[Outbound marketing] How to boost your marketing strategy?

Outbound marketing or inbound marketing? In today's environment, saturated with advertising messages and promotional offers, the consumer is highly solicited and becomes a difficult target to interest. In this context, what strategy should you adopt to capture their attention and stand out from the competition?

Advertising on third-party banners, producing content on your own website, email campaigns, blogging, social networking, search engine optimization, etc. So how do you go about promoting your brand and generating qualified leads ?

Between taking the lead and presenting your products/services directly to prospects (outbound marketing), or developing more subtle communication to let prospects discover them for themselves (inbound marketing), which solution should you choose to meet your company' s growth ambitions? In this article, find out what outbound marketing is and our tips for optimizing the performance of your marketing strategy.

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The difference between outbound marketing and inbound marketing

Outbound marketing: definition

Outbound marketing is a marketing strategy that involves getting the message out to the consumer. It encompasses communication actions designed to reach future customers where they are, one of the principles of advertising.

Often associated with mass marketing, this strategy relies on various levers to disseminate your promotional messages on a large scale in order to appeal to consumers.

▶︎ In the physical world, this means displaying ads in places frequented by potential customers.

▶︎ In the digital world, which is what we're mainly interested in here, this form of communication might involve displaying banner ads on sites frequented by the target audience.

The levers of outbound marketing

Outbound marketing is based on a set of marketing actions and levers that exploit different distribution channels:

Edkent Media

For example, advertising (media or non-media), press releases, flyer distribution, or emailing and SMS campaigns are all outbound marketing techniques, used in the physical world or on the web.

What about outbound digital marketing?

To support your webmarketing strategy, you can implement various digital marketing actions to reach your target audience, such as :

• displaying banner ads on a third-party site visited by the users you're targeting. This lever should be used sparingly to avoid tiring your audience, and its return on investment should be evaluated;
  
• adwords campaigns (Google Ads): to place some of your ads at the top of search results, based on selected keywords. This technique is also known as Search Engine Advertising or SEA;
  
• e-mail marketing: to automate the sending of targeted e-mails, this lever can prove effective as part of a content strategy;
  
• advertising on social networks: to target users according to various criteria (age, profession, geographical area, centers of interest, consumer preferences, etc.).

Inbound marketing: definition

Conversely, the very principle of inbound marketing is to attract customers to your product or service offering. This strategy aims to seduce customers or prospects by offering them quality content, presenting real added value for them, in order to lead them to take an interest in your brand.

What inbound marketing offers :

• attractive, high-quality content
• a relevant, targeted and personalized message,
• strong adherence to brand values,
• mostly web-based channels: social media, blogs, webinars, etc,
• a digital strategy based on SEO and user experience (UX).

Inbound marketing is perceived as less intrusive than outbound marketing, and always aims to be as close as possible to user expectations.

Inbound marketing techniques

Here are several inbound marketing techniques used in a web environment:

• blogging and article writing,
• natural referencing (or SEO),
• sending newsletters,
• white papers and case studies,
• podcasts and videos,
• webinars, etc.

These webmarketing tools are designed to provide answers to your target audience's questions, and to show how your offer provides a solution to their needs.

Communication is established between your brand and its prospects, fostering a relationship of trust and support throughout the buying process.

Outbound marketing vs. inbound marketing

We often tend to contrast outbound marketing with inbound marketing, as illustrated by this diagram from Plezi :

Plezi

The main difference comes from the approach:

✔ Outbound is an open door to the outside world: the company goes out to find consumers.

✔ Inbound is an open door to the inside: the consumer is subtly enticed to enter, and will willingly choose to take that step.

This infographic from Plezi highlights the main differences in lead engagement processes:

© Plezi

How to combine inbound and outbound in a complementary way?

Inbound marketing, increasingly in vogue with the digital boom, is becoming essential, while outbound marketing remains a must for many business sectors. Rather than pitting these two techniques against each other, the ideal solution is to integrate a "mix of the two" into your marketing strategy. Combining them intelligently will enable you to harness their full potential and maximize your performance.

Let's take a look at some of the ways in which inbound and outbound can be effectively combined in a marketing alignment strategy.

Sales prospecting, with an inbound approach

Instead of traditional prospecting methods, decide which prospects you want to attract. A dedicated tool, such as Blacksales, allows you to automatically engage in conversations with qualified prospects and guide them through the buying journey you've designed especially for them.

In particular, you can position yourself on a strategic channel, such as social networks, where Internet users share content, ideas and opinions. It's an ideal opportunity to interact with your prospects, bringing them value and ideas that resonate with their values and interests. A social network management solution such as Agorapulse enables you to interact with your community and manage your comments and mentions centrally.

Paid but targeted ads

Sponsored ads are an outbound technique, but it all depends on how you set them up. Positioning, display, message: you need to make sure they reach the right audience.

Google Ads, for example, lets you choose precisely how your messages appear, according to geographic, temporal or demographic criteria. A more advanced marketing automation tool, such as the Mapp Cloud integrated marketing suite, helps you acquire targeted audiences to better define your broadcasts and maximize your conversions.

Direct, relevant and personalized emailing

Direct mailing is an effective technique when you know who you're targeting in business (BtoB marketing). It enables you to send more personalized content to raise awareness among your target audience, in a context where content invades our daily lives. If you stand out from the crowd with useful, relevant, high-quality content, you're also affirming your expertise in your field of activity.

An email campaign creation and management tool, such as ExpertSender or Spot-hit, enables you to automatically deliver personalized content and target qualified prospects.

Finally, it's all about using the right technique, at the right time, and adapting messages and communication channels to your target.

Tips for optimizing your marketing strategy

• Take stock of your situation and ask yourself what actions you want to take to promote your company's products and/or services.
• Adopt a customer-centric approach. You'll be able to boost your visibility, generate more qualified leads, and attract them right through to conversion.
• Rely on refined segmentation and targeting, to adapt to your audience's needs and deliver relevant messages.
• Enhance your brand image with thoughtful communication.

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Outbound and inbound: a winning mix

It's up to you to choose the right techniques for your offer and define the right mix. Inbound marketing actions are aimed at attracting your prospects in the first phases of the conversion tunnel, while outbound marketing tactics are used to close the sale.

Ultimately, you're building a global strategy, based on your company's size and sector of activity, as well as your target profile.

Don't hesitate to study which tools are available to you, and estimate which ones will enable you to carry out effective marketing actions.

Finally, don't forget to measure the impact of each one, so you can see which ones seem to be the most effective for you, and adjust them to optimize them!

Updated article, originally published March 2020.