Inbound Organization

Chapter 28The Inbound Organization in 10 Years

Is inbound really a revolution? It was started by a small group of passionate people that had a nearly impossible goal—to change the way small and midmarket companies marketed and sold and to help them grow. It introduced a very specific methodology that defined an innovative way to create a competitive advantage. It was supported by thousands of smaller businesses who were willing to take a risk by embracing unconventional thinking. It grew from a few early adopters to hundreds of practitioners, then thousands, and now millions.

There were numerous offshoots, iterations, updates, stops, and starts along the way. Lots of companies entered the ecosystem to connect, compete, and iterate. Inbound is now taught in hundreds of universities worldwide, with tens of thousands of certified professionals and thousands of certified partners. More and more companies are leveraging inbound for their culture, systems, and new business development process.

A dominant theme emerged in the first decade of inbound growth: regardless of your position, whether you decided to practice inbound or not, everyone was impacted in some way. Companies that embraced inbound, the philosophy and culture, inbound sales, and inbound marketing claimed a huge competitive advantage as the evolution of the modern buyer became mainstream. This advantage takes the form of visibility via website traffic and social media, lead generation capabilities, customers' engagement, ...