The Budo of Inbound Marketing
Posted by Scott Vetter on Mon, Jan 23, 2012
“Budo,” translates to the way of war and is often used to reference Japanese martial art
s. Going beyond tactical and physical technique, it embodies spiritual development and a moral code. For the Samurai it was not just the way of the warrior, but the path to enlightenment. I think that is an appropriate way to look at Inbound Marketing: certainly it involves tactics that give one an advantage over the competition, but it also harnesses the power and opportunity of online communication to allow enlightment (for you and your clients).
Budo symbolizes “a way,” an ongoing commitment and preoccupation with realizing one’s life goal. It may be a little much to assume that Inbound Marketing will achieve your life goal, but it can certainly help… and importantly it can help your organization achieve its goals. But it won’t happen on its own. Successful online communication and promotion requires the same ongoing commitment. Setting up the social media accounts, revamping your website and online presence, creating a blog, updating your SEO, developing worthy content… this is all a fair bit of work, but it’s only the beginning, it’s simply forming your inbound foundation.
Building on this foundation takes ongoing input, vigilance, response, tactics assessment, research, analysis, and more. All performed methodically on a cycle, it requires a significant commitment and preoccupation. This applied strategy becomes the way to success in Inbound Marketing.
But it needn't be daunting. Like the Japanese Feudal lords who hired Samurai to competently handle their “networking,” most companies hire experts to structure and guide or implement their online marketing strategy. So enlist the degree of assistance that you need, and go (gently) to war!
Scott Vetter is a 3rd dan Black Belt in Can Ryu Jiu-Jitsu and has been a marketing consultant for over 25 years. Once a month on the PROSAR Inbound blog, Scott will combine these two passions.