When you are studying Internet Marketing Strategies today, the first thing you might try to answer is how inbound and outbound marketing can help your business. While you might have heard of these two types of marketing, you may not understand the differences between them. In order to effectively utilize both methods to grow a business, you must first define the terms.
One of the better known definitions of outbound and inbound marketing come from Brian Halligan in his Hubspot article where he defines outbound marketing as, “where a marketer pushes his message out far and wide hoping that it resonates with that needle in the haystack.” He also defines inbound marketing as, “where you help yourself “get found” by people already learning about and shopping in your industry.” This can be a little confusing in the whole inbound vs outbound marketing debate.
I personally like how Rand Fishkin, founder of Moz, separates the two. He likens outbound marketing to “Interruption Marketing.” In this case, outbound marketing strategies would be those marketing activities that force you to stop what you are doing to address the marketing, such as television commercials. Inbound marketing would be something more passive that does not interrupt your normal activities, such as seeing a website on a search engine. Based on these two definitions, which type of marketing should a business engage in?
Many internet marketing firms focus only on inbound marketing, believing that most forms of outbound marketing, or traditional marketing are no longer relevant. They push expensive internet marketing campaigns and claim that the so called “traditional marketing” techniques such as print ads and billboards are no longer relevant. I don’t believe this is the case.
Outbound marketing through traditional marketing strategies still has its uses. If you are a local business selling widgets, then perhaps a billboard will help you more than an internet marketing campaign. Maybe your business lends itself to EDDM (every door direct mail) campaigns. The right marketing plan probably includes a mixture of both inbound and outbound marketing. It all depends on your customers and your market. The point is that inbound and outbound marketing are probably not sufficient by themselves but need to be combined in an effective overall marketing strategy.
When choosing a reputable internet marketing company, make sure they take into account the needs of your business. A complete Inbound and Outbound marketing strategy that reaches the most potential customers in the most cost effective manner is one that will bring your company the biggest benefits. The question of which side wins in the inbound vs outbound marketing debate is determined based upon the needs of your company.
Links:
