How to use inbound vs. outbound marketing [Complete Guide]

Should I use inbound or outbound marketing? Where do you find that balance between inbound and outbound marketing to maximize and grow your lead flow? What should you consider when crafting a synergistic marketing mix to include both? To answer all of these questions, let’s start by understanding each of the marketing techniques, their strengths and weaknesses.

What is outbound marketing?
Outbound marketing can be simply described as a simple business exchange proposition. “Hey, do you want to buy my thing?” it’s your basic outbound marketing message and approach. It’s the oldest and most fundamental part of any marketing strategy, and it’s also what non-marketers assume marketing is all about.

Examples of outbound marketing include telemarketing (“cold calling”), paid mails (both electronic and “snail mail”), advertising (mailers, radio spots, billboards, etc.), and even door sales. to door. It’s about getting closer and attracting the potential customer.

Outbound Marketing Strengths
Not only is it the oldest and best polished set of techniques, outbound marketing generates leads almost immediately. It goes beyond saying it’s not a magic wand, but when it comes to “sealing the deal,” your go-to tools are the ones in your exit tool belt.

1. Easier to measure ROI

2. Faster to show impact

3. Potentially personalized

Outbound Marketing Weaknesses
Many companies and brands love outbound marketing for its quick and easy-to-measure results. However, they equally hate the cost and all too often the reaction of the target audience, which can easily generate negative sentiment towards the brand.

1. Intrusive

2. Expensive

3. Ineffective on its own

What is Inbound Marketing?
In short, the idea of ​​inbound marketing is to create a pull effect to attract pre-qualified leads instead of sending intrusive messages.

Inbound marketing activities include optional email marketing, content production and promotion, social media, and search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, among other things.

With this method, you create a type of funnel with leads that enter the top of the funnel (TOFU) and are “fed” into the funnel with marketing messages tailored to the stage the potential customer is in until are “ready” to be approached with a message aimed at starting the buying process.

Inbound Marketing Strengths
Although it existed long before social media and even online sales, inbound methodology has taken digital advertising by storm in the last decade. With the increasing blindness of banners, “do not call” lists, and the increasing cost of user attention, it is no wonder that many brands and businesses include inbound marketing in their strategies.

1. Profitable

2. Non-intrusive

3. Wide

Inbound Marketing Weaknesses
For B2B marketers, it’s often difficult to explain the value of inbound marketing to executives who just want to see those leads flow and convert. It is no longer a new approach and methodology, and yet there are reasons why brands are sometimes hesitant to prioritize inbound marketing activities.

1. Slow to show results

2. More difficult to measure

3. Impersonal

Crafting your marketing mix
Let’s go back to the question we started with: which one should I use, inbound or outbound? By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each, you can see why both are necessary ingredients in your marketing mix. But how much of each and when?

Several variables affect the ratio of inputs and outputs for each brand, product, campaign, and even specific transaction. The impact of some may be less than others, depending on your unique business and product.

Offer size

kind of product

Funnel internships

Marketing mix and match
Combining inbound methodologies and outbound marketing techniques into your marketing mix isn’t always easy, but it’s generally worth it. By defining the right balance between inbound extraction techniques and outbound push techniques, you can combine both to create an optimized lead nurturing and conversion process. It all depends on how well you know your target audience and how willing you are to put in the effort to meet their needs along the funnel journey.