Attention is Everything (and Why Inbound Marketing is Dying)

I chatted with someone today who asked if he should consider advertising on Facebook to get new customers.

Uh, yes.

Thinking Inbound marketing is the only way to acquire customers is misguided.

It's not. It never has been.

In today's world, attention is everything. Content marketing is crowded and it's hard to stand out. SEO is getting more competitive across every niche.

Priceline (a profitable, publicly traded company) bought $2.4 billion in online ads in 2015.

This will become more common. Until now, companies have never been able to target their prospects. Nor have they been given the ability to set the terms at which they'll pay for a prospect's attention.

If you can buy a customer for less than they pay you, why wouldn't you do this?

After all, Facebook spent 8 years and billions in venture capital to get almost every human - your potential customers - on their platform. And for just pennies per click, they're now yours for the taking.

I expect to see a lot more advertising and a lot less talk about inbound marketing over the next 2 years.