When Bas asked us bloggers what we like the most about State of Search. At first, my answer was:Because of the outstanding quality of its posts.
But after, when I gave myself more time to reflect about that question, I gave him this answer:
I love how we may not agree in some few things, but I love how every voice and opinion is welcome and accepted in State of Search.

One of those things us bloggers do not agree is Inbound Marketing (right, Barry?). And I know that many of you, dear readers, have instinctively wrinkled your nose when you read those two words.

Why writing a post about Inbound Marketing now? Well, because most of the time I see it torn down over the base of what I consider misunderstandings of its concepts, especially the one for which Inbound Marketing is a new definition of SEO.

The irony, I must say, is that those misunderstandings are especially powered by SEO “inbound Marketers”, who affirm that Search Engine Optimization has changed and should call itself: Inbound Marketing.

A premise: this is my take about Inbound Marketing and about why it is not a buzzword and why it is a strategy and not a tactic, and I am not referring to any other definition existing of Inbound Marketing, for instance the Hubspot or SEOmoz ones.

And I will use Inbound Marketing because it is a known term, but if you don’t like it, you can change it with Internet Marketing or even Donald Duck! It is not the name what matters, but the concepts that name represents.

Rather than offering a nice academic definition, which would maybe delight a Marketing professor but wouldn’t help the understanding of what Inbound Marketing is, I prefer to use something more visual:

As it is evident with this Venn, Inbound Marketing is that Internet Marketing strategy, which is based on the synergy of SEO, Social Media, Content Marketing and Analytics.

This means that SEO, Social Media, Content Marketing and Analytics are not synonymous with Inbound Marketing, but they are essential to its existence.
It is incorrect, therefore, to say that the New SEO is Inbound Marketing. SEO is the SEO: period, full stop, no reply is possible.

Cool, first misunderstanding solved.

The Venn is quite clear even for understanding how each of these disciplines has a value of its own, how it can naturally interact with one or more of the others and, finally, how all can contribute to a common strategy, which is – again – what I define as Inbound Marketing.

Many facets of SEO, for example those typically technical, quite always don’t need the intervention of other disciplines.
However, there are other aspects of SEO, where it has a natural closer relationship with them.

SEO + Analytics

Think of the figure now so often cited of the data scientists.

• Google Analytics
• Logs’ analysis,
• Part of what is called Social Analytics
• What can be included in to the conceptual cauldron of Big Data.

These, and much more, are those aspects where SEO and Analytics work together.

SEO + Social Media

In Spain, where I live, all the actions that see the collaboration between SEO and Social Media are classified under the name of SEOcial.

It is now quite obvious that SEO can have nothing but excellent results from an effective synergy with Social Media, not only because the success in Social Media has an interesting degree of correlation with rankings (and if the social network is Google Plus that is more than obvious), but also because Social Media is right now the best tool an SEO has available to create those relationships, which can ultimately lead to a successful link building campaign.

Finally, we should not forget that exist Social areas where SEO can offer a substantial contribution, such as the optimization of the social profiles themselves or the social networks’ internal search optimisation; take, as an example, how SEO can help in multiplying the success of a business Pinterest account.

SEO + Content Marketing

These two disciplines are cooperating since the beginning of the web and their relationship has most often been ‘abused’ by the all the SEO myths that have occurred over the years (keyword density anyone?).

Now, however, Content Marketing is essential for the success of any serious SEO Strategy, because the better is its quality the easier are outreach and link building for SEO (and we should not forget Panda and Penguin).

Content Marketers, however, have everything to gain with a proper collaboration with SEOs too.
For example, it is SEO what can tell them what is the thesaurus of words and concepts and queries the targeted audience use.

I could go on in the description of all the other possible combinations of SEO, Social Media, Content Marketing and Analytics, which make up the complex world of Internet Marketing, but I think everyone can easily cite at least one tactic in which these disciplines work together.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound Marketing, as I said before, is the product of the combined action of all these four disciplines.
Caution! If these four disciplines are all present in the digital marketing plan of a business company, but they work separately neither have a common strategy and common objectives, then we cannot say that that business company is doing Inbound Marketing.

It is precisely because of this lack of a common strategy and a real synergy between the different disciplines, that very often a business company fails to obtain that plus they expect from their ‘inbound marketing’ effort. Because, the result of a real Inbound Strategy is always greater than the sum of the positive results achieved by SEO, Social Media, Content Marketing and Analytics alone.

Inbound Marketing, then, is a strategy, not a tactic.

Tactics are the SEO, Content, Social and Analytics actions, with which the Inbound Strategy develops itself.

Somehow, it is the same sophistication of the actual Internet Marketing that requires the existence of Inbound Marketing and the figure of the Inbound Strategist.

Why canan SEO strategist not be also an Inbound Strategist? Consider what’s under the SEO definition today (and I am surely forgetting something):

• Technical SEO;
• Keyword Analysis;
• Outreach and Link Building;
• Video SEO;
• Images Optimization;
• SEOcial;
• Local Search;
• News Search;
• ASO;
• Structured Data;
• Authorship;
• Knowledge Graph;
• Website Performance Optimization;
• International SEO.

An SEO strategist has neither the time nor the knowledge to be able to commit the most of his work and simultaneously managing the Content Marketing, Social Media and Analytics areas.

The same is true of content strategists, social media strategists and senior analysts.

The Inbound Marketing Area

Here, then, what it should be – in my opinion – the organization of any department of Inbound Marketing:

The Inbound Strategist independently develops the Inbound Strategy, after having taken into account the inputs of the strategists of the various disciplines, and delegates to the latter the execution of the tactical actions corresponding to them, while coordinates their “synchronicity” as to create that synergy, which is essential for obtaining the common objectives.

SEO, Social Media, Content and Analytics strategist, then, elaborate their corresponding strategies, taking into account the coexistence and compatibility of their own strategies and the Inbound one.

Of course, this is an ideal model and not all the companies have in-house the human resources, the knowledge and / or the budget to create such complex Inbound Marketing department.

In that case, especially in the case of small and medium sized companies, it is possible to try grouping functions and, apparently contradicting myself, to decide that a ‘lower’ Strategist assumes also the Inbound Strategist functions. Or it would the case to contract the services of a Inbound Strategist Consultant or of an Inbound Marketing Agency.

That model, however, in my opinion should be the one the agencies, which declare to offer Inbound Marketing services, follow.
For this reason, those SEO agencies who have not within them the representative figures of all those four areas do not offer Inbound Marketing in the strict sense, but SEO: advanced, content-oriented, call it what you want, but always SEO.

Nor Inbound Agencies are those, which, despite of offering services in all the typical areas of Inbound Marketing, do not provide the figure of the Inbound Strategist such as I have described it above.

Conclusion

SEO is not Inbound Marketing, but it is an essential element of it.

And SEOs are Inbound Marketers when they collaborate with other professionals from other areas of Internet Marketing to develop a common Inbound Marketing strategy; but remain essentially SEOs, as they always were.

In short, SEO and Inbound Marketing are not mutually exclusive; the opposite: they need each other.

And Inbound Marketing does not negate the value of SEO, indeed! It exalts it.

So why all these discussion (right, Barry?).