Once upon a time, in a land before the digital age, consumers relied on traditional one way methods of marketing (outbound marketing) such as TV, Radio, Billboards for information about products and services. Then in the 90’s this little world of marketing as we new it would be turned on it’s head when the Internet was commercialised and inbound marketing was born.
The Internet gave us all CONTROL! There was now a new way to seek out products and services and to do our own research before we buy something. This coupled with the rise of social media meant consumers started to pay less attention to sometimes annoying traditional outbound marketing and used their new powers to become more marketing savvy and seek out products and brands that appeal to them and then also share them with friends and family.
Today, as marketers, we need to focus more attention on earning the interest of potential customers and not just relying on being able to ‘buy it’ through traditional marketing. If businesses create interesting and valuable content for readers it creates a positive connection between the consumer and the company, making them more likely to engage with you and buy your products.
We’re not saying that outbound marketing is dead, it’s far from it. What we are saying is that businesses need to evaluate the marketing mix so that the best combination of inbound and outbound marketing can be achieved for your business. Here are some of the most common outbound and inbound marketing activities to help you understand the differentiation a little more.
Outbound marketing includes:
- TV ads
- Radio ads
- Billboards
- Direct Mail
- Sales Flyers
- Tradeshows
- PR
- Telemarketing
- Spam
Inbound marketing includes:
- Blogs
- Social Media
- Podcasts
- Video
- eBooks
- eNewsletters
- Infographics
- Whitepapers
- Social Media Marketing
- SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
One of the great benefits of inbound marketing is that it costs less and typically delivers a greater return on investment (ROI) than its traditional outbound marketing counter part. This means that even the little guys can now get a look in. So if you don’t have one already, make sure you get a website so that you can be found by the search engines when potential customers are shopping around. Get yourself involved in social media and really leverage inbound marketing to it’s full advantages.
You know we love our infographics and we feel that this one from Blue Glass really captures the rise of inbound marketing and why it’s important that your business has strategies to best utilize it. [EDIT: Appears this link is currently offline]