Last Updated on August 21, 2022 by rida
What is the difference between inbound and outbound marketing ? What are the advantages of one and the other and what are the methods to develop them?
In this quick article we want to provide you with a general overview that will allow you to better understand how distant but at the same time complementary these communication methods of yours are, and why the first has definitely surpassed the second , placing itself at the top of the most advanced approaches in terms of marketing.
Outbound marketing is now almost universally identified as traditional marketing , and it is the only modality that companies used until a few years ago. This method essentially involved a one -way communication of the brand to the rest of the world .
The main limitation of this approach lay not only in its poor investment / benefit ratio , nor in the transversality of the target that is hit, very generic , but rather in its intrinsic characteristic of forcing and imposing one’s message on the audience . It is no coincidence, in fact, that outbound marketing is also referred to as “ interruption marketing ”.
The limits of this strategic approach are naturally very evident, and concern the interruption of the user while he is doing something else, indiscriminately and without his consent . The classic example of outbound marketing that we can do for you is that of the TV commercial that interrupts your favorite show.
However, if we think of outbound marketing today , and integrate it into a more complex synergy of tools and approaches and, for example, in Marketing Automation , its techniques can be ” positivized ” through targeted actions towards an audience that has already shown a real interest in our product or service, and therefore will be better prepared to receive our advertising message .
In practice, outbound marketing gives its best only when it works in communion with inbound marketing , since it turns into a virtuous opportunity for companies to seek and create communication with previously profiled interlocutors. In this sense, therefore, the method turns out to be correct .
As for inbound marketing , it is now identified as the new generation marketing , which does not focus on general and blanket communication but on the production of quality content capable of attracting users to a specific product or service, because the brand that proposes it is able to leverage on satisfying a need or solving a problem by offering real answers . In this way, the ability to discriminate the reference target derived from its precise identification already reduces the margin of “disturbance” of the user, and therefore of error .by the company. At the same time, it goes without saying that the ratio between cost and benefit also increases.
In terms of method, inbound marketing is not an action but a strategic plan consisting of a series of tactics that operate simultaneously or in succession: from SEO to Content Marketing, from Email Marketing to Local Advertising, and so on.
That inbound marketing is exponentially more effective than outbound is now proven, but of course the principle is that the strategy is studied correctly. In the event that this occurs, we will be faced with the main advantages of this approach methodology , which we present to you in brief:
- It is able to attract higher quality leads , i.e. it largely eliminates random users and focuses on potentially interested ones
- It facilitates the conversion process , because an increase in traffic to the company’s web channels corresponds to a greater propensity to fill out forms and positive responses to calls to action
- It allows the creation of high quality lead database , according to the previous step
- Correctly frame the lead and prepare it for purchase , warming it up before the purchasing action through marketing actions timely and correct from the point of view of content and personalization
- It increases the brand image and strengthens it, thanks to the proposal of quality content and the improvement of its service (a personalized offer is considered better)
- Create a real interaction with the acquired and potential customer , through the structuring of complete marketing paths that follow the user from the initial knowledge phase to the post-sales and repurchase one
Are you ready to talk to us about advanced marketing ? Come and visit us in NAXA !
Read More: Inbound marketing, 5 fundamental principles
