Article · Digital marketing
Indirect Marketing for Business Owners: The Complete Guide
If you’re looking for what type of marketing to do for your company, here’s a complete guide on why indirect marketing is essential for every business.
01 / OPENING
At first glance, the phrase ‘indirect marketing’ may seem redundant. Afterall, marketing is the practice of delivering value to a customer, so how can you deliver value indirectly? Well, to start things off, let’s contrast what direct versus indirect marketing actually is.
In the most simplistic terms, direct marketing is where companies try to sell to you. Easy examples of this are the literal hundreds to thousands of ads the average person sees every day. The problem is that with this overexposure, people learn to tune out that “extra noise” as if they had never seen it. We’re not saying this method doesn’t work, but there is an alternative approach.
Indirect marketing works differently. It is how a business can build trust before asking them to buy, rather than telling them to make a purchase now. Think of it this way: would you rather go to an unknown dentist that is brand new with zero reviews, or the dentist that has hundreds of positive reviews and is part of a nationally recognized dental group?
In our guide, we’ll cover what the seven types of indirect marketing are, when they’re valuable to utilize, and more.
What Is Indirect Marketing?
To start, indirect marketing is all about building relationships of trust with customers over a long period of time before they are ready to make a purchase. So, the three main parts of indirect marketing include:
- Trust: Belief that the company is reputable and can help.
- Value: Provides information without asking for a purchase.
- Time: Creating a relationship over an extended period of time
To take it a step further, we’ve created a chart below to further delineate direct and indirect marketing.
Direct vs. Indirect Marketing Comparison
When looking at over 950 search terms that have to do with HVAC (ex. HVAC, ac repair near me, furnace repair, etc.), the total number of searches on Google and its search partners in the United States has shown the following increases:
Most people don’t understand indirect marketing because the definition of marketing has been skewed to mean just advertising. While advertising is one component under the marketing umbrella, it is not the only part of marketing. Also, business owners want a clear ROI (return on investment) measurement that direct marketing creates, but sometimes sacrifice credibility and reputation to get one sale now instead of many sales later.
The Seven Types of Indirect Marketing
Now that we know what the overall differences between direct and indirect marketing are, let’s jump into the seven methods of indirect marketing that your business can start to implement now to reap the rewards later.
1. Content Marketing
If you’ve ever been in marketing or talked to a professional marketer, you’ve undoubtedly heard the term “content is king” online. Well, it’s true. With the rise of AI tools, it has become even more prevalent. Getting useful information is what people want. Content marketing is blogs, creative assets, images, graphics, podcasts, webinars, and other formats designed to answer customer questions.
EXAMPLE: a YouTuber who creates step-by-step instructions on how to do DIY auto repairs, so customers can avoid dishonest mechanics. This gains them trust as a mechanic when customers need to bring their vehicle in for repairs.
PRO TIP: When creating content, write what your customers want to know, help them solve their problems, and make it helpful, not an ad in disguise. Also, to be featured on AI tools like ChatGPT, make content on similar topics to increase the likelihood of being featured.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Just like a billboard hidden in the middle of a forest, a website that’s hard to find online will never be seen. Search Engine Optimization helps Google know what’s on your website, so it knows when to show your website as a result. SEO includes visible changes on the website (onsite), non-visible website changes (backend), and how other websites are connected to yours (off-page).
EXAMPLE: Marriott’s website has tons of authority, traffic, backlinks, and plentiful content to help those looking for information about hotels.
PRO TIP: Optimize for searches that customers actually use, create more engaging and informative content, and have other reputable websites to connect to yours.
3. Organic Social Media Marketing
Use social media to create images, videos, and text that catch people’s attention and create a following from those who are interested in what you’re saying through likes and follows. Consistent posts help people stay engaged over a long time.
EXAMPLE: Wendy’s sells hamburgers and fries, but creates funny banter between them and other brands that bring many followers to their accounts.
PRO TIP: Post consistently, share content your audience actually wants (not just self-promotion), and respond to comments.
4. Public Relations (PR)
Having reporters, journalists, teachers, or other public figures who positively mention your company. This third-party PR recognition is an indirect endorsement and is more impressive to people than ads.
EXAMPLE: Warren Buffett, former head of Berkshire Hathaway, has pledged to donate more than 99% of all his wealth to charity.
PRO TIP: Develop relationships with journalists and public figures, volunteer and donate to worthy causes, and use those efforts to build trust in your brand.
5. Email Newsletters
Sending out formatted content regularly gives people helpful information they’ve already signed up to receive. It’s ok to have some self-promotion, but the newsletter needs to benefit the readers and answer their questions.
EXAMPLE: Daily Skimm is one of the top newsletters, with millions of subscribers, that summarizes major events and news stories.
PRO TIP: Give people information they care about, create content that’s worth reading, and deliver it consistently. Also, make it easy for people to unsubscribe.
6. Influencer Partnerships
Joining up and mutually benefiting with people who already have built relationships of trust with a large audience. Just like a positive review builds social trust, an authentic recommendation from a popular person goes much farther than a paid ad.
EXAMPLE: Gymshark grew into a billion-dollar brand by partnering with fitness influencers and building a community.
PRO TIP: Be selective about which influencers you pursue partnerships with. Pick one that has the same set of values, make the content appear natural and organic, and work to build that partnership to be long-term instead of a one-time gig.
7. Referrals & Word-of-Mouth
Nothing is more effective than the testimonials or reviews of customers who are blown away by your product or service. Some will go out of their way to evangelize the experience they had, hoping others will share in the joy they feel.
EXAMPLE: Lululemon has a strong following, with loyal customers frequently praising its products in testimonials and videos.
PRO TIP: Deliver more value than what is promised, create referral bonus programs for those that bring in customers for you, and create a rewards program for those that constantly bring in new customers.
02 / KEY IDEAS
Advantages of Indirect Marketing
One of the biggest advantages of indirect marketing is the long-term loyalty from customers. As mentioned earlier, people don’t want to feel like they’re being sold to; they want to feel like they belong to something they believe in. Brand loyalty means that you’ve earned the customer’s loyalty through exceeding their expectations and treating them as important to your organization. That type of loyalty is better than any well-constructed advertising campaign.
With loyal customers comes their investment into knowing everything about your company. Once that faithful following is set, customers will delve into every aspect of the company and learn everything that they can to indirectly become ambassadors for the brand. They’ll watch how the company is run, the owners’ background, where the business is headed, and even offer free advice to leadership. Sometimes, they’ll proudly wear the brand’s logo like a badge of honor.
When people talk about your product or service, they become a form of free advertising. They know their family and friends better than any company owner, and they will also know who would be a good fit for your product or service. This type of sales funnel filtering and word-of-mouth advertising is more effective than any audience segmentation or PPC campaign. The selection is better and cheaper than any ad program.
Just like ads are paying rent, the effectiveness of most ads will go away as soon as you stop paying for them to appear. However, indirect marketing is like paying a mortgage. Over time, quality information shared through indirect marketing builds equity in your company and raises the perceived value of your offering. After all, the perceived value of a business is what increases the price of stocks, how much you can sell your products or services for, and more.
The organic content that is being produced goes a long way with AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and others. When lots of different sources talk about your company in consistent ways, it shows that you’re an expert and an authority on those topics. They will mention and cite your company and website when queries are done in their tools.
Disadvantages of Indirect Marketing
First and foremost, indirect marketing is a long game. It takes time, which some companies and owners feel like they just don’t have. Afterall, if your business is going to fail in the next couple of months unless you see an exponential increase in clients, then direct marketing is the better short-term option.
Second, indirect marketing is harder to measure. Things like ads are easy to track, especially with tools like Google Analytics and plugins on website-building platforms like WordPress. You can see how many times a digital ad appeared, how many actions were taken, and how many sales or contacts were made from those ads. It’s hard to measure how many people became clients because an influencer did a collaboration, unless every customer accurately remembers exactly why they became a customer, and then tells you.
Third, it’s hard to stay consistent. You can’t just expect that one PR stunt or optimizing your website one time will be the silver bullet to bring you success. Like most successful brands, they continually innovate and adapt their indirect marketing to stay top of mind and deliver greater value to their clients.
Fourth and finally, every good company is doing indirect marketing. This means the landscape is saturated, especially in well-established vertices and industry types. Blogs have been around for years, SEO is an ongoing investment, and reputable influencers are always receiving offers from different companies. It’s challenging to continuously look for ways to stand out above your competitors.
03 / TAKEAWAY
Final Thoughts: Why Indirect Marketing Is Essential
Anything worth going after in life takes a lot of hard work, effort, and consistency. Like an athlete needs to continuously train and improve to be at the top of their game, your brand needs to include both direct and indirect marketing efforts to thrive. If your company is just starting out and money is tight, indirect marketing can help build awareness. If you’re an established brand, creating “how-to” guides and giving valuable information to customers for free will help you build a following.
Regardless of where your business is in its life cycle, indirect marketing is a valuable tool that cannot be ignored. If you can’t employ all seven types above, start with one and go from there. If you need help with starting or improving your indirect marketing, contact our indirect marketing experts today.
FAQs About Indirect Marketing
How Long Until I See Results?
As stated before, each of the seven types takes time. However, some methods, like SEO, can take at least six months to start showing results. So, think of indirect marketing as taking, at a minimum, six months to show any results.
Where Should I Start?
Take a look at the seven types above and see what you’ve already done. If you’re already working on two of the types, look at areas you can improve and start there. If your company is new to indirect marketing, a good place to start is social media, content marketing, search engine optimization, and so forth.
What If I’m A Smal Business? Can I Compete?
Absolutely! The great thing about the internet is that it’s almost a level playing field where anyone can get noticed. Sure, there’s some nepotism and favoritism (like Google and YouTube), but there are so many platforms and ways to connect that your indirect marketing still has plenty of chances to get noticed.
What’s The Worst Way To Do Indirect Marketing?
Stopping, being inconsistent, or just posting for the sake of posting is unwise. Commit to a schedule, create a strategy, and get expert help to ensure success.
What If I Don’t Have Time To Do Any Of This?
If your company needs clients now and doesn’t have time for indirect marketing, there will still come a time when loyal, repeat customers matter most. In other words, for most businesses, indirect marketing isn’t optional. Hiring a marketing expert or agency is a great way to offload this responsibility and ensure that it’s done correctly.
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