I’ve talked a lot about how embracing inbound marketing can lead to success. Today, I’d like to take a moment to talk about the differences between outbound marketing and inbound marketing and why one style is getting better results n today’s socially-driven world.
Let’s start with outbound marketing. This is a strategy where an organization advertises its products and services by exhibiting the information to consumers even if they are not necessarily looking for those services. A lot of people refer to this type of strategy as “interrupt marketing.” Some examples of this are a T.V. commercial, radio ad, telephone solicitation, direct mailers, a billboard, etc.. Not only are these things usually poorly timed and annoying, they are usually extremely expensive. For small business owners, paying exorbitant amounts of money on a T.V. ad with no promise of success can be detrimental. For larger organizations, however, this strategy can provide better awareness of their product to a national audience. But realistically, how many people still watch commercials ever since the invention of TIVO and DVR? I know I don’t. The cost just doesn’t outweigh the benefits anymore.
Inbound marketing is a much more affordable and practical strategy. It focuses on bringing people to you, instead of the other way around. I read a great article that summed inbound marketing up quite nicely. “The idea of inbound marketing is that you target a core audience by providing useful and quality content to entice them into finding out more about your products or services. So, in essence, you give them something in order to get them to come to you.” This is because you’re targeting the people who are actually interested in what you have to offer! It is better to narrow your focus on the consumers who want your product than to blanket advertise to every consumer around.
Times have changed. Actually, it seems more accurate to say that times are constantly changing and adapting. Technology upgrades all the time and there are new things to obsess over. The latest trend is always adapting and so must we. When Facebook and Twitter became a worldwide concept, marketers everywhere took full advantage.
The reason outbound marketing has become less and less relevant is mainly because of this idea of adaptation. Technology and trends made it easier to reach a larger amount of people with a simple topic. Inbound marketing focuses on earning your attention through social media and engaging content rather than forcing you to sit through boring commercials about which floor cleaner to buy. Inbound marketing is the wave of the future, so isn’t it time you started surfing that wave?
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