Cold Calling is Dead. Long Live Inbound Marketing!

Let’s face it. No one likes to be invaded with constant cold calling about products or services they are not really interested in. So you’ll probably be relieved to hear that the law is finally cracking down on companies advocating aggressive cold calling tactics.¹ This news follows a recent report that the UK’s digital ad spend is set to overtake traditional advertising in 2015,² indicating that whilst cold calling may be dead, online marketing remains very much in its prime.

Previously, action would only be taken on cold calling as a result of “substantial damage or substantial distress” an ambiguous ruling which helped companies continue their nuisance cold calling without reprimand. However, on the 6th April 2015 this requirement was removed from the legislation, with fines of up to £500,000 imposed on any company that continues to bombard individuals and organisations with sales calls.

This welcome development celebrates the demise of invasive advertising techniques and paves the way for a subtler and altogether more effective approach; an approach that has become known as inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing may be an effective way to reach, engage and convert more customers online, but it’s a lot of hard work. It means getting to know the kinds of people within your target audience – possibly even better than they know themselves – and making educated assumptions as to the kinds of content they might be looking for based on rigorous testing and analysis.

It means ensuring a seamless customer journey no matter what route they might take, and engaging their attention along every step of the way. And what happens when that arduous journey is complete? You will have crowds of well-informed, loyal customers queuing at your door, rather than you knocking down theirs.

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