What is Selfless Inbound Marketing?
It is marketing of a higher order. It is about being genuinely useful to your customers and their users and customers, without expecting anything in return. It is about experiencing their problems and their pain. It is about understanding their priorities. It is about solving their problems by giving, giving and giving – being a Samaritan.
Don’t worry, they will pay you!!!
It doesn’t end there.
It is “straight from the heart”. It is pure. It is love. It is your reason to exist. It is you. It is what you obsess about, all the time. It is genuine. It is your message to the World.
It was this blog that earned Znbound a listing on “6 cool company blogs to follow” published by the HubSpot editorial team.
