Love and marriage – they really do go together like a horse and carriage! But does the same thing apply to inbound and outbound marketing, or are they the polar opposites some people seem to believe? And if they can co-exist, what’s the recipe for a happy “marriage” of the two concepts? How do you determine the right mix of elements to get maximum value? You’ll have to walk a fine line between them to get it right, but the rewards could be worth the effort!
Don’t Be Fooled!
Both outbound and inbound marketing in their purest forms are lies! Seriously. That’s because they both claim to be the answer to every problem you’ve ever had. The reality, however, is that neither one is the be-all and end-all, so stop fooling yourself that they are. The sooner you realize that there’s no “magic bullet” solution to selling your stuff, the quicker you can get down to the business of developing an effective marketing strategy instead.
Pick Your Promise
The promise of inbound marketing is that if you build it, “they” will come. Outbound, on the other hand, works on the promise that if you shout loudly enough, “they” won’t be able to ignore you. There’s no “one-size-fits-all” for any business; whatever it is that you sell, you’ll need to pick the promise that offers the best option for your business. Buying advertising space, sending out press releases, direct mail and email campaigns – it’s easy to prove the effectiveness of these forms of outbound marketing, and if you operate in certain marketplaces there’s no question some of them work. On the other hand, boosting traffic, delivering qualified leads and generating reliable statistics is also useful.
Identify the Route
All roads might lead to Rome, but the route by which they get there can be pretty different. Your end goal is probably to get more sales, but often the way you achieve it makes a difference to how well it works. Inbound marketing is great for generating intelligence on your customers, as opposed to simply selling to anonymous users. It also determines the way your company is perceived, which could make the world of difference to your brand reputation.
Inbound marketing is generally considered to be “permission” marketing, because:
- It’s initiated by the customer, not by the seller
- Prospective clients start the process by responding to a call to action, such as downloading some content, subscribing to a newsletter or following a blog
- Attracting traffic
- Converting visitors into leads
- Turning leads into sales
- Keeping customers coming back
- Continually checking stats and tweaking for maximum benefit
People hate being interrupted, and outbound or traditional marketing has always been based on the idea of “interruption” marketing, which takes the route of pushing information at the target market regardless of whether they want it or not. Some sticks, some doesn’t – it’s more of a hit and miss approach than inbound. It does get your company in front of many more eyeballs, although chances are good only those who are interested in your product will actually take notice.
Choose Your Timing
What do we want? More sales. When do we want them? Now! That’s the mantra that usually puts paid to long-term marketing strategies. Outbound marketing is fabulous for achieving awareness, but in the long term most companies want a bit more. If you’re looking to build ongoing customer relationships that maximize the lifetime value of each client, you need more than just a punt for your product that reaches people right away.
Integrating the Two
Inbound marketing takes longer to see results, but when you get them they’re good ones. Research choses that a buyer is 70% of the way en route to making a purchase by the time he (or she) contacts a sales person. That means (drum roll here) if they aren’t contemplating buying from you then it’s too late by then to capture them, and your opposition has won the day!
Other research shows, though, that outbound marketing is better than inbound for raising brand awareness, and that in fact it’s responsible for most people’s initial discovery of a product or service.
Integrating the two forms of marketing is not as simple as you might think. To use outbound to increase interest in your product that pays off in the end, you need to use it to continuously reach out to your target market and get them interested. Run those print ad campaigns, fund a new billboard or two and if you can afford a few television spots, that’s great! And given the cost of production for outbound, such as the filming of a video advertisement or the design work for a billboard, you only need to really spend money and time doing it once.
With inbound, it’s the complete opposite. Customers want and expect you to publish fresh, high quality content regularly. This means updating channels such as your blog, social media profiles and website content often with thought-provoking material that doesn’t seek to “sell” the customer. Where outbound can be more sales-y, it’s a death knell for inbound to do so.
Achieving a Balance
What this tells us is that you need both inbound and outbound marketing. To achieve a balance between the two, you need a marketing strategy that focuses on using outbound to develop awareness in the marketplace and inbound to generate qualified leads and retain customers. As long as both types of marketing are focused on achieving your company’s long-term goals, you’ll be able to maximize what each one does.
Getting it Right
Like all marriages, making it succeed takes hard work. There’s a time and a place to use outbound to grab the consumer’s attention any way you can. Although, a constant barrage of marketing-speak is likely to scare the customer away. At that point, you need a strong inbound marketing strategy that draws interested prospects into your sales funnel, provides in-depth information designed to build interest and capture useful customer intelligence.
Neither inbound nor outbound are meant to operate in a vacuum. By employing them both and putting them to work, however, you can blend the concepts and use them to build brand awareness, develop and nurture relationships with new and existing customers. Not only can the two forms of marketing co-exist, but they should co-exist in a harmonious and complementary fashion.
