Where to allocate your marketing efforts: inbound vs outbound marketing

When you’re a small business, you need to be diligent in creating a marketing content strategy that reflects the limited resources you have available.

Namely, your time, money and energy.  

Your strategy is the guide you can use to build a plan that describes where you will allocate these resources to achieve your business and marketing goals: outlining your ideal content schedule, your brand messaging, and the specific marketing tactics you are going to use based on where your ideal audience is, where you like to spend time, and what previous data has indicated.  

Your plan should also include a mix of inbound and outbound marketing, so let’s dive into the differences between the two so you can make informed decisions for your business.

Outbound Marketing 101

Outbound marketing is often described as the more traditional ways of marketing and advertising: billboards, newspaper, television, and radio ads, cold calls, direct mail and events.

As the name suggests, it relies on pushing mass messages out into the world, in the hopes that potential customers will see them and resonate with them.  

However, any form of paid advertising, even digital, is outbound marketing. Whether you’re setting up a Facebook ad or paying for an email list the premise is the same. Whenever you are paying for the ability to access and push your message out to a larger audience, you’re using outbound marketing.

In this way, your message is being presented to audiences who haven’t necessarily asked to see it, might not want your product or service, and/or aren’t even sure who you are.

The theory behind this style of marketing is that sales are a numbers game and that if enough people see your ad or hear about your brand, you’ll make your return on investment because a percentage (even if it’s low) will almost certainly convert.  

Outbound marketing is also often used to garner more brand awareness. Since consumers often need many touchpoints with a brand before they start to trust them enough to make a purchase, advertising can in many ways force some of these initial touchpoints.  

Inbound Marketing 101

Inbound marketing is in many ways more subtle. It involves pushing out content—for free—that will attract and resonate with your ideal clients. In this way, you’re still sharing your message, but you are relying more on people stumbling upon your content and interacting with it if they’re interested.

Inbound marketing might include regular blogging, SEO efforts, webinars, and social media content or, ideally, some combination of all four.

Valuable, educational, helpful content is the core of any inbound marketing efforts and, when done well, your platforms become a hub that leads will find and share.

When you continue to share content related to your product or service and the problems you solve, you become a resource for people. And when paired with attention-grabbing social media content or a great search engine optimization approach, you’re amplifying the impact of your content so you’re more likely to be found by people who are looking for the information you’re sharing and who will benefit from your message.

This results in more authentic connections with your customers, which can help immensely in creating long-term relationships.

Pros and Cons of Outbound Marketing

Outbound marketing can be a good way to get your company in front of new eyes. If you’re feeling frustrated because you’ve been stuck at the same level of growth for a while, or it seems like you’re only getting repeat customers, it can be helpful to run ads to start to expand your reach.

Because it doesn’t rely on people finding you, outbound marketing often results in more impressive ROI metrics like views and clicks during a campaign (note this doesn’t mean everyone will convert to a customer, simply that your content is most likely being seen more).

Outbound marketing can also be a great way to increase brand awareness without expecting a sale—adding the touchpoints people need to develop trust, and ensuring they think of you the next time they’re looking for what you offer.

When your message speaks to someone it reaches, outbound marketing can also lead to a more immediate sale, because it’s often very clear what you’re offering, and how they can purchase it. However, as I mentioned earlier this really relies on your message finding people in the right place at the right time, which isn’t always easy to do!

Because you’re pushing out mass messages, outbound marketing is often more generalized, and might not speak to your audience in a way that really captures their attention and addresses their needs. Consider a billboard for example. If made too specific, many people will tune it out or be confused by it, so more often than not these present very general messages in order to try and appeal to as many people as possible.

Add to that the information overload consumers are experiencing nowadays as they’re inundated with thousands of ads and pieces of content a day, and we see that even your ideal customer is accustomed to tuning ads out (not even taking into account ad blockers and spam filters).  

Pros and Cons of Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is a great option for those just starting their business because more often than not it’s “free.” (Free is relative since you have to factor the time you spend, technology, tools, etc.) Creating an Instagram or Twitter account is free, and there are a number of platforms where you can start blogging or create an email newsletter for free as well.

With inbound marketing, you’re putting educational or inspirational content out into the world that will hopefully give people the solutions they’re looking for in the moment, or entertain them in some way.

And you’re doing so in a pretty specific, targeted way. You’re thinking about your ideal client and what they’re struggling with, you’re speaking to them with their language, and you’re showing up on the platforms and places where they’re hanging out.

When you meet people where they’re at with your content, they’re likely to want to continue to learn more from you. They might spend more time on your website, follow you on social media, or reach out directly to learn more about you.

The proactivity that’s required from the client in inbound marketing is a great indicator of someone moving from being a cold lead to a warm one. And if you continue to nurture these relationships through continuous content creation, you’re developing extremely valuable trust which can lead to sales down the road.

One of the main downsides to inbound marketing is that it’s more of a long-term game. It involves consistently showing up for your audience, and allowing your platforms to grow organically, with continuous output required by you.

It’s not a “one-and-done” strategy, but an ongoing effort to develop trust with people who will potentially become customers down the road.

Time, money & other resources: Where should you invest?

Both inbound and outbound marketing have their benefits and can play a crucial part in your marketing strategy depending on the size of your business, your goals, and the resources you have available.

Outbound marketing requires more money upfront and through the duration of a campaign to fund the creation and execution of any ads you run. And when you stop paying, your returns often stop as well. Inbound marketing on the other hand can be free or low cost financially, but often requires a heavier investment of time for creation and consistency.

While outbound marketing still requires time to create the ads and measure results post-campaign, when you find specific messaging that converts well you can almost “set it and forget it” (at least for a little while).  

And while inbound marketing may be lower cost, time is also a valuable asset and when you’re playing the long-game required for inbound marketing, it may be a little while before you see a financial return on that time invested.

When you do develop a bit of a platform or start ranking in your niche on Google though, you’ve created a semi-permanent name for yourself as an expert in the space, and as long as you continue to show up and put out good content, you’ll continue to be found. In this way, inbound marketing is more of an investment, rather than an ongoing expense.

Like anything, deciding between the two requires reviewing your goals and resources, testing and tweaking based on the results you get, and modifying as you move forward, grow, and learn more about your target audience.

While a mix of both is likely going to serve your business best, more and more companies are focusing on inbound marketing strategies to develop rapport with their customers. When you have a content strategy that is effective in engaging your audience, you’re going to start attracting highly qualified customers who are ready to buy, and you’re going to structure your business as an authority figure, setting yourself up for long-term success.

As Hubspot puts it, “If you have a great product and the skills to communicate with your customers, you can compete with the biggest advertising budgets.”

With the tools and resources we have available today, inbound marketing has become more accessible than ever, which is empowering for small business owners!

With the right systems and strategy in place, you can create a huge impact in the online space, and can start to have customers come to you, rather than trying to go out and find them.