Don’t listen to the folks that tell you to stay away from all the old ways of doing things.
There are very effective ways of using old methods of marketing with the newer methods. Tie together inbound and outbound for very effective marketing strategies.
The best strategy will depend on your needs, goals, target, and budget.
To help you decide here are some basics:
Outbound Marketing
Examples of the traditional style of “outbound” marketing are; your newspaper ads, billboards, and the Fuller-Brush man (anyone else remember him?). Outbound marketing can be more intrusive and interruptive by nature and we tend to quickly tune them out.
At one time the “you’ve got mail” was exciting and people couldn’t wait to see who it was. Now over 90% of people who will sign up to be on your email list will opt-out within the first few mailers. Fortunately the cost of mass emailing is low. Properly managed the auto-responder emailing technique can still work well.
Old fashioned direct snail mail only has an open rate of less than 60%. But still that means over 40% are opening your mail. You can improve this number drastically by using “sneak up” style mail.
Television commercials are wicked expensive. Unless you have a uniquely compelling ad, the likelihood is that over 80% will just skip past or ignore your message.
Pop-up ads on a persons favourite website has mixed reviews. With these types of ads it is best if they are relevant to the viewer.
Even though the days of the cold caller knocking at your door are pretty much over, the telemarketer still exists. The adverse response to telemarketing has over 200 MILLION people have registered on the “do no call” list so far.
Generally speaking, the cost per lead with outbound marketing efforts is up to 60% higher (or more) than inbound.
Inbound Marketing
The “inbound” marketing methods is more modern in the way that relies on the client that is searching for your product or something closely related.
Inbound marketing methods include blogging and SEO (the way you found this post), ebooks, PPC, and others.
When your customer is out there doing research on something related to you and your product or service and it’s a good idea to be where they go looking. This means there is already a predetermined interest in your product in the mind of your visitor. This makes them more likely to become a customer. At the very least they are actively seeking your message and if your content can give them what they are looking for you have a good chance of acquiring them as a lead or buyer.
It is guaranteed that if a person is out shopping for something, they will buy from your competitor if you aren’t there.
A lead generation product can “earn” media or traffic. It involves you giving away something of value. Like ebooks, whitepapers, and using SEO methods to bring people to relevant information on your website.
Even with this passive form of marketing, it is still advisable to try and acquire your visitors contact information so you can continue to follow up and market to them after they left. The ebooks and whitepapers are used as a ‘bribe’ in exchange for their contact information like an email address. This is just one example of how inbound and outbound methods work together.
Also with inbound marketing, because of the way you can directly market to your targeted group, the cost per lead is less.
Inbound vs Outbound Marketing
Each business is different in its needs and the way it will communicate with potential customers. There is no ONE method that is the only solution. Consider what is available to you in your neighbourhood. If your money is made from people who live within 50 miles of your store, your methods will be quite different than someone who has an internet based company.
