Nearbound Weekend 06/15: The Soul of Nearbound

Ella Richmond 3 min

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Steal This Partnership Value Model
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REFLECTION ON THE NEARBOUND ERA

Marketing with: the soul of nearbound

The nearbound marketing playbook is still being written, and it's a refreshing mix of different and familiar.

The fundamentals of marketing that have been forgotten in the rush of the digitization and automation eras are making a comeback.

While outbound targets and inbound attracts, nearbound surrounds and connects through trusted relationships. Developing any content, campaign, or event that does not involve people buyers already trust is playing on hard mode.

Nearbound marketing means marketing with people who already have relationships and operate in the same spaces as your target audience. Instead of asking, "How can I sell my product?", nearbound asks, "Where are my buyers, and whom do they trust?"

The answer to this will dictate how you organize internally, as well.

Trust comes from helping people read their promised land.

And those best suited to help are the ones who have been there. I cannot state the profundity of the paradox this creates for your marketing team:

If trust comes from helping people reach their promised land and that's best done by people who have already been there, how can we expect people to trust us when we haven't?

To earn trust, we must help people achieve their goals. When making purchases today, we seek guidance from those who have already achieved the goals we are striving for.

Again, let's say your company's buyers are Chief Information Officers. How many people on your marketing team have ever been a CIO.

Marketers alone cannot help a CIO become a better CIO because they've never been one, much less one who has solved the challenges faced by their target CIOs. The partners and communities where they live can provide such help. Market with those people.

The heart and soul of nearbound marketing is paved on the path to your buyers' promised land. If you've never walked your buyers' path, you better partner with those who have.

—Jared Fuller (Chief Ecosystem Officer at nearbound.com and Reveal)