Inbound Marketing book review by Quired

Having worked in some form of marketing or another for the last 20 years culminating in the Co-Founding of Quired.com in 2008, I have always felt advertisers had too much control over consumers. Ever since I first learned of the internet in 1994, I knew the dynamics of business would be changed forever. Clear in vision, I was never able to articulate fully the significance of the evolution in marketing we are experiencing now, especially what has happened in the last 2 years. One book in particular has captured the essence of what I truly feel is a revolution in marketing which is the book - Inbound Marketing by the Co-Founders of Hubspot.com, Dharmesh Shah and Brian Halligan.

Dharmesh and Brian have written a book I consider a reference manual for the transformation we are currently witnessing from the information age to the communication age.

The read is very straight forward and simple to digest but most importantly packed full of tips and case studies demonstrating the sea change we are witnessing in the marketing industry.

What struck me most was the contrast between traditional marketing methods (Interruption Marketing) vs. new marketing methods (Inbound Marketing)

They lay out a case that we are in the beginning of a 50 year cycle which will drastically impact how businesses connect with customers and argue traditional advertising agencies will go by the wayside to be replaced with business models focusing on helping businesses communicate effectively with their marketplace - not pitch to them (which I believe to be true as well).

Don't get me wrong, this book is not just the philosophical argument to be made but gives equal share to the current science of participating in the new age of marketing. I have listed a number of key points below I feel should give you insight into the nuggets of gold you will find.

• Who moved my customers?
• It's not what you say - It's what others say about you
• Creating a remarkable strategy
• Tracking your progress
• Getting your blog started right
• Making your articles infectious
• Help Google help you
• Why blogs sometimes fail
• Contribute to the conversation
• Google - Paid vs. Free
• On page SEO
• Off page SEO
• Getting fans on Facebook
• Creating connections on LinkedIn
• Gathering followers on Twitter
• Getting found on YouTube
• Converting visitors to leads
• Converting leads to customers

Whether you are a business owner or a marketer, you need to grab a copy of this book and start highlighting. I even had my 8 year old son read a couple of pages to me driving into school the other day which inspired a couple of very relevant questions from him. You know if you can grab the attention of an 8 year old - it must be good!