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If you mention the words “inbound marketing” and “outbound marketing” among marketing professionals, you’ll likely find yourself involved in a bit of a debate. Inbound and outbound marketing are two very different approaches to marketing a business, product or service, and, basically, every type of online advertising will fall into one (or the other) of those categories.
Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is a term that refers to the process of driving your potential customers to your business by getting out there and going where those potential customers are. When you engage in inbound marketing, you are actually engaging with your customers, trying to draw them to your business, whether it’s your website or a brick and mortar store. There are many different types of inbound marketing. For example, using blogging or social media to drive traffic to your website would be considered inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is a great way to really connect with potential customers by building a relationship with them and many business owners find it to be their most successful approach.
On the other hand, we have outbound marketing, which is the flip side of inbound marketing. When you engage in outbound marketing, you are trying to drag in potential customers by interrupting them to get their attention. Outbound marketing methods can be very successful because they allow you to reach a large number of people at a time, in hopes that at least a few of them will end up customers. Where inbound marketing is more about building a relationship, outbound marketing is about going where a bunch of people are, and interrupting whatever they are doing to let them know about what YOU are doing. Commercials, cold calling, website pop ups, direct mail, and email marketing campaigns are all examples of outbound marketing.
The debate part usually comes in over which is more effective. Nowadays, many businesses are beginning to move more toward outbound marketing, but the truth is that there is no one size fits all answer. Figuring out whether you should go with inbound or outbound marketing for your business will actually depend on your business and what you do, because each has its own pros and cons to consider – as an example, outbound marketing methods allow you to reach a large number of people at once, as with a TV commercial, which is a positive. However, many outbound marketing methods actually really annoy people, which is a definite negative. The trick is finding the right balance for your business’s demographic, and using it to your best advantage, because once you discover the right method for you, the sales – and profits – will follow.
Your Next Step
If you’re looking to develop a solid inbound marketing plan for your business, JSA Interactive can help! To get started, simply request a quote, tell us what you need, and a JSA Interactive representative will be in touch soon to discuss your options and how we can help. And for more information on what we’ve done for our clients so you can get an even better idea of what we can do for you, we invite you to please check out one (or all!) of our free case studies, available for download instantly.
