Inbound Vs Outbound – what’s the right mix

So many companies struggle with what to choose or to focus on between both Inbound marketing and Outbound marketing. And sometimes the struggle on what to decide is what makes a company lose potential clients. In this article, I will talk about the best tips for inbound and outbound for lead generation, and solve the fuzz of on what to focus on or which one is better.

In inbound marketing, you try to attract potential buyers – who have specific needs and who are looking for a solution – with the help of valuable content, social media, website and so on. What you create is made for the purpose of grabbing prospect’s attention and hypnotizing them to stand out from competitors.

Here the most popular inbound lead generation tactics:

Website/landing pages

It’s the first place where people interested in what you do come to learn more about your company. Nowadays a website represents the online face for your business – like business card. Plus, don’t forget that a website can bring leads if it’s optimized for conversions aka if it looks appealing and user-friendly.

Content marketing also provides syndication fuel to your social media and email campaigns and boosts your search rankings (more on this momentarily). In a recent survey I conducted, of 357 marketers, 93 percent of respondents said they planned to increase or keep their on-site content marketing budgets the same. That’s pretty high praise for the power of on-site content!

Content marketing

The list of possible content that you can do is endless: blog, case study, ebook, infographics, podcasts, SlideShare, webinar, videos, templates, kits, checklists, cheat sheets, visual content etc. The main rules are to choose topics your potential leads are interested and to use channels and formats they’d prefer.

SEO & keywords

Website and content marketing are useless if potential customers cannot find them. SEO helps to get higher ranking in the search engines and thus – give more chances to be found in the wilds of the Internet.

On-site content attracts inbound links, while off-site content directly builds links to your site. The more high-quality, valuable inbound links your website has, the higher it will rank in search engines. In fact, a recent report from Google noted that two of the top three ranking factors in the algorithm were content and inbound links.

But there are other, more technical components to SEO you’ll need to implement to boost your inbound traffic from search engines. These include optimizing for mobile devices, improving site speed and targeting strategic niche keyword phrases. It’s a time-intensive strategy, but it pays off in spades.

Newsletter

You can collect people’s emails by putting an opt-in form on your website and send regular newsletters to subscribers.

Because your content is providing value to your readers and subscribers, and you’re not just using it as a way to advertise your products and services, it can be considered a form of inbound marketing. Additionally, email marketing may be a relatively low-hanging fruit: In the survey, email marketing was reported as the second-easiest tactic to perform, but one that provided the fifth-highest ROI of the ten strategies included.

In outbound marketing, you get in touch with people who possibly match your customer profile, but that are not currently looking for your solution. You have to directly get in touch with them to convince them that your product/service is worth giving a try. The initiative lies on you here, so you can decide when, how and whom to approach.

Here the most popular outbound lead generation tactics:

Ads

Advertising is basically showing visual or written messages to a broad audience through specific public channels. These days it’s possible to make ads targeted and personalized aka contextual advertising.

Here some tips on how to advertise properly: If people are ad blind, annoying online advertising won’t make them see

PPC (pay-per-click)

At additional charge, the search engines (like Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.) will show your messages/website to users searching for related keywords. You’ll need to pay for each click that your message receives.

Cold emailing

Cold emailing is sending witty and personalized emails to target customers that you’ve previously had no contact with.

Here is few rules to respect in order to get the best possible results:

• Simplify subject lines
• Personalize it
• Be upfront about your ask
• Reach out to your extended network
• Keep it short and sweet
• Tell the recipient why you chose them

Events

You can generate leads by making contacts at various events: expos, conferences, seminars, trade shows, networking and so on.

It is so easy to Google events where people in your target audience might be gathering. But don’t just consider events with obvious appeal to your targets. Think outside the box! For example, just because someone is in the beauty industry does not mean that a technology conference is an obvious no-go. Browse Facebook, Eventbrite or other pages that advertise events and go on a namecard hunt.

Conclusion:

When it comes to inbound vs. outbound marketing, it’s really the difference between having an ad pushed into your face and finding helpful content on a company blog. A lot of times, it all boils down into the consumer experience.

Marketing professionals have tried to nail down exactly what works, but when it comes to consumer behavior, nothing is ever certain.

INBOUND MARKETING takes a lot of work and is dependent a number of X factors like the moods of consumers, attention from influencers, dumb luck, and changes in technology.

OUTBOUND MARKETING is expensive and intrusive with little regard for consumer needs and a high failure-to-success rate that’s hard to turn around if it’s not working.

In the end, Inbound Marketing is less expensive and more effective than Outbound Marketing. While it might be easier to shell out some money and slap up a billboard, taking time to cultivate an online presence, interact, and adapt to what your customers want will ultimately bring you higher gains. Sure, it’s more work, but the good news is that you can likely hire a professional to handle it for you for less than that billboard costs.