The distinction between inbound and content marketing is an important one because they are too often considered to be one and the same.
While both disciplines are often misunderstood, the word inbound clearly describes the primary purpose of inbound marketing: Attracting leads.
In other words, the focus of inbound marketing is filling the funnel.
What then is content marketing? According to the Content Marketing Institute:

“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

How to Keep the Dogs in The House

As a young salesperson fresh out of college, I could relate to an expression my sales manager often used. He said, “It’s not easy keeping all of the dogs in the house.”
He meant converting leads into buyers and then retaining them as customers is an ongoing challenge. We all know this to be true because prospects and customers will always act in their best interests. For those actions to be mutually beneficial, relationships must be nurtured.
One of the reasons inbound and content marketing are often considered the same is they both use similar tactics at the visible lead attraction stage. What happens after that often differs.
If you doubt this, simply subscribe to any site that offers an ebook or free report and observe. What happens next should feel right, like a sense of belonging that supports your decision to sign up.
Inbound marketing can feel like traditional marketing after lead attraction phase because there is often a noticeable shift to conversion. The messaging may indeed contain valuable content, but its value is progressively diluted by the seemingly endless interruptions.
As a result, the dogs get angry and leave the house (unsubscribe).
In contrast, content marketing seeks to add value to every single stage of the buyer’s journey, with the better content marketers understanding the duration of that journey is buyer dependent.
If attracting leads is important to your small business, both inbound and content marketing can help. Yet, without a strategic content marketing plan, only a fraction of those inbound leads will become longstanding customers.
Instead of ramping up the automation sequence to increase conversions, a better approach is strategically feeding the dogs. Focus on providing more valuable content where it is needed most, and that is throughout the buyer’s journey, and the customer experience that follows.
That’s content marketing.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on inbound vs content marketing. Meet me over on Twitter to take the conversation further.

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.
He helps organizations use media to create exceptional customer experiences that drive business growth in a digital, social and global world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+