21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

The book I chose to read from the reading list was Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan.

The general theme/argument for this book is the transition of marketing from outbound to inbound. This transition can be explained as the shift from firms using outbound methods (Trying to convey a message or idea to outside individuals/consumers) to using inbound marketing methods (trying to pull/lure people into the sphere of information of your firm or product and provide them with as much helpful information as possible).

I think the concepts talked about in this book heavily overlap with what is being taught in class, especially the material that we have covered recently. The majority of this book focuses on inbound marketing and the tactics that go along with it which correlates to the recent lectures on networking and building up your business' presence online to drive interest.

Based on the fact that this course has quite a bit of overlap with the material covered in ENT3003 I think that a good exercise would be to ask students to identify what marketing strategy certain firms are using and report back which type is more effective at drawing their attention or business. Since both of these strategies are aimed at generating interest and business it would be interesting to see which types of marketing (outbound or inbound) would be more effective on a college-aged demographic.

I think the most surprising thing that was covered in the book is just how important the shift between these two marketing strategies is. For so long companies have relied on the outbound strategy to connect with their customer base. But, since the start of the information age and the popularization of the internet and personal computing, advertisers have had to dramatically shift their strategy and espouse this new idea of inbound marketing. This new strategy leans heavily on the fact that consumers are more connected than ever and are now drawn by excess information and interaction.