Inbound, Outbound; what’s the difference?
Inbound marketing is a very precise and specific marketing technique to target your audience, whereas outbound marketing is very broad and goes to the general population. In general, big companies invest a lot in outbound marketing to create an image of their brand that people will remember when they want to buy. Some examples of outbound marketing are: television and radio advertising, direct mail, magazines and newspapers ads, billboard and social media.
Outbound marketing is very effective, but because of budget limitations of small companies, inbound marketing is much more beneficial for ROI. The reason being is that with inbound marketing you can focus on just your target market and be present just in time when someone wants to buy.
Why choose inbound marketing?
In traditional marketing, companies focus on finding customers by using techniques that are interruptive like cold calling, print advertising, or TV commercials. The traditional way of doing things is only convenient to the marketer himself because he can push content whenever he wants even when potential customers don’t want it. This is not a great experience.
Inbound has shifted the way of doing business. Instead of all the interruptive messages, inbound is about handing the power to potential customers. Instead of interrupting people with television ads, companies might create videos that potential customers want to see. Instead of printing magazines ads, they can create a business blog with articles people would want to read. It’s all about creating content that people will love to see.
Inbound marketing is customer focused. It’s helpful. It allows people to be part of the conversation while sharing relevant content with the world. It’s about drawing people in.
How to adopt inbound marketing
According to Hubspot, the inbound methodology is about attracting, engaging and delighting customers online. Therefore:
1) The content you post must be creative and remarkable. Whether on your site or social media channels, it’s very important not to sell directly and talk about your brand. Instead, try to engage people in conversations with your content.
2) Your website should be personal and customer oriented. Instead of pleasing your competitors, please the people that will visit your site. To do so, the website should be custom designed to your target and a place to directly speak to them. In addition, you need to have a strong SEO strategy that supports the website.
3) Have call to action buttons; which are powerful buttons that show the visitors what to do next. These buttons are essential and very efficient to convert potential clients into actual buyers.
4) Everything you want to talk about should be visually attractive. To really stand out from the crowd, you need to back up your content with good designs. Also, you might want to try video posting that boost engagement.
5) Design a blog. Investing time in designing a blog will get you great results. Post valuable content that people will love to know about. Don’t forget to reference the articles to your website or social media channels to let people learn more about you, your products or services.
