The term “inbound marketing” was first coined in 2005, but its origins go back much further. Let’s take a look at the history of inbound marketing and see what the future holds.
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A brief history of inbound marketing
History of inbound marketing: the background
Before the arrival of the inbound methodology, traditional marketing and advertising were almost entirely outbound , but there were already glimpses that allowed us to glimpse what the inbound marketing of the future would be like .
According to Peter F. Drucker , the father of modern marketing, inbound marketing has its earliest roots in the mid-1850s. It was then that Cyrus Hall McCormick , the inventor of the mechanical combine harvester, used market research to develop inbound methods and generate consumer interest in what was then a radical evolution in agriculture.
Later, in 1888, Richard W. Sears and Alvah Roebuck did something similar with the publication of a catalog that quickly grew from 80 to over 300 pages. This catalog was a powerful sales tool that allowed Sears and Roebuck to quickly capture information on thousands of consumers at low cost.
The 1950s and 1960s saw the development of market research, which allowed marketers to gather information about consumer interests and habits . This information enabled marketers to create more targeted campaigns and gain a deeper understanding of the customer journey. However, at the time, this data was primarily used for outbound campaigns (outdoor advertising, door-to-door sales, TV and radio ads, etc.).
In the 1970s, Drucker's marketing theories gained popularity. Drucker believed that customer orientation and market segmentation were fundamental to developing marketing strategies. In his own words, the point of marketing was "to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits the customer and sells itself."
Furthermore, Drucker believed that with the right marketing approach, a company only needs to make the product available to consumers, so that customers are acquired "through logistics rather than sales."
