I've always been a big supporter and practitioner of martial arts. It's a great way to harmonize your body, mind and spirit and it promotes discipline, respect and dedication. The picture to the left is of me and Jiu-Jitsu legend Royce Gracie. He's the one who looks like he just stepped off a yacht and I'm the one that looks like I've been running through the rain forest for hours. This blog article describes how you can improve your inbound marketing by implementing mixed martial arts techniques.

At first glance, effective inbound marketing for your small business might seem to have little to do with MMA, or mixed martial arts – ultimate fighting, as it is sometimes called. While it is true that mixed martial artists face a slightly higher risk of black eyes and bloody noses on a daily basis, quite a few aspects of their training and competition are surprisingly relevant to the business world. This is particularly true of inbound marketing – your efforts to turn moderately interested inquirers into paying customers.

Principle #1: Adapt

The first fundamental principle from MMA that you can adapt to your inbound marketing efforts is to be willing to adapt your strategy as necessary. Put simply, use your brain and– think. In low-level amateur mixed martial arts competition, it is certainly not rare to see a fighter charge straight at his opponent with one goal, or one strategy. Sometimes that strategy will work. When it does not, however, that fighter will often find himself staring up at the lights before long. That is why, if you watch high-level mixed martial artists like many of those found in the UFC, you notice that they tend to have a variety of different rhythms and strategies they can employ, transitioning seamlessly from one to the next as necessary. Fighters who cannot adapt and change in the ring are generally not very successful in the long run.

This same principle is essential for your success in inbound marketing. Depending on your audience, the time of year, market conditions, relevant news stories, and a wide variety of other factors (depending on your industry), you might need to periodically change at least some aspects of your marketing strategy. For example, a free technical white paper that works perfectly for traffic sent to your page from an investing site might be less than helpful for traffic sent from a college news site.

Principle #2: Persevere

The second principle may initially appear to contradict the first. It simply states that you should know when to persevere, when to keep working – when to be stubborn! This principle is actually not in conflict with the first. Rather, it complements it. A fighter who panics at the first offensive move or attempted counter from his opponent will not enjoy a particularly successful career. Yes, a good fighter must know when to adapt and when to change his strategy. However, he must also know when to stick with a strategy that might well be on the verge of working.

This is very much applicable to your inbound marketing efforts. You absolutely do need to be flexible and adaptable enough to adjust your efforts as necessary, as was discussed in the first principle. However, you also need to know when to allow the marketing work you have put in time to be effective. Clichéd though the expression may be, it is true that Rome was not built in a day. Do not panic if you do not see an avalanche of new customers in the first week after you begin an inbound marketing campaign. Your marketing will often take time to become truly effective as the major search engines index your pages, potential clients save, bookmark and share them and so on.

Principle #3: Prepare

Occasionally, you will see so-called “independent” fighters in extremely low-level amateur MMA events. Oddly enough, these individuals never seem to become serious competitors in the sport. That is because you cannot effectively compete in mixed martial arts without a team, coaches and thousands upon thousands of hours of training and preparation.

Proper preparation is just as essential in inbound marketing as it is in MMA fighting. Take the time to educate yourself about your market, your industry and how best to tailor your inbound marketing efforts to them. Split testing multiple landing pages, installing tracking programs to analyze the traffic your pages receive and the like can help you accomplish this goal.

Principle #4: Counter

Finally, a high-level fighter must know when to aggressively press the attack, but he must also know when to hold back and wait for his opponent to make a mistake that creates an opening for a counter. Similarly, do not browbeat your customers with pushy sales attempts. Instead, give them easy access to helpful information that makes it clear you can meet their needs, allowing them to decide for themselves that you are right for them.

Whether your goal is to dominate the world of mixed martial arts or to help your business reach its full potential, pay attention to the habits of top MMA fighters. Those habits can be invaluable in either arena.