There are lots of great ways to spread the word about your business, whether it’s through ads, online reviews or referrals. But your efforts to gain business can backfire if customers deem them as too intrusive. We’re talking about tactics such as junk mail, texts and spammy phone calls to customers and potential customers. Basically, this type of marketing butts into the customer’s lives and can actually cause them to not do business with you.

Lately, my cell phone has been ringing off the hook with an automated message, “Are you a senior citizen…?” That’s as far as it gets before I hang up because, well, I’m not a senior citizen and secondly, how did you get my number? I didn’t give it to you.

This is the type of marketing most customers will not respond to and may actually be mad about.

And then there’s the junk mail I receive. Each day, I’m bombarded with catalogs to places where I never purchased anything, and many of them are completely off base from where I would actually shop. And as far as the places I do shop, I’m so annoyed with all the wasted paper that it makes me never want to buy from the place again.

The better choice and where the marketing world is headed is inbound marketing, which means promoting your business by providing information the customer is already searching for. For example, if your company works in warehouse management, you could offer tips on how to save money by maximizing storage space, choosing the right forklifts, etc.. This way you build brand trust over time and become the only choice in the consumer’s mind when it comes to a purchasing decision!