If you are interested in marketing trends, then you’ve probably heard of terms such as inbound and outbound marketing. But, do you know what they actually mean?
Marketing professionals are famous for making up the words since they want to convince potential clients to purchase a particular product, and in the majority of cases, this technique works.

On the other hand, inbound and outbound marketing aren’t just words, considering they directly impact the market and customers’ needs, as well as demands.For that reason, in this article, we will discuss the difference between inbound and outbound marketing, and help you understand these terms better.

What outbound marketing stands for?

In general sense, inbound marketing is what we know as a traditional form of marketing. For example, it’s repetitive and imposes itself to an audience, whether they want it or not. These days, the most common examples are radio and TV ads, banners, newspapers, billboards, magazines, pop-ups, and others.

However, in the last couple of years, this type of advertising has fallen out of favor due to internet progress. People stopped noticing display ads. Additionally, ad blocker apps have only made things worse. A lot of experts believe that broadcast, outdoor, and print are overrated marketing tactics and not popular anymore.

What inbound marketing stands for?

Inbound marketing is a relatively new form of advertising, where marketers try to attract new customers with appealing content. Also, this technique is called content marketing and involves social media, blog posts, white papers, infographics, email newsletters, and other forms of content people want to read.

On the other hand, marketers apply search engine optimization and paid to discover content online. If the content is engaging enough, readers will interact with it, share it, and form a positive impression. All these features later might affect purchasing decisions.

Keep in mind that inbound marketing is quite indirect and hands-off, and there is never a noticeable sales pitch. But, it increases customer’s engagement with a brand and basically nudges people to buy a specific product or service.

Which one is more effective?

Nowadays, we can say that inbound marketing is by far more fashionable, while nearly 71% of companies around the world are focused on this form of advertising. Most certainly, inbound offers a more superior ROI, and it’s 62% less expensive compared to outbound.

However, we can hardly measure the effectiveness of inbound marketing. In most cases, the majority of strategies rely on increasing brand awareness, while at the same time, they provide value and not giving the hard sell. Therefore, it’s quite challenging to determine how well your strategy will work.

On the other hand, the biggest con of traditional marketing is its price. Also, it’s not very responsive, and you aren’t targeting a specific audience. Basically, marketers spend thousands of dollars on marketing campaigns, send it out into the world, while they hope for the best.

For that reason, most companies neglect outbound marketing because it won’t help them increase sales. And, let’s be honest, telemarketing will hardly ever make sense for the majority of the brands.

Things such as contextual ads, retargeting pixels, and Lookalike Audience enable Instagram, Facebook, Google, and Twitter to display ads, which target customers based on their interests.

How to find the right marketing strategy for you?

In most cases, the best marketing strategy for your company will be the one that works. You should always explore new things, and note changes, for the better or for worse. Please, be aware that the audience changes also, so, what worked two years ago, might not work now.People get tired of seeing the same thing over and over again. Therefore, it might be wise to combine inbound and outbound marketing to achieve the optimal results.