Inbound and outbound marketing are exact opposites. Inbound marketing is the process of attracting customers in through the content on your website, social media accounts, and various SEO tactics. Outbound marketing is the more traditional marketing approach, it combines commercials, print ads, cold calling, and even sometimes, email blasts.
Let's break down each a little bit further and weigh out the pros and cons.
Inbound Marketing
Each main category of inbound marketing can be broken down into subcategories. The main components are: Content, SEO, and Social Media. Let's break down each of those into their subcategories.
Content. Here inbound marketers create invaluable content for potential customers. This is often done in the forms of:
- Blogs
- Videos
- Whitepapers
- eBooks
- How-to guides
SEO (search engine optimization) is used to design your website in a way that brings people to your site through searches performed on search engines. Various SEO tactics include:
- On-page
- Off-page
- Keyword building and analyzing
- Link Building
Social Media is used to reach new and existing customers on the sites they are spending their time. Popular platforms include:
Outbound Marketing
Outbound marketing can be broken down into these components:
Commercials
- TV
- Radio
Cold Calling
- Also known as telemarketing
Print Advertisements
- Magazine and newspaper ads
- Billboard ads
Based on your businesses needs, it is probably beneficial to know the pros and cons of each form of marketing to assess which route to take.
Inbound Marketing
Pros:
- Cost effective
- Permission based (noninvasive)
Cons:
- Can be time consuming
Outbound Marketing
Pros:
- Reaches people who may not know to search for your product or service
Cons:
- High cost, low yield.
- Customers aren't always ready to buy when the message is received
- Interruption Marketing
- Communication is one way
- Blocking techniques (do not call, spam filters, DVR)
It's clear that inbound marketing has more pros than cons compared to outbound marketing. Inbound marketing is often thought of as "new" marketing and outbound is thought of as "old". Inbound marketing is all about getting the people to come to you, forming a relationship, and keeping them long term!