Differences between Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing

Differences between Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing. Both inbound marketing and outbound marketing are concepts that originated at the same time in 2005. The first one refers to how to attract buyers naturally, offering content of interest to capture their attention. The other talks about a buyer reaching your brand on its own, without looking for it, and buying something. 

 

Both techniques have their audience because each person has their preferences. But as the owner of a brand, what do you prefer? A brand always present waiting for you to need its good or services? Or a brand present regardless of whether you will need it or not? The first option, right? We thought so. 

 

 However, before you know which of these two terms will be better for your brand, you must know what they mean. Besides, you should pay attention to its advantages and other factors. These will allow you to find out which one will be the most effective option to meet your goals.

 

What is inbound marketing?

 

Today, the user plays a vital role for any brand. After all, they have the power to decide what they want to buy and when are going to do it. In fact, the user even chooses what means to use to find the product they need. Because of this, and due to the newest technological advances, such as the Internet, most users prefer Google over a salesperson.

 

So, inbound marketing works once you know what you search and in what way users search the internet, or in this case, your potential customers. In this way, you can be there when you need the products that your brand offers.

 

Inbound marketing uses a methodology divided into 4 stages:

 

• Attract
• Turn into
• Shut down
• Delight

 

For each of these stages to work properly, you must have high-quality content on your site. Similarly, it is also important that you recognize what your potential customers are looking for. At each stage, clients will look for different items, and recognizing them will be helpful.

 

Let’s say that you have a potential client named Marcos. So, if you know what he wants from your brand’s site, you will know how to get him there. In this sense, you will be able to guide him through the purchase process. After this, here can recommend your business to his friends or family.

 

As you can see, one of the goals of inbound marketing is to turn strangers into promoters of your brand. However, for this to happen you must offer the highest quality content both on your website and on your blog. Only in this way will you be able to attract greater visibility.

 

Besides, the content you offer must meet the needs of your clients and must have a call to action as a compliment.

 

What could be the call to action? 

 

• Offer a free series.
• Download an E-Book.
• A practical guide.
• Or a wallpaper.

 

Of course, when providing a call to action, ask in exchange to fill out a form to obtain data of interest to your brand. As this explained process takes place, a user considered to be a stranger will become a potential customer.

 

Digital marketing is the best option you have available for the growth of your brand. And thanks to this tool you can make use of techniques such as sending email and adding content on your social networks to continue showing your customers that they have made a good decision trusting your brand.

 

Elements of Inbound marketing

 

Similarly, inbound marketing goes hand in hand with the buyer persona and the buyer journey.

 

The buyer journey consists of the journey that the user takes when doing an internet search. These would be the stages of the buyer’s journey:

 

• Recognition stage.
• Consideration stage.
• Decision stage.

 

During each of the stages that the buyer goes through, you will have to offer different content. Therefore, you should take advantage of the decision stage to talk about your brand, and of course your product.

 

As for the buyer persona, it works by creating what would become your ideal client. For this, you must follow real data that you will get through speculation, industry information, or by interviewing your current clients.

 

Behavioral patterns and demographics will also be paramount in creating your buyer persona. As a result, you will be able to determine which content is the best fit for your potential customers, and this way you will not waste your time or effort on a plan that will not pay off.

 

What is outbound marketing?

 

Traditional marketing is made up of outbound marketing, and it’s very common to see it through print advertisements or on radio and television. For many years we have seen this type of marketing being used in the commerce sector. Today, we can see it through the banners that appear when you enter a certain website.

 

Besides, these banners can also be found in a section of the news pages. The relevance of this type of marketing is to know if the user who is looking at that advertisement is really interested in the product it shows, or is simply annoying them.

 

To keep it short, outbound marketing’s methodology is to interrupt what the user is seeing on a certain website. The idea of ​​this tool is to let them know about your brand and your products even if they’re not interested in doing so.

 

In fact, many techniques make up outbound marketing:

 

• TV commercials.
• Calls in cold.
• Spam Advertising.
• Ads that interrupt.

 

As you can see, outbound marketing doesn’t focus on the consumer, but on the company. Instead, it focuses on your company, but this won’t work unless you create your buyer persona.

 

After all this talk about outbound and inbound marketing, you must already know what sets them apart. In short, while inbound marketing focuses on attracting customers, outbound focused on looking for them.

 

What’s the best technique for your brand?

 

To determine which of these two techniques works best, let’s consider the following percentages. As for internet clicks, inbound marketing can obtain 90% of them, while outbound marketing only has a reach of 10%.

 

And it is that when it comes to talking about true marketing, it is not good to interrupt the user with information that at the moment is not of interest. For this reason, inbound marketing is better understood by the consumer, and that is why its results are more beneficial.

 

As a result, inbound marketing practices will be much more effective, if you want to achieve good customer acquisition. In fact, according to the figures of marketing specialists, it can be observed that brands invest approximately 34% of their budget to implement tactics that allow them to bring in so-called “potential customers”. This means that there is greater confidence in inbound marketing.

 

Why choose inbound marketing?

 

Before using any of these marketing tactics, you must think about your return on investment. This is something that company owners take into account when creating their strategies. These same owners have seen an increase in their percentage of growth in ROI.

 

So, as you can see, inbound marketing can offer better results when taking into account your goals as a brand.

 

However, there are still those companies that use outbound marketing. This is because some people think that inbound marketing and outbound marketing can be part of the same strategy.

 

When should you use Outbound marketing?

 

There are truly many conflicting opinions when talking about this topic. In itself, working with both strategies will depend, as we have already mentioned, on the objectives of your brand, your buyer persona, and the products you have for sale.

 

Let’s see a clear example of this:

 

Within your buyer persona, there could be a lady around 60 and 75 years old. This person probably doesn’t use digital media, so including outbound marketing in your strategic plan could be a good option.

 

A brand can be resoundingly successful by combining both tactics in the right way. But when integrating them to attract your potential customers, you must do everything in your power not to invade their privacy.

 

In which strategy should you invest?

 

If you follow trends, you will realize that the best option to invest in will always be inbound marketing.

 

By listening to us, you will find that your investment will be worth it.

 

How? By getting the best results. 

 

And is that thanks to inbound marketing that you will be able to directly reach an audience interested in your products?

 

In the same way, it will be a great opportunity to have a good return on investment as you meet the objectives of your company.

 

BluCactus, your ally in Digital marketing

 

BluCactus international marketing agency serves clients all over the world. Our specialty? The creation of web designs and SEO positioning in online searches. Our group of experts focuses on helping businesses and brands succeed in one of the most competitive sectors in the market, the digital world.

 

BluCactus will accompany you in every step that your brand takes. This goes from the creation of the branding of your business to the creation of content. Our focus is on supporting you with the development of your website or the administration of your accounts on social media.

 

This online marketing agency, based in Toronto, ON, seeks to strengthen your image as a brand and take it to the next level. Don’t wait any longer to have the help of the best specialists in digital marketing and contact us through our social media or website.

 

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