How Inbound And Outbound Marketing Complement Each Other

Inbound And Outbound Marketing
Appleing/Shutterstock.com
Summary: A marketing “coin” must have two sides—the inbound and the outbound. If you wish to incentivize prospects and receive better ROIs, you can’t have the “coin” missing one side. Read more to find out why.

Inbound And Outbound Marketing

In the inbound vs. outbound marketing face-off, there is no real winner. In fact, the two forms of marketing are most profitable when implemented together.

Think about it: While inbound methods help you streamline efforts to reach and engage a target audience, outbound methods help you build brand awareness. The different tactics employed in the two marketing approaches can reach a far wider yet niche audience for improved lead generation and prospect conversions.

A gross oversimplification of the two approaches doesn’t help at all. Professionals must realize how the two tactics can be used in harmony to generate more opportunities and bring more prospects into the sales funnel.

Why Must Marketing Be Looked At In Two Broad Categories?

Inbound marketing is, in a sense, a more refined and narrowed form of outbound tactics. For executing successful advertising campaigns, marketers should put greater value into integrating the two approaches.

At the end of the day, your chances at success will depend more on the value of information that you are providing to your audience than on what marketing tactics you use. A study conducted in 2020 by the Content Marketing Institute reports that 69% of successful B2B marketers have a documented content strategy. If your content isn’t providing any real solutions, none of the marketing tactics will work in your favor. Quality content will always reign supreme.

Although many marketers give preference to inbound marketing today, the vitality of outbound tactics to a brand cannot be dismissed. Outbound marketing continues to be the most effective way of building brand familiarity and starting conversations.

The smarter way out is to keep aside the differences while focusing on the pros of these two marketing approaches. Not only will you be creating more effective campaigns but you will also be bringing in potential leads. And that is the mark of a good marketing strategy.

Inbound Vs. Outbound: What All The Fuss Is About

Outbound marketing is a more traditional form of marketing. Think email spam, billboards, TV ads, radio ads, text messages, cold-calling, telemarketing, etc. These methods are used to reach a wide range of audiences that may or may not be the target. So by broadcasting on a larger network, outbound tactics benefit brands by creating an audio and visual presence. They bring brand familiarity and widen reach.

On the other hand, inbound methods have a rather focal approach when reaching out to an audience. Most of the content creation is dependent on the interests of a niche audience that is more likely to join the sales funnel. The content is backed by Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that involves the target keywords for better search ranking results. At the same time, engagement with the target audience is more solution-oriented and personalized.

In both cases, the primary difference is in the way these marketing methods spread brand awareness, engage an audience, what sort of audience, and how they do so.

So while outbound methods such as direct mails, cold-calls, or TV ads offer a rather impersonal and wide reach to attract leads, inbound methods adopt data analytics to determine the buyer’s persona and target content accordingly.

And the markets are getting competitive with an abundance of optimized content. A research study estimates that by 2020, 80% of the B2B buying process will take place with zero human contact. Thus, marketers must develop ingenious ways to produce quality content for enhanced lead conversions.

Bridging The Gap Between Outbound And Inbound Methods

Leads are more likely to become buyers when they are nurtured with quality content. Data intelligence gathered through inbound methods is highly effective in this respect. Since it narrows down the niche targets, you are armed with intelligence regarding content that will engage, foster interaction, and convert prospective buyers.

For better ROIs, try marketing content developed through inbound methods with outbound tactics. This could involve direct mails that have links to blog posts, newsletter subscriptions, or other audio-visual content. And it all depends on how effective your Call-To-Action is to lead a prospect inside the sales funnel.

This will be invaluable to your email marketing. Mail that is conversational and provides hyper-personalized content is preferred largely; it has higher chances of attracting leads. When your content is relevant and compelling, even outbound advertising campaigns that are usually disruptive are received well by the audience.

Look at the integration this way, markets are saturated with optimized content. Landing a good search engine result is not a piece of cake. If your content is not able to reach its target audience, it is ineffective. And inbound tactics might take a good amount of time before they start to yield any satisfying results.

If you want to build a larger audience, outbound broadcasting methods are the best. If your outbound ad campaign is entertaining, it may not be seen as an intrusion. After all, outbound advertising methods have been in practice for decades now. They can bring your inbound content the credibility it deserves.

Right Budget Allocation

The first step of any marketing plan is determining the budget. Without a goal-specific budget, you cannot allocate the right amount toward the right marketing tactic. You can use inbound methods of extracting data to compare past plans. This will assist you in understanding which marketing approaches work for you.

Outbound tactics can be costlier but they are quick in generating traffic. If you have effective CTAs in your outbound tactics combined with inbound methods of content creation and engagement, your strategy will be successful.

The idea is to know which tactic will bring you greater results by attracting leads, creating more conversion cycles, and brand returns. When that is covered, a better budget allocation can be done for fruitful gains.

In Summation

The two forms of marketing complement each other supremely well. By integrating outbound and inbound approaches, you can meet your revenue goals in record time. A smart marketer understands this and uses it to the brand’s advantage.

It will be extremely foolish to choose one approach over the other. The key is to focus on tactics that bring higher ROIs and foster customer relationships. After all, your campaign’s success is determined not by the methods of marketing but by how ingenious and informative your content is.

Using inbound methods to develop engaging content and outbound methods to make them reach an audience is what helps businesses. This is how an integrated approach is vital to your brand’s growth.

Your Cart