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Outbound Marketing
Definition
Outbound marketing or “outbound marketing” consists of reaching out to the consumer through marketing and commercial actions, by going to find him where he is.
In outbound marketing, here are the “traditional” levers that businesses use:
- Email campaigns
- SMS campaigns
- Social Media Ads
- sponsored links
- Media and non-media advertisements: TV, press, radio...
- point of sale advertising (POS)
- the purchase of advertising space
Benefits
Outbound marketing has a few advantages that should not be overlooked:
- The Outbound marketing promotes brand awareness, helping you reach people who have not yet heard of your products or services.
- The Outbound marketing can provide immediate results, and people interested in your products and services are likely to follow up on your ads and make a purchase.
- Consumers are used to Outbound marketing • they know that there will be advertisements in the Sunday newspaper or on television and can trust these advertisements more than those shown to them on more recent technological media.
Challenge
The Outbound marketing can be difficult to set up. Here are some disadvantages of Outbound marketing :
- It is difficult to return the Outbound marketing attractive and relevant for everyone, which is why outbound marketing is more widespread.
- It is easy for consumers to turn a deaf ear to the Outbound marketing • Many people mute the TV during advertisements or immediately throw away or recycle their junk mail.
- It is difficult to measure the effectiveness of certain strategies of Outbound marketing, like billboards.
- The Outbound marketing is expensive: going to trade shows, paying for banner ads, and buying display space add up.
Globally, the Outbound marketing consists of sending a message on a large scale, while the inbound marketing has a very targeted approach. The probability that at least a few people will convert as a result of your efforts to Outbound marketing is high, but it is often associated with a high acquisition cost.
Rather than shouting the name of your product from the roofs and hoping that a few people respond, the content of the inbound marketing can be finely tuned to attract prospects that are best for you.
Inbound Marketing
Definition
Inbound marketing or literally inbound marketing, is a marketing strategy whose objective is to bring the consumer to a brand.
In inbound marketing, here are the “traditional” levers that businesses use:
- Blog posts
- Social networks
- SEO (Natural referencing)
- Newsletters
- Webinars
- White Papers/Lead Magnets
- Podcasts
- Videos
- Case studies
READ MORE: What is inbound marketing?
Benefits
Inbound marketing has several benefits that can help you determine if it's the right strategy for your business:
- Inbound marketing is no invasive : Prospects can read your blog posts or attend a webinar whenever they want.
- Inbound marketing content is educational - it is specifically designed for each stage of the sales funnel
- Inbound marketing is quantifiable • You can link each part of your strategy to a metric that is tracked over time.
- Your website and content are updated constantly, so that inbound marketing continues to attract qualified prospects over time.
Challenges
Of course, the inbound marketing not suitable for all businesses. There are a few downsides to focusing on digital content:
- The inbound marketing requires ongoing maintenance, to ensure that the content always meets the ever-changing wishes and needs of consumers.
- Specialists in inbound marketing spend a lot of time and effort developing and testing different content that will encourage customers to convert.
- The inbound marketing requires a holistic strategy, which means you'll need to buy tools to help you implement integrated, cross-channel campaigns.
Which strategy to use depending on the size of a business
The smaller the business is...
The smaller the business, the more inbound marketing is omnipresent.
- For businesses with fewer than 25 employees, inbound is used by 84% of businesses, compared to only 13% for outbound.
- For businesses with fewer than 200 employees, outbound is deployed by 27% of businesses, compared to 71% for inbound.
- For businesses with more than 200 employees, outbound and inbound tactics are used equally.
The bigger the business...
The bigger the business, the bigger the budgets. Outbound channels such as display and paid searches can cost tens of thousands of euros in a single day.For businesses that have a large budget to spend, these channels are naturally suitable.
Does the size of the company have an impact on the ROI of inbound or outbound?
The size of a business has no impact on the perceived return on investment of inbound. On average, 50% of respondents say they have a better return on investment using inbound marketing, while around 14% consider outbound to be the channel with the best return on investment.
What inbound or outbound marketing strategy should you use at each stage of the conversion funnel?
Each stage of maturity of your customers in their purchasing decision requires an adapted Inbound or Outbound strategy. That's why it's important to understand your company's sales process like the back of your hand.
A single strategy or a mix of both?
There are no magic bullet solutions when it comes to marketing. Every business is different. A variety of tactics are needed to reach the right people in the right way. Your strategy is defined by the behavior of your users.
Some businesses rely primarily on inbound tactics to generate qualified leads, sprinkling outbound tactics where necessary.
Les bigger and more established businesses have built their society ONLY using outbound marketing tactics, but are now exploring new methods.
As technology develops and consumers expect more thoughtful, personalized communication, marketers need to adapt. Marketers will also continue to face increased ROI challenges because the consumer experience is becoming more fragmented and more competitive.
To do this, the right marketing mix is vital.
What motivates the decision to choose the right strategy (s)?
In the end, it's at each company to understand the journey of its customers and the channels that lead to success.
Businesses that focus on ROI, regardless of size, should favor inbound tactics, while outbound tactics should be used with caution and with a higher degree of control.
Is the outbound dying?
Les outbound tactics have undeniably fallen into disuse, but that doesn't mean they're going to disappear completely.
The abandonment of these tactics by businesses will create a less dense and less expensive space. That fact alone could lead to opportunities.
Additionally, businesses that don't focus on the ROI of these tactics will likely continue to invest in uncontrolled channels. Finally, businesses that are able to demonstrate the return on investment of outbound methods (difficult, but not impossible) will continue to invest in these channels, and rightly so.
