Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing Reviewed

Inbound and Outbound strategies of marketing have varied success rates. Outbound marketing strategies constitute the process of reaching out to prospective clients. It can be explained as a hard sale approach where the marketing strategy should convince a potential client that they need the product or service on offer. Inbound marketing strategies are characterised as attracting the prospective clients. They are designed to be advertising angles whereby the marketing strategy attracts the attention of the potential client. Both strategies have their upsides and pitfalls which should be considered.

Inbound MarketingDigital Strategy

Inbound strategies of marketing are passive in the sense that they do not actively engage a potential client. The strategies and platforms that are used in the Inbound angle of advertising include;

· Blogs

· Social media

· SEO

· Public relations

· Webinars

· Pay Per Click campaigns

All these platforms lure a client to the product or brand company through optimised content or linkages that appeal to the target audience.

Advantages of inbound digital strategies Modern

All the inbound marketing strategies can be used for small business marketing since they are modern and utilise the digital online setting. Utilising the online platform makes for massive engagement with the target market since most people use handheld devices when tracing information or shopping and this culminates in visibility for the business.

Budget friendly Inbound strategies are budget friendly when compared to the traditional angles of marketing. this is mainly because structuring an optimizing process for the content and media to be displayed on the digital platforms of advertising is cost effective compared to the hard copy mediums used in outbound strategies.

Return on Investment

There is a higher Return On Investment when using Inbound strategies as compared to utilizing the outbound strategies mainly due to the fact that it is cheaper to advertise over the digital online platform which is also characterised as having a wider reach than the outbound strategy which is mostly geographically limited.

Less intrusive

Inbound marketing strategies are less intrusive in that they do not aggressively engage a potential client instead offering an attracting prospect which an individual is tuned to follow.

Regular ongoing results Since Inbound strategies make use of links and traffic generated towards a business site, the results for the marketing process are characterized as having a continuous effect as opposed to the outbound strategies which end with a stop in the advertising.

Pitfalls of inbound marketing strategies

Takes time for results Inbound digital strategies make use of online platform’s which are governed by rankings in search engines. The desired effect in advertisement may therefore take time due to the ranking process.

Competitive

The online platform is very competitive with businesses struggling for a share of the valuable space on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). An inbound digital strategy thus requires creativity, innovation and much research to overcome the competition.

Outbound Marketing Digital Strategy

Outbound Marketing digital strategies are the tried and proven methods of advertising that involve an active outreach to the target audience.

The strategies and platforms in the outbound angle of marketing include;

· Direct mail

· Billboards

· Door to door campaigns

· Banner Ads

· Commercials

· Trade shows

All these marketing processes are characterised as engaging a client by telling them what they need or are supposed to be having. They do not attract a potential client through triggering their curiosity but rather inform them of the existence of the product or service.

Advantages of outbound marketing digital strategies

Quick results Outbound marketing strategies are able to deliver quick results since they impact a potential client directly and in an engaging manner which does not leave room for speculation. The fast and instantaneous mode of advertisement delivers immediate results.

Easy Targeting of Market

An outbound strategy easily isolates a target audience due to the focused customisation of the advertising process. With an outbound strategy, a specialised approach is scheduled unlike the inbound angle of advertisement that reaches out by casting the new far and wide with the target of attracting the web visitors.

Effective for new products

New products making a debut in the market are better served by an outbound digital strategy since it is able to increase the ability of the products being conspicuous for the target audience to notice. Outbound strategies are bold and able to force the target market to take notice and appreciate the presence of a new product or service.

Pitfalls of Outbound marketing

Costly Outbound digital strategies are costly since they require extensive accumulation and organisation of resources.

Intrusive

Most outbound strategies are characterised as being intrusive in that they are aggressive in getting a potential client to notice which may be annoying for some individuals.

Can be ignored as spam

Some of the outbound strategies of marketing require a repeated effort in contacting the client which may lead to some potential clients ignoring them as spam an example being direct mails.

The bottom line

Small business online marketing can be made up of both the outbound and inbound digital strategies depending on the budget, competitor strategies and how soon the results of the marketing process are needed.