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Rev up your inbound marketing strategy: 4 inspiring TED Talks

Mark Parent May 20, 2016 12:34:17 PM EDT

Inbound Marketing

It is hard to deny the power of a well-done TED Talk.

The concept is simple. TED Talks tap into the creativity and innovative thinking of people with fascinating stories and an affinity for telling them. TED Talks cover big ideas, distilling them down to easily comprehensible bits.

HubSpot observes about TED Talks: "The talks have been lauded for their ability to take complex concepts and deliver them in ways that are digestible for everyday audiences. As marketers, TED Talks are great examples of injecting compelling narratives into abstract sets of concepts. As someone with a product to market, this skill is definitely worth cultivating."

Here are some of the most memorable TED Talks that address the challenges of inbound marketing strategies in new and compelling ways.

1) Seth Godin's "The Tribes We Lead"

Seth Godin, best-selling author, blogger, marketer, and speaker, explores the way marketing is shifting from a mass audience focus to a tribal focus. He asserts that thinking (and marketing) in terms of the connections people make and the interests and motivations which pull them together promotes the very human concept of tribes and is the future of effective marketing.

Real change comes from upsetting the routine ways things are done, making a connection with a group of people to create a movement, and leading the way to change. Illustrating the point, he notes: "The Beatles did not invent teenagers. They merely decided to lead them. Most movements, most leadership that we're doing is about finding a group that's disconnected but already has a yearning -- not persuading people to want something they don't have yet."

Advice for marketers: Lead a movement.

2) Seth Godin's "How to Get Your Ideas to Spread"

Godin takes another top spot on the list of most instructive TED Talks for marketers with this 2003 TED Talk. He starts with the basic premise that people who can spread ideas win. However, ideas today spread in a different way than they once did. People have essentially tuned out the noise of mass marketing in favor of listening to that which is of personal interest to them.

He observes: "What marketers used to do is make average products for average people. That's what mass marketing is. Smooth out the edges; go for the center; that's the big market." Noting that this type of marketing is no longer effective, he adds: "Market to these people because they care. These are the people who are obsessed with something. And when you talk to them, they'll listen, because they like listening -- it's about them. And if you're lucky, they'll tell their friends on the rest of the curve, and it'll spread. It'll spread to the entire curve."

Advice for marketers: Find your niche.

3) Malcolm Gladwell's "Choice, Happiness, and Spaghetti Sauce"

Malcolm Gladwell, best-selling author and speaker, shares the story of Howard Moskowitz, a consultant who basically revolutionized the way companies go about developing their products. Once locked into a linear way of developing products to achieve one uniform, popular choice, now companies understand the importance of diversifying their product offerings to appeal to ... you guessed it, a diverse audience.

The marketing lesson is clear. Effective marketing is a multi-faceted discipline. It involves analyzing data, creating multiple buyer personas, and segmenting your audience in order to provide focused, targeted marketing messages that resonate with your audience on a personal level. It's all about the sauce.

Advice for marketers: Use data coupled with human insight to reach your audience.

4) Kevin Allocca's "Why Videos Go Viral"

Kevin Allocca, YouTube Head of Culture and Trends at Google, explores the strange mix of events that make a video go viral. He notes: "Tastemakers, creative participating communities, complete unexpectedness, these are characteristics of a new kind of media and a new kind of culture where anyone has access and the audience defines the popularity."

The simple lesson for marketers is that this world of user-generated content and the ability of users to control which marketing messages they will hear and how their buyer journey will proceed necessitate a more people-centric form of inbound marketing.

Advice to marketers: Make people-centric campaigns.

Benefiting from lessons learned

While each of these videos is entertaining, there is much more they provide. Together, they paint a picture of the changing world of inbound marketing strategy. In this new world, users control the flow of the marketing message, and marketers must adapt to become more and more responsive to individual customers. Marketing thus becomes an increasingly personalized affair, enhancing the user experience and enriching the journey throughout the customer life cycle.

Are your inbound marketing strategies keeping up with the changing landscape? To find out, contact us today to get a free inbound marketing assessment.

Feeling inspired from these insightful TEDTalks? Wondering what the next step is? Get your free copy of our Blueprint of a Modern Marketing Campaign to learn more about planning, launching, analyzing and updating a successful inbound marketing campaign.