Inbound v. Outbound Marketing
Often a sore subject for many traditional-style marketers, the difference between the two types of marketing can mean a lot to your organization and your budget. Similar to traffic, your brand’s message is either going outward to attract people or stay central to bring people inward to you. I’m not here to say they’re mutually exclusive either, but knowing their differences is a requirement in 2015 because they are so vast.
The sore spots on “outbound marketing” lay in the fact that they are getting more and more antiquated compared to their tech-savvy counterparts. Generating leads in the outbound fashion mean filling your sales funnel/putting your efforts for conversions in cold calling, print ads, purchased email list blasts, and even some trade shows. It’s outbound because you’re continually pushing your message out as bait hoping there are some fish that will bite. What’s more is that it’s much harder to measure ROI on things, such as a billboard. Consider how often people are bombarded with traditional marketing and advertising. As an “inbound marketing,” I know I’m even desensitized to banner ads much less a newspaper ad. You have to be very good and very creative to make an impact in those spaces now and that takes even more money than the ads already cost. Might as well try a guerrilla approach!
The bright side of things is that “inbound marketing” is so much more tailored. You put out quality content that helps your bolster your brand’s story but also attracting the people who are already looking for YOU. You use your website as an anchor and coordinate your Social and Search strategy – implement a fun blog – and people will probably start to trust your brand more than they would with the outbound approach. You become more dynamic and approachable with your online presence in the same strategy. People will love this approach a lot more and you’re saving yourself a pretty penny too; not to mention it’s all online and all measurable! Personally, I prefer letting people come to me and they appreciate taking the cheesy/sales pitch away – maybe it’s a generational thing =)!