Outbound marketing: Is it right for your business?

Outbound marketing: Is it right for your business? When non-marketers think of marketing, most of what they are imagining is outbound marketing: Reaching out to potential clients in an attempt to convince them to buy a product or service. Print and radio advertising, trade shows, telemarketing, and cold calling are all examples of outbound marketing.

This style of marketing is so ubiquitous that many marketers never even consider alternatives. But to ensure that your marketing plan is customized to your business, it's imperative that you examine all the options and choose marketing techniques that best suit your unique needs.

While this kind of marketing is traditional, and therefore comfortable for many customers and marketers alike, outbound marketing attempts can also be seen as interruptive, so much so that methods of avoiding this style of marketing have become standard in today's society: Ad blocking software and TiVo, for example. Because of this, outbound marketing has become less and less effective over the last few years.

What is the alternative?
But outbound marketing is not the only option. On the other side of the coin is inbound marketing, a style of marketing that uses methods like search engine optimization, blogging, and social media to intercept people who are already looking for what your business offers.

Take, for example, a company that sells equipment to hospitals. That company could use outbound marketing to cold call all the hospitals in their area, or send an email blast to a purchased mailing list of hospitals, and hope that one of those hospitals needs to purchase new equipment. They might obtain a new client or two from this method. However, much of their efforts would be wasted on hospitals whose equipment is not yet in need of replacement. 

Imagine instead that this company channeled their efforts into optimizing their online presence through SEO and blogging to make them a hub for hospital equipment information and sales. Then, when a hospital has already decided to replace their equipment, they can search for a source and find that company. As opposed to the "cold" audience of an outbound marketing attempt, the audience for inbound marketing is already "warm." By the time that hospital is on the seller's website, they're already prepared to make a purchase.

Do you have to choose?
Luckily, businesses can dabble in both kinds of marketing to find a balance that's right for them. Unfortunately, many businesses are so stuck on outbound marketing that they haven't had a chance to realize how lucrative inbound marketing can be. Finding the perfect mix can be challenging, but ultimately will spell success for your business.

But you don't have to calculate that perfect mix alone. Contact us to discuss how NextStep Marketing can help create a strategic plan that will help your business stand out above the competition.

                                                  Outbound Marketing Charlotte | Inbound Marketing Charlotte 

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