Inbound Vs. Outbound Marketing – 8 Things You Should Know

Inbound marketing and outbound marketing definitely have their differences, but remember, they are still both marketing efforts that are used for the same purpose – to get customers and gain sales.

1. Different Tactics

Outbound marketing is often noted as being “pushy” and “disruptive” to the average person. We have all experience outbound marketing at some point in our lives. This can be recognized as very general, one-way messages that are often aired on television, billboards, digital advertising, radio messages, cold calls, and email blasts. Outbound marketing isn’t as effective as it once used to be because of the intrusive and annoying factors of those marketing efforts.

Inbound marketing, on the other hand, is more subtle and definitely more engaging with your specific crowd. With an inbound marketing strategy in place, you can expect to have a very interested audience that is attracted to your products or services and the brand itself. Of course, inbound marketing is all done on the internet compared to outbound platforms, but the difference this makes is unbeatable. Inbound marketing has the advantage of charming people, in a sense, rather than sending a bland message across to millions of people who more than half won’t even be interested in your brand. Plus, more people would rather learn about a company through its content and knowledge offered compared to coming across an advertisement.

2. Cost

You will definitely see a dent made in your marketing budget if you use outbound marketing techniques. Inbound marketing costs about half the price tag of outbound marketing. 

Although inbound marketing is more budget friendly, don’t let that have a downplay on its results. The way our Boston Inbound Marketing Agency utilizes this strategy will bring you a better ROI at the end of the day. While spending less and generating content more frequently, you will see more leads come in compared to outbound marketing. 

3. Knowledge

Outbound marketing can be described as “basic knowledge” whereas inbound marketing is “detailed knowledge.” When you are searching for a product or service, which do you prefer? Most people would want a full download of what a brand has to offer rather than a quick blurb that barely tells you about the company.  

By creating detailed-related content and data-driven pages on your website, blog, campaigns, or any other platform, you are setting your customer base up to want to take an action with your brand. It can be frustrating getting a cold call or quick spam-looking email that doesn’t really offer you much detail or value about a company. That’s where inbound marketing comes in and changes this situation for the better.

GoingClear, a Boston Inbound Marketing Agency, specializes in creating detail-oriented content to attract just the right people for your business. We wouldn’t want to see anything less for you. Not only do we create goals for ourselves, but we strive to exceed your expectations and goals through our inbound marketing efforts.

4. Quality

Outbound marketing is known for its lack of quality within its advertisements. Inbound marketing gives your audience a better sense of who exactly you are and what exactly you have to offer them.  Inbound marketing also makes your prospects feel more valued than outbound marketing. When you have content that is tailored just for you on a website, in a blog, or through a campaign, you feel the value you bring to that particular brand. It also helps build trust when you have quality content. Outbound marketing is more traditional, straightforward advertising that doesn’t have much backstory to make you trust a brand. That’s why inbound marketing is more cherished.

5. Long Term Solutions

Sometimes outbound marketing is more of a short term plan for your business’s marketing goals compared to inbound marketing. Inbound marketing focuses on creating content that is strategic and knowledgeable. Outbound marketing focuses on getting your brand name out there with a quick message about your service or product in hopes of getting in front of the right people. 

With inbound marketing, you are guaranteed to get in front of the right audience with your long term content plan. The different platforms you can deliver your content on is much more diverse and hands on, in a sense, compared to outbound marketing. You can also personalize content more which can be changed and tweaked in your future campaigns, SEO text or blogs. Outbound marketing is very straightforward and usually lacks the passionate, knowledgeable content inbound delivers. 

6. Different Impacts

Inbound marketing is more impactful and measurable compared to outbound marketing. Of course you can measure outbound marketing, but the data is usually skewed. Inbound marketing is more neat and clean when gathering data and reports. Not only are you able to see the dramatic, positive effects of inbound marketing, but you are also able to measure that data to see what else you can improve on going forward. 

Outbound marketing is harder to measure because those efforts are usually very straightforward with little wiggle room for changes. The impact of outbound marketing isn’t that dramatic compared to inbound marketing. It’s very obstructive and doesn’t want to make prospect a customer for life. That’s why our Boston Inbound Marketing Agency specializes in inbound tactics. We want to offer you the most for you dollar, while bringing in the best results through these marketing efforts. 

7. Integrations

Sometimes it’s okay to have multiple marketing strategies running together. They might not all collaborate or tie to one another, which is why our Boston Inbound Marketing Agency wants to point that out. 

By having both inbound and outbound strategies running simultaneously , both of these can jointly work together to create a better outcome for prospects and existing customers. Outbound is usually the first thing people would see. If they are interested in the more general message you send across, then research on your company would be next. This is why having content that matches is vital. It shows a sense of consistency, which in turn can help build trust. 

It’s also important to make sure your inbound marketing efforts build off of your outbound marketing efforts. Since outbound is usually straightforward and to the point, your inbound should be reiterating that information but also taking it to the next level. This means making prospects more knowledgeable about your services or products, while also being personable and adding value.

8. Team Collaboration

When you think outbound marketing, you just think of a marketing team doing their job to create and execute advertisements. Outbound marketing is more “flat” compared to inbound marketing when it comes to cross-team collaboration. 

Within the inbound marketing strategy, you can work across multiple departments to build and carry out a successful campaign or content on your website. Whatever the platform may be, you can work with your services team or your sales team to carry through an even stronger plan than outbound marketing techniques.