
The Difference between Inbound and Outbound Marketing
Inbound marketing draws people in and outbound marketing pushes messages out – but what are the pros and cons? Is one better than the other? Letâs find out.
The terms âinboundâ and âoutboundâ marketing are often bandied about in marketing circles, but what exactly do they mean?
Put simply, inbound methods are ways that draw the consumer to you, and outbound methods are ways that blast a message out. Inbound is like a magnet, drawing specific people in â whereas outbound is like a megaphone, pushing a message out to all and sundry.
Both are useful and come with their own pros and cons, so letâs explore.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound methods are sometimes referred to as âattractâ or âpullâ marketing, and focus on attracting the attention of interested parties. Itâs a relatively newer type of marketing; and many (but not all) inbound methods are tech-based.
Inbound Marketing Examples
⢠Blogging and content marketing
⢠Earned/Organic social media presence
⢠SEO and online visibility efforts
⢠Opt-in email subscriptions (and subsequent email campaigns)
⢠Public speaking and event hosting
Inbound Marketing Advantages
⢠By writing blogs, creating content and generally proving your expertise with helpful advice, you position your company as a credible resource for information. This builds trust and creates a relationship of sorts with the reader. Inbound methods like this tend towards a lasting, trusting interaction between you and your audience.
⢠In creating this content, you are likely to reach people who are actively searching for what you offer. These people may view you as a useful resource and may well come back to you for future instalments. Because theyâre already interested in what you provide, theyâre more likely to be back. As their trust in you builds, it becomes more and more likely that they will engage with you and eventually purchase.
⢠As most inbound marketing methods are based in technology, they are generally easier to measure and analyse. For example, it may be troublesome tracking the success of a print marketing campaign, but an email campaign is easy to track as click counts get automatically registered and compiled.
⢠By using social media, posts with comments sections and reply-able email campaigns, you open up the potential for 2-way communications with your audience. Letting your audience have a say can contribute interesting views from the other side.
Inbound Marketing Disadvantages
⢠Inbound methods require constant work â SEO, blogging and social media all need regular updates to make the most of your efforts. Very few inbound methods are ones you can âset and forget.â
⢠Inbound marketing also requires a wide skill set, so doing it on your own or in a small team can be a pain. Web development, copywriting, social media, public speaking, SEO, analysis; depending on which inbound channels you are looking to pursue, most or all of these skills may be required.
⢠Itâs not just the time taken in creating the content and setting these things up youâll need to concern yourself with, but sorting through the wealth of analytical data that comes with using these methods. All good marketing efforts require thorough analysis to make sure theyâre working, so you need to plan for analytical time taken.
⢠You have to select the correct kind of marketing for your field. Inbound methods tend to reach internet users, so if your target demographic is not typically online, inbound marketing may not be useful to you.
Outbound Marketing
Many âtraditionalâ marketing methods are outbound. Outbound is sometimes called âinterruptionâ marketing because it interrupts a person from what theyâre doing; or called âpushâ marketing because it pushes a message out rather than drawing people in.
Outbound Marketing Examples
⢠Cold sales calls
⢠Display advertising (posters, billboards, or flyers)
⢠Paid reviews in magazines and online
⢠TV/radio advertising
⢠Paid social media advertising and presence
⢠Email, search and comment spam
⢠Direct postal mail campaigns
Outbound Marketing Advantages
⢠Outbound marketing has the benefit of familiarity on its side. When using traditional methods like TV, radio and billboards, there is a certain level of establishment to the medium. These are the sorts of ads people are used to seeing, especially if youâre marketing to an older audience.
⢠Methods such as print and media advertising usually get a response quite quickly. If you are after some fast revenue, using appropriate outbound methods may be for you.
⢠Though inbound marketing relies on constant production and updating, if your current outbound media (such as ads and posters) are still accurate, working and relevant, thereâs no reason to invest time and energy creating new materials.
⢠Outbound methods can establish brand recognition very quickly and efficiently, especially if itâs not something youâve done before. By starting to market outwards, you make yourself visible to a wider spectrum of people. In doing so, you may reach new markets you had previously underestimated.
Outbound Marketing Disadvantages
⢠The exposure that outbound methods gather is usually quick, but not lasting. It doesnât build relationships like inbound methods do. If thatâs what youâre after, outbound methods may be too transient for you.
⢠Outbound marketing is like a megaphone; it blasts your message out and doesnât allow for two-way communication.
⢠The return on investment tends to be less measureable when using TV, radio and print advertising compared to more âtechyâ methods. Your salespeople can always ask âwhere did you hear about us,â but this isnât as reliable as automated analytics.
⢠Outbound methods can be targeted to a set audience, but generally by their very nature they advertise to more non-interested parties than interested ones. This increases the cost per head for every successful sale/enquiry. Repetition is a big part of making outbound methods successful, potentially further increasing this cost.
⢠With the Internet becoming more pervasive, consumers can be sceptical towards traditional marketing methods; generally preferring to find things out for themselves. This is why social media ratings and review sites have become so popular. People trust other peopleâs opinions more than they trust what theyâre told in an advertisement.
Inbound or Outbound – The Verdict?
If only it were as straightforward as a simple âyayâ or ânayâ one way or the other. No two businesses are alike, so take an objective look at your own marketing efforts and figure out whatâs working and what isnât. If there is a new market youâd like to reach, consider how you can reach them in ways you arenât at the moment.
The real joy of these two marketing methods is that they arenât mutually exclusive. Thereâs no need to pick a side. Maintain what has been proven to work for your company in the past; but research appropriate and interesting ways of reaching new markets. Itâs this approach that is key to effective marketing â test, analyse and refine.
Different industries may find more success with inbound than outbound or vice versa, but sometimes doing things differently to your peers can really pay off.