Indirect Marketing: Definition, Types and Examples

Indirect marketing is marketing where you are not explicitly trying to sell a product or service.

Instead, it focuses on activities that generate brand awareness, build relationships with potential customers and nurture them to eventually buy from you.

Indirect marketing relies on the assumption that potential customers will not buy your product or service immediately, but over time.

And if we look at our buying behavior, that’s probably true. For example, if we need a new pair of headphones, we’ll probably do some online research, browse forums, ask our friends, and familiarize ourselves with available brands and models—all before making a purchase.

In contrast, direct marketing is marketing where you are explicitly trying to get potential customers to buy right now. Channels include cold email, direct mail, and advertising.

Here are some types of indirect marketing:

1. Public relations (PR)

PR is the practice of positively influencing a brand’s perception by managing communications with the media and the general public.

Common tactics include being newsworthy, responding to media inquiries (eg. HARO), create press releasesbuild relationships with journalists, and create PR stunts.

Ahrefs was for example featured on TechCrunch in 2022.

This was possible because we:

1. A newsworthy event (“we’re making a search engine”).
2. Relationships with the right people (all thanks to the hard work of my colleague, Daria Samokish).

2. Search Engine...