Inbound vs Outbound Marketing

A Brief Overview

As a business owner, you understand there are a lot of different types of marketing tactics that you have at your fingertips. Examples of these tactics are pay-per-click (PPC), email marketing, billboards, tv and radio ads, YouTube videos, and many more. Although these tactics will sometimes be used for both inbound and outbound marketing, it’s important to know where they fit into your overall marketing strategy. So, let’s start with a basic definition of inbound and outbound. To put it simply, inbound marketing has to do with helping people that are actively looking for a product or service find your business. Whereas outbound marketing has to do with creating demand for your product or service. These people are not actively searching for you, they may not even realize they need your business. 

Inbound Marketing

Just by reading those broad definitions of inbound and outbound, you probably already made a few observations about both. There are a few things you need to know about inbound marketing:

1. Inbound is typically less expensive. 
2. Inbound is typically easier to convert customers.
3. Inbound typically has a shorter sales cycle.

So at this point you’re probably thinking inbound marketing sounds great! This is true. However, with inbound you are at the mercy of the market. There has to be demand for your product or service. Here are few examples of companies that can rely heavily on inbound marketing:

• Home Service Companies (contractors, deck builders, plumbers, electricians, etc)
• Consumer Products (shoes, cars, tools, etc)
• Other Service Companies (auto service, chiropractors, dentists, primary care doctors, etc)

In all of these examples, there is existing high demand for the product or service. There are people everywhere looking for these products or services on a daily basis. Oftentimes, you don’t need 12-20 touch points to convert your target into a paying customer. They are ready to buy now, they have an immediate need, and the customer wants to close the sale for you.

Outbound Marketing

As we stated earlier, outbound marketing is focused on going out and creating awareness for your product or service. This comes with some inherent challenges:

1. Outbound is typically more expensive.
2. Outbound is typically harder to convert customers. 
3. Outbound can usually have longer sales cycles.

So, why is it automatically more expensive and harder to convert customers with outbound? To put it simply, they usually don’t think they need you or they don’t have the urgency to close a sale (no immediate need). This means that you have to spend marketing dollars on creating awareness for your brand, helping them understand why they need your product, and convincing them that their life will be better after they buy. Here are few examples of companies that can rely more heavily on outbound marketing:

• B2B software as a service companies (data analysis tools, research tools, etc)
• Non-profits 
• Events, concerts, etc
• Industrial companies (electrical suppliers, construction companies, etc)

In these companies, you’ll notice a common thread. These are larger decisions that carry more risk. They also typically require existing relationships from networking. For example, industrial suppliers typically have an existing network of relationships. They don’t go on google and look for other suppliers in their area.

A Blended Marketing Strategy

In the end, your company probably needs a blended strategy. If potential customers are actively searching for solutions you provide, then this is definitely “low hanging fruit” that needs to be capitalized on. However, brand awareness is still extremely important for your business, especially in certain markets that are competitive and in lower demand. If you’re interested in learning more about your market, you can schedule a free marketing consultation with us today! We would love to talk with you.