You have heard the phrases “inbound marketing” and “outbound marketing” oftentimes, but let me ask you: what do they really mean? How do they work, what strategy should you apply, and which one is the best for you? This Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing article is for your guidance.

In this article, we will discuss and answer all these questions one by one, so please keep reading. You can jump between the main topics using the article content table.

What is inbound marketing?

inbound vs outbound marketing
Inbound Marketing/Pull Marketing

Inbound marketing is a new marketing strategy that attracts customers to your business page or encourages them to buy your product or services by publishing high-quality content about your product description, blog articles, and content marketing on your social media. Inbound marketing is also called pull marketing, and the main goal of this strategy is to engage with the customer. The sign of this marketing is the “magnet,” as you can see it.

Example of Inbound Marketing

There are a lot of examples of inbound marketing but we will talk about three main examples.

  1. Blog Post: is one of the best examples of inbound marketing, because it’s one of the content marketing methods used today. You need to provide high quality content for your visitors.
  2. Video Content: As we know, videos are becoming more interesting. Businesses are now using videos, as are other content creators, to promote their affiliate links and other products. TikTok is the most popular platform for video content.
  3. Guidebooks: To engage with your audience, you need to share with them some valuable content or books that will make them trust you more.

The Benefits of Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing has many benefits, but the most important points are;

  1. Your blog or campaign is running and attracting more customers while you are sleeping.
  2. Customers can read information about your business, view your products, or maybe even buy from you while you are away.
  3. It reduces your budget to attract more customers because they are coming organically without advertising. If you are good at SEO, it will be more beneficial for you.  

N.B: Your website and content are continuously updated, so inbound marketing continues to generate leads over time.

Create an Inbound Strategy for Your Business

Inbound marketing is a form of marketing that focuses on attracting customers to your business by providing them with content that they are interested in. It is all about creating content and sharing it on different channels to attract the right people. The goal is to maximize leads and minimize the budget. Some useful tips you can apply right now are;

  1. Using Content Marketing For Your Business.
  2. Advertising Your Products and Services Through Social Media.
  3. Building Inbound Marketing Funnel

The Pros and Cons of Inbound Marketing

Pros Of Inbound Marketing

  1. It provides a cost-effective way to generate leads consistently: As we mentioned above, you just need to create some blog posts and social media advertising.
  2. You can build long-term relationships with your potential customers: If the customer buy from you, then you have basic information about him/her like their email address. You can send them your promotional and offers through email.

Cons Of Inbound Marketing

  1. It can be intimidating to get started on Inbound Marketing: You have to deal with these terms, Blogging, Repurposing Content, Social Media Posting Strategy, Search Engine Optimization, Website Development, Mobile Responsiveness, Marketing Automation, etc.
  2. It requires some strategic planning to be effective: A survey by DM News in 2014 shows that “a lack of an effective strategy” was the biggest obstacle in achieving marketer’s goals

What is Outbound Marketing?

Outbound Marketing
Outbound Marketing

Outbound Marketing basically it’s the opposite of Inbound Marketing. Outbound Marketing sends a message to a large audience hoping they will buy something from the business or increase the sales. It’s what we call “Local Advertising”. Outbound marketing also called push marketing and the main goal of this strategy is to encourage the customers to buy the product or service.

Example Of Outbound Marketing

somtel
Somtel
  1. Billboards: Are the most used form of outbound marketing. You can promote new product or service.
 somali newspaper
Somali Newspaper

2. Newspapers: You can publish your business news with the local newspaper providers. So many people are relying on newspapers now, especially older people. If your company caters to the generation of the 1970s, you will most likely require this strategy.
3. Radio and TV: If your business serves young girls and moms, you need to advertise on radio and TV because young girls are watching each other’s romantic series while moms are listening each day to the radio.

The Benefits of Outbound Marketing

  1. Promotes your brand awareness: You can reach more audience in your local area.
  2. Can yield immediate results: People interested in your products and services are likely to take action on your ads and make a purchase.
  3. Is something consumers are used to: Before digital era, most people were listening to Radio and watching TV’s. Today still there are companies using this method of advertising and getting more sells. Why don’t you try!

Create an Outbound Strategy for Your Business

Creating marketing strategy for your business it can be difficult for you. Before you establish your outbound marketing campaign there are some important tips you need to consider first;
1. Define your area: Defining where you will focus on is important, especially when you need to use billboards as marketing method.
2. Get to know which Radio has more audience: Not all the Radios are popular in the town, there are few Radios which the people listens more. Knowing those Radios will help you to increase the chance of brand awareness.
3. Handing Out Flyers: Flyers are important when you provide the company’s information, products or services. You need to know how much are you planning to print, Where are located your target populations, When you will distribute, and etc.

The Pros and Cons of Outbound Marketing

Pros Of Outbound Marketing

We can say the biggest advantage of outbound marketing is that you reach more audience which are basically one of; your existing customers, people who have heard you but didn’t buy from you and new population they never heard you.

Cons Of Outbound Marketing

  1. Outbound marketing is costly: You need to print a lot of materials and publish several messages in different channels.
  2. Measuring the effectiveness is harder: It’s so hard to measure where the customer came from you. Is it from your Radio Ads, Tv Ads, Journals Ads, you can not measure easily where the signal is coming from you and which channel is taking money and don’t give you ROI.
  3. Outbound marketing is more generalized: Almost all the channels you are publishing your products and services has more audience. But in digital advertising you can choose which area, people, behavior, interests need to show your Ads.

Frequently Asked Questions About Inbound & Outbound Marketing!

Here I’ll answer some questions that people always ask!

1. What is inbound and outbound marketing examples?

Inbound Marketing Examples can be blog articles, content creation, video marketing, email marketing, and help or guide books while Outbound Marketing examples can be trade shows, event sponsoring, billboards, cold calling, and Tv & radios.

2. What are 3 types of inbound marketing?

As we mentioned earlier the inbound marketing examples are many but there are some main points to be considered like SEO, PPC and Content Creation.

3. What is the main difference between Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing?

The main deference inbound and outbound marketing is that inbound marketing focuses on online marketing while outbound marketing focuses local and offline marketing.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the best marketing strategy for your business will be the one that works. Remember, audiences and markets change, so analyze your data frequently. What worked last year might not work this year. As a result, your mix of inbound and outbound marketing will almost certainly change with time, especially as AdTech becomes more sophisticated, and offers new ways of targeting audiences and tracking engagement. The most important thing you can do with any marketing campaign is measure, optimize, and repeat. Whether inbound or outbound marketing is your thing, make these three steps your goal – wherever and whenever possible – and you’ll get better results.

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