Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing

 

To understand modern marketing methods, it is important to note the distinction between the way marketing was done in the past and the way it is done now.

 

Past marketing efforts focused more on outbound marketing, while the current trend is more towards inbound.

 

Outbound Marketing

The outbound method involves a business creating promotional messaging and delivering it to customers through a variety of media forms. This includes traditional TV, radio, and print advertising. Exhibiting at tradeshows, cold calling, and emailing are also considered outbound marketing.

 

Basically, outbound marketing is any activity that involves a business pushing its marketing messages out to its customers.

 

Inbound Marketing

On the contrary, inbound marketing involves the customer seeking out the business themselves.

 

Typically, this involves creating informational materials designed to attract the interest of customers so that they will initiate an enquiry to the business for more information.

 

Inbound marketing includes a company’s blog, social media accounts, ebooks, white papers and the like.

 

When customers go online to search for information, they will be directed to the organisation’s website to retrieve the information. The ultimate goal of this is that the customer will find value in the company’s offerings and seek out more information or make a purchase.

 

Inbound marketing is often referred to as content marketing because the business produces informative content to attract customers rather than crafting advertising materials.

 

 

What This Means for B2B Marketers

 

B2B marketers need to be aware of these changes to the marketing industry so that they do not get left behind as their competitors continue to adopt the newer methods.

 

Today’s customers are increasingly discerning and have often trained themselves to tune out traditional advertising methods.

 

Even though many businesses spend the bulk of their marketing dollars on outbound marketing efforts, these methods are far less successful in generating leads and attracting new customers than inbound marketing has become.

 

 

How to Get Started

 

Inbound and content marketing methods offer a variety of opportunities for B2B organisations to connect with potential clients.

 

With so many options to choose from, it can be difficult to determine where to start.

 

Here, we’ll break down some of the most popular methods and offer some tips and guidelines to help you get started with each method.

 

Blogging

By far the most popular method of inbound marketing, blogging is a great tool to effectively establish your business as an authority in your industry.

 

In crafting your posts, don’t simply publish posts just for the sake of publishing something. The information that you put on your blog needs to be well thought out and planned to have the strongest effect.

 

Before you begin, really take the time to think about the types of customers you want to attract. Put yourself in the shoes of your target market and think about what information would be desirable to that market.

 

Think about problems that they might have and use your posts to propose ways to fix them. If you start to notice common questions amongst your current and prospective clients, write posts that answer those questions.

 

Try to resist the urge to overtly promote your business within your posts.

 

While a brief call to action at the end of the post is perfectly acceptable, and quite common, keep this to a minimum.

 

The goal is to provide additional value for your readers so that they will be inspired to seek out your business’s services on their own.

 

If your blog becomes overrun with self-promotion, your readers will likely tune out in the same way they do with traditional advertising.

 

Social Media

As with blogging, try not to use your social media outlets solely for advertising purposes. If your business is running a special promotion or some other unique event, by all means, post about it.

 

However, you need to give your followers more. Share links to interesting articles related to your industry, post unique facts about your business or ask your followers questions.

 

Encourage your followers to leave their comments and to share your posts with their own followers if they like.

 

Keep in mind that social media is meant to be just that: social. Don’t spend all of your time on social media creating your own posts. You need to engage with your customers as well.

 

Aim to respond to your customers’ enquiries and comments as quickly as possible to show them that you value their business.

 

Ebooks and White Papers

Particularly for B2B organisations, white papers and ebooks give you the opportunity to share your knowledge and expertise on a topic in more detail than you could in a blog post.

 

This is a great way to further establish your role as an expert in your industry.

 

The writing style in these formats can also be much more formal and technical that with blogging, so don’t be afraid to get deep into the subject matter.

 

Use ebooks and white papers as incentives to get prospective customers to sign up for your email list. This way, you’ll be able to obtain contact information from customers who might not otherwise offer it to your business.

 

Then, you’ll be able to nurture the relationship to hopefully turn that prospect into a paying customer for your organisation.

 

 

Embracing Technology

 

Technology across a variety of industries is developing and progressing at an alarming rate, and the marketing industry is no different.

 

It is in the best interests of your business to embrace technology to bolster your marketing efforts.

 

Evaluating Your Customers and Your Competition

Just as your customers and competitors use the internet to conduct research on your organisation, so too can you in researching them.

 

The internet is filled with a wealth of information that you can use to better understand your target market, their needs and wants, and their purchase behaviours.

 

Be sure to research your competitors as well to determine what distinguishes your business from theirs.

 

This will help guide you in deciding what to post on your blog and social media channels to set your business apart.

 

Real-Time Tracking

Advances in technology have made it possible for you to track the success of your marketing efforts in real time.

 

This way, you can evaluate exactly what is working and what isn’t so that you can make changes as quickly as possible.

 

You can see how your customers are arriving at your website, which pages they are viewing, and how long they are staying. These unique insights can help shape your future marketing efforts as you learn more about your customers and their behaviours.

 

Marketing Automation

Automation is one of the greatest tools modern marketers have at their disposal. Blog and social posts can be prewritten and scheduled to publish at the times that are optimal for customer viewing.

 

Rather than having to stay on top of these efforts throughout the day, your marketing team will be freed up to focus on creating the content.

 

Automation can be used for your outbound marketing efforts as well, like with email responses and other brand communications.

 

 

Keep On Learning

 

Now that you have mastered the basics of business-to-business inbound and content marketing, keep seeking out and learning fresh information.

 

This industry is constantly evolving to reflect current customer tastes and preferences, so it is never safe to assume that what works today will continue to work in the future.

Content Is King

 

The essence of content marketing is, of course, the content itself.

 

In choosing your online marketing agency, ask to see samples of other work that they have done. This will give you a better sense of the style and quality of content that you can expect down the track.

 

If your business culture is casual and fun, a marketing agency whose style is more formal and technical will likely not be a good fit.

 

There are a wide variety of agencies out there, so take the time to find one that can produce content that is best suited to your business.

 

 

Evaluate Your Budget

 

It is important to recognise that your budget will have a major impact on your results.

 

As with just about anything, the more money you can spend, the better quality you will receive.

 

When you are evaluating content marketing agencies, do not be afraid to discuss costs right from the start. It won’t do your business much good if your content marketing efforts cost more than your annual revenues.

 

However, skimping in this area can end up delivering mediocre results and minimise the number of new customers your business attracts.

 

Aim to find a balance between cost and quality that is affordable for your business while still delivering the highest quality possible.

 

 

Full Reporting Capabilities

 

All the content in the world has little value to your business if you have no way of tracking it.

 

Make sure that the agency you work with can provide detailed reports outlining what is working and what is not. This way, you’ll be able to adjust your efforts accordingly.

 

You’ll want to know which content is attracting the most readers, and how many.

 

Conversion rates are also key figures and will show you what portion of your readers go on to become paying customers.

 

You’ll also want to be able to determine where your readers are coming from so that you can continue to target the most successful areas. Don’t simply assume that the content marketing agency is doing its job.

 

Evaluate the reports on a regular basis to ensure that its efforts are on track with your organisation’s goals.

 

 

Think Long-Term

 

Content marketing is not something that produces results overnight, so be prepared to be in it for the long haul. Because of this, it is crucial that you find a content marketing company that you trust.

 

You’ll be working with them for a long time, so focus on building the relationship right from the start. The longer you work together, the better the agency will be able to understand your business and its customers, enabling it to produce better, more targeted content over time.

 

While results may take a while to be readily apparent, it is perfectly acceptable to ask an agency for an expected time frame. This way, you’ll be able to evaluate their progress to determine if you wish to continue the relationship.

 

Make sure that you are fully comfortable so that you can build a long and prosperous working relationship.

 

 

Learn More

 

Even if your content marketing agency will be handling the bulk of the work, it is still important to educate yourself on the topic.

Demotivating For Your Team

 

I’ve talked to clients in the insurance and mortgage industries who are tired of paying for leads that were not qualified, not even close.

 

It can be a waste of time and money and extremely demotivating for your team if they are travelling to appointments and finding it to be a total waste of time.

 

Damaging to Your Brand

 

Lead generation companies could even cause damage to your brand if the person being called feels pressured.

A potential customer might decide not to use your company in the future just because the caller made a bad impression.

 

Lack of Commitment

 

Consider the scenario if the company you use is being paid per appointment they secure.

 

If they experience low success rates, they might decide it is no longer worth their while to continue.

 

With no long-term incentive or commitment to you, they will want to work with a company with which they can secure the most appointments to ensure a better return for them.

 

What About Free Leads?

 

There is no such thing as free leads.

 

If you see an enticement to try a lead generation company that says they are going to give you a certain number of free leads, turn the other way and run.

 

The leads are free for a reason – they are usually duds or cold leads and working them gets you nowhere.

 

The other thing to remember is this: if you signed up to get free leads, guess what? You just became a lead yourself.

 

Once you filter through the leads, what are you left with?

 

The chances are, not much.

 

The Alternative

 

It is far better to spend a decent portion of your marketing budget on getting solid leads that convert.

 

These are the kinds of leads that are pre-screened, pre-qualified, and virtually ready to go, so research your chosen lead generation company with care.

 

Other than that, the best option is to generate your own highly qualified leads through inbound and content marketing.

 

Inbound Marketing

 

In the past, businesses targeted their customers primarily through outbound marketing. Advertising on TV, radio, printed material, trade-shows, and cold calling, we’re all used to reach out to customers in the hope that a business could attract their attention.

 

Inbound marketing involves pulling the customer in, typically of their own accord, as a result of them seeing informational materials that stimulate their interest.

 

This includes the use of digital content marketing, whereby a customer is drawn to a business’s website via blogs, white papers, eBooks, and promotional tactics on social media.

A properly formulated marketing strategy will reach out to your target audience in the right place at the right time and in the right way.

 

Not only will it reach them, it will pull them in, and give you the best chance of converting those customer enquiries into real leads and sales.

 

 

Content Marketing

 

Content marketing means that a business uses real content to attract customers, rather than advertising materials.

 

You will want to consult the experts to help you with formulating engaging content that your customers will love.

 

The Advantages of Inbound and Content Marketing

 

Far better for generating leads, the advantage of inbound and content marketing is that a customer approaches you as a result of information they have come across.

 

They already know a bit about your company and your product or service, as opposed to being pressured into an appointment with a sales team.

 

Finally, inbound marketing is an ongoing process; you will be generating a steady flow of leads on an ongoing basis, instead of bulk buying a load of leads that get you nowhere.