Outbound Marketing plops down on a barstool and says, "Man, it's rough out there. I've been knocking on doors all day, and nobody seemed to care that I can do amazing things for them if they'd just give me a chance."
Inbound Marketing sits down and says, "Really? I'm exhausted because I've had people knocking at my door all day today."
The bartender looks at the small business in between and pours up a double shot of success because this team of strategies is exactly what that SMB needs to be successful.
What Was Wrong with Outbound's Approach?
Outbound Marketing was exhausted because its entire premise revolves around the old school method of reaching out to as many people as possible and hoping someone will be interested enough to want to learn more at the end of the day.
Outbound spent its day cold-calling, knocking on doors, sending direct mail, and running ads on TV. It reached out to a huge audience of people from all sorts of backgrounds, interests, and needs, and it was one of many messages those consumers received that day. People today are trained to ignore anything that's not relevant to them, which makes Outbound's efforts far more strenuous than they were before the era of the internet took over.
Why Was Inbound So Successful?
Inbound was tired for entirely different reasons. Inbound's job is to create relevant, valuable, shareable content that makes people want to know more about it, thus bringing customers right to the virtual front door of the business. On this particular day, it sounds like Inbound Marketing did a great job because the information it provided to its audiences was so valuable that people couldn't wait to learn more. There were requests for quotes, inquiries for more information, and phone calls to schedule appointments.
It was a busy day for Inbound because people already knew a lot about the company before they reached out for more information.
What Makes Outbound and Inbound a Solid Team?
In today's world, inbound marketing reigns supreme, but that's not to say that outbound is completely dead. Although it's not really a great stand-alone strategy anymore, outbound can be an excellent accompaniment to solid inbound strategies.
Here's why:
- Small Business PPC and Quality Content are a Perfect Marriage. Pay-per-click (PPC) is arguably a marketing strategy from both schools of thought; it tends to straddle both sides of the marketing fence. One thing is for certain -- Successful PPC is rooted in great content and keywords. Marrying these two elements can bring businesses great things.
- Inbound Content is Great for Outbound Efforts. With inbound marketing, you have analytics at your fingertips, and you know what content resonates best with your customers. Why not use your top five blogs to create a quarterly newsletter to print for your outbound efforts?
- Invite Your Audience to Subscribe to Your Blog. Direct mail may not get tons of responses, but if you include your website and blog on your mailers, you'll likely capture a few subscribers who will later turn into inbound marketing success stories.
Every company has its own unique marketing cocktail to success. It's important to keep an open mind and mix and match ingredients until you find the perfect flavor. Inbound marketing has many facets. If you're looking for a way to boost your content and keep consumers interested, garnish your marketing mix with small business PPC for optimal outreach.
