The worlds of marketing and commerce have changed almost in the blink of an eye. Traditional advertising is dying out, giving way to a Digital Age of advertising that many still struggle to understand. In place of direct mail, Yellow Page listings, and other outbound marketing methods, inbound marketing tools have become the most effective way to tap into an increasingly digital world of commerce. If you’re one of the many wondering why, in the battle of inbound marketing vs outbound marketing, inbound marketing strategy continues to draw more customers and more revenue for businesses, stay tuned to learn everything you need to know.
Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing: How Are They Different?
To understand why companies using inbound marketing strategies are cleaning the clocks of those still using outbound methods, you first need to understand what each type of strategy actually is. As Forbes defines it, inbound marketing is used to describe a number of advertising methods that serve to draw potential customers in. These methods include blogging, video creation, and social media outreach; anything that falls under the label of content marketing is an inbound marketing strategy.
Outbound marketing, on the other hand, is a term used to describe reaching out to customers in hopes of generating more interest and revenue. As The Houston Chronicle details, outbound marketing methods include direct mail advertisements, billboards, radio ads, and the like. In other words, traditional marketing strategies — the type of marketing that is proving less effective by the year — can also be referred to as outbound marketing strategies.
Why Inbound Marketing Strategies Are the Way to Go
The reason why the former always wins in the battle of inbound marketing vs outbound marketing is that inbound marketing looks to the business trends of today and tomorrow and helps businesses take advantage of them. Outbound marketing methods, as you’ve clearly seen, instead focus on the mediums of the past. The results? Inbound marketing methods are infinitely more effective at earning companies a share of the $1.5 trillion eMarketer estimates consumers now spend online each year.
Here’s how much more effective just a few inbound marketing strategies have proven to be, according to Mashable:
- 57% of business owners say they have gained at least one customer from their blog posts, while a decreasing number say direct mail earns them business. That’s not surprising when you consider customers don’t open 44% of all direct mail.
- 86% of people ignore television commercials, choosing to leave the channel while the ads play. On the other hand, 67% of business-to-consumer businesses have gained new customers on Facebook as a direct result of their social media ads.
As you can see, inbound marketing outperforms outbound marketing in a number of key ways. Subsequently, the cost-per-lead when using inbound marketing methods is 62% less than that for outbound marketing, resulting in ROI that is as much as 57% higher. In short, if you’re trying to figure out how to make your marketing efforts more effective and more lucrative, make sure you’re moving away from outdated outbound techniques toward the inbound advertising methods of the future.
