Why Choose an Inbound Strategy Rather Than Outbound?

Have you ever been disturbed by a call you did not want to receive? It is very likely that yes! In fact, telemarketing companies often choose their time to contact you. They take the opportunity to call you at supper time, when you just want to relax after a day of work. You pick up by curiosity. From the first second, you know that we want to sell your products and services that do not interest you and that you do not need. The call does not last and you are irritated, since you are constantly called without authorization and without interest on your part.

This scenario sounds familiar? In fact, it’s Outbound Marketing. Many companies still use it to this day, not bothering to disturb their audience. The companies doing this type of marketing come to you at all times of the day, which comes to interrupt you in your daily activities. For example, television advertising, radio advertising and signage are all forms of outbound marketing.

However, when talking about Inbound Marketing Strategy, it’s a totally different thing. It is a marketing that is centered first and foremost on the needs of the intended target. The goal of the companies that do it is to offer interesting and relevant content for consumers at a time when they are interested and ready to receive it.

That’s why in Inbound, we focus mainly on the platforms that are controlled and owned by companies, such as websites, social media and organic SEO. When you express a problem on a search engine, for example, we bring you a solution that meets your specific needs.

What is Inbound?

Create value with relevant content

To provide your audience with relevant, educational and useful content that will address their issues, you can use a blog article, a whitepaper, an e-book, a podcast and more. Keep in mind that the goal is not to promote your business at all costs as it is often the case with Outbound, we want to help above all.

Subsequently, we must take the time to broadcast content on platforms that our target consults on a regular basis. It will, therefore, be necessary to develop a complete analysis of the personas of your company in order to understand their habits on the web.

Set up two-way communication

When we talk about Inbound strategy, we must know that this is a soft and progressive communication method. We want to encourage the development of a good relationship with its target and encourage two-way communication to be able to take the pulse of your audience. It is by taking into account the concerns of your target that you will be able to improve your content.

Surely, community management on your social networks can be a very good way to observe comments. Does the type of content you share receive positive feedback? Is there room for improvement? Is it time to review your strategy?

In the end, you will only see benefits in paying close attention to the needs of your audience by generating discussions and staying open and flexible in your approach.

Encourage action

From a conversion perspective, the goal is to evolve your target from prospect to customer. To achieve this, the use of  Call to Action (CTA), commonly known as Call to Action, is used to create important points of exchange to gather information about who is consulting your resources. . The call to action encourages visitors to go to a landing page to download a document as long as they fill out a form.

Once the form is completed, it is important to complete this process by directing them to a Thank you page to thank the person who provided you with their information and to confirm that the form has been completed. When developing your form, it is important to select the fields that will be required carefully. The goal is to always learn a little more about your target and to qualify them ( IQL, MQL, SQL ) and accumulate information on your target that will certainly be beneficial in the future.

Two distinct methods

What defines Outbound?

The company goes to the consumer (push)

According to this method, a company pushes at all costs its products and services. Often, to achieve this, we use cold call techniques, unsolicited calls. From the first moment, the individual feels that the person at the end of the line does not care about our real needs. By chance, does this technique seem to be effective?

It generates considerable costs

Then, Outbound costs are another major factor to consider. Since this is interrupt marketing, we come to you at various times of the day via a multitude of media, such as television, radio, press and telephone. And everyone knows that prices for advertising via traditional media are very high. For example, at the Superbowl, a few seconds of advertising can go back to millions of dollars.

It asks to invest less time

Outbound marketing takes less time to develop and implement, which is not necessarily a good thing. Indeed, speed is not always synonymous with quality in business. The less predisposed a consumer is to an advertisement, the less he will pay attention to it… which means that the buying process will take longer. Keep in mind that the Outbound is a short-term approach and primarily media placement.

What defines the Inbound

There is a consumer attraction to the company (pull)

This is the foundation of Inbound Marketing for which companies must win the consumer’s interest instead of begging for it. This warm method offers a greater sense of belonging to the products and services sold, since the person in question has chosen to consult the platforms he consumes. In this way, we can say that the individual comes to the company himself, so he is more qualified because he tries to answer a problem by looking for information.

It generates lower costs

In contrast to outbound marketing, Inbound costs much less because it requires resources that are already in the hands of companies: a website, social media presences, and so on. In fact, it is even calculated that Inbound marketing  costs 62% less per lead than traditional methods. That’s another one of the many benefits to opt for an Inbound strategy rather than Outbound!

It asks to invest more time

When you choose to implement an Inbound strategy, you have to be ready to invest time . Indeed, as you must feed your platforms with relevant and useful content for your target, it is important to conduct a preliminary search. Without this research, your efforts will be useless.

See the Inbound as a marathon rather than a sprint: the more you train, the more you pay. Well, it’s the same for your business. The more you strive to create good content that truly delivers value to your target, the more educated, skilled, and ready to act consumers will be before any of your salespeople have to contact them!

If you are caught off guard with so much investment time, know that a web marketing agency can guide you in the development of your strategy. After all, in terms of content, we must always focus on quality over quantity. You should know that producing lower quality content could hurt your reputation, which is undesirable.

It becomes more profitable in the long run

When opting for an Outbound strategy and investing in media placement, the life of a campaign is always limited by the time and budget it has been allocated.

That being said, from an Inbound perspective, the content you produce will have a much longer lifespan because it will persist over time by being published and accessible through your site. While it is suggested to change the content due to new developments in your field, a blog post may be relevant for many years if it is well designed. What’s more, from an organic SEO perspective, your content will allow you to consolidate your position on the search engines.

We can say that the Inbound is a more profitable investment in a long-term vision!

In sum, why bet on an Inbound strategy rather than Outbound?

Here is a small summary of the main reasons that should lead you to consider an Inbound strategy rather than Outbound.

• It helps to position you as an expert in your field by creating content that helps your target.
• It helps ensure that your target will voluntarily consult your platforms, which significantly increases their qualification to buy your products or services. After all, this one made the decision to consult your content.
• Inbound marketing costs you less in the long run than Outbound and should be seen as an investment rather than an expense. You can always reuse your content and evolve it over time.

Finally, will you consider implementing an Inbound strategy during your next marketing campaign? One thing is certain, you’d better use it and let us help you in a Good strategic development!