What exactly are inbound and outbound marketing?
Inbound and outbound marketing are two different forms of marketing. One is about attracting customers to you, while the other is about pushing your message out to your target audience. At its core, this is very similar to push and pull marketing, which you can read more about here.
Inbound marketing
Inbound marketing is about attracting customers to you and being present where searching customers are. This can be achieved through channels and tactics such as:
- Content Marketing: Relevant and valuable content that attracts your target audience.
- Search Engine Optimisation: Being present in the organic search results where your customers and potential customers seek to have their needs met.
- Search Engine Advertising: Being present through paid ads where your potential customers are looking for your service/product/company.
- Word of Mouth Marketing: Your target audience hears about you through, for example, friends, networks or family and therefore chooses to contact you.
- Email Marketing: Your customers actively choose to receive your messages etc. in their email inbox.
Outbound marketing
Outbound marketing, unlike inbound marketing, is about "pushing" your message out to your target audience without them having actively requested it. This can be done through channels and tactics such as:
- Traditional Marketing: Marketing through relevant traditional media such as newspapers, daily papers, TV, on buses, taxis, etc.
- SoMe Marketing: Marketing on relevant social media such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat, etc.
- Display Advertising: Marketing using banner ads on relevant websites.
- Cold Canvassing: Direct contact, e.g. by phone or email, with relevant customers.
Inbound vs. outbound marketing
As with everything else, there are advantages and disadvantages to both inbound and outbound marketing. Today, we typically see a shift from outbound (and traditional marketing and advertising) to inbound marketing (and valuable content, etc.) — especially as the digital landscape has grown and in combination with target audiences being "carpet-bombed" with ads everywhere.
Below, we give you a rough comparison of who most often wins on what when it comes to Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing.
We also very often see that the two methods work particularly well in synergy with each other. That is, both inbound and outbound methods are used — and the two methods are linked together to get the best out of each other and eliminate each other's disadvantages.
But what works best and delivers the best results depends 100% on the individual case.
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