FREE Difference between Inbound and Outbound Marketing [ With Samples ]

Marketing as an Industry and as a Process

The field of marketing is filled with creative, intellectual, and qualified individuals who can make a difference on how a product or even an entire business is perceived by the market. There are different kinds of work positions that are available in the field of marketing as there are also a variety of work functions that are necessary to be done to ensure that proper marketing activities can complement the business’s branding and supplement the needs of the company in relation to how they would like to be viewed by the general public.

As an industry, marketing is a booming business as the modernity and advancement in technology can affect how businesses reach their target market. The field of marketing can create either positive or negative changes to a brand depending on how marketing procedures will be implemented and executed.

If we are going to talk about marketing as a process, it involves a lot of planning before actual implementation as marketing people need to consider the needs of the business and how these needs can be translated and the solution to the needs of customers as well.

The Effect of Marketing in Businesses

The usage of marketing today has greatly impacted the improvement of businesses, may it be sales or branding wise. Some of the effects of marketing in businesses are as follows:

• It can ensure a business that they are well represented in the market. This means that companies can have the power to showcase their strengths through the usage of appropriate marketing materials and methods.
  Marketing can provide business transactions, which in turn can be translated to actual sales. May it be a new or recurring transaction with another business or customers, the usage of marketing as a medium of communication can help businesses to strengthen their foundation in various industries.
• There are still a lot of effects that marketing can bring to businesses. However, you need to keep in mind that these effects will depend on how the business will utilize its marketing resources, activities, and other undertakings.

 

Why Is It Essential to Identify the Proper Type of Marketing to Use?

As mentioned above, businesses have the grip on whether marketing can affect them positively or not. It is essential to make sure that proper marketing activities are identified so that the business can get the results that they want, or at least close to those.

More reasons on why it is of importance to identify the kind of marketing to use are listed below.

• Marketing activities that do not directly relate to the purpose of which will also provide indirect outputs that can sometimes be irrelevant to the achievement of the business’s goals and objectives.
• Marketing requires businesses to shell out money. Hence, the amount that the business will spend should be worth the return of the marketing impacts and results.
• There are different kinds of marketing plans or activities that addresses different concerns as well. Hence, businesses should know when to use appropriate marketing activities depending on what is required by a particular instance.

 

Inbound and Outbound Marketing in a Nutshell

Since we have already discussed the importance of proper marketing activity selection, you also need to be well aware of the difference between inbound and outbound marketing. In general, there is a very thin line that separates the two as they are also interrelated. With this, they are commonly interpreted as the same and have been addressed and used interchangeably.

In a nutshell, inbound and outbound marketing are two types of marketing that are used by businesses.

Outbound marketing is typically the kind of marketing used to reach a wide range and scope of audience. This audience includes the target, current, and new market that the business would like to either penetrate or subject to retention.

Outbound marketing include the following activities:

• Direct mail blasts to prospective clients/customers
• Advertising processes necessary to promote events, new products/services, and even the brand of the business
• Other techniques, processes, and activities that can get the attention of people and make them focus on the marketing scheme presented by the business

 

Since a wide range of audience is expected to be reached by outbound marketing, expect that the company also needs to provide a huge amount of money to cover all marketing expenses. This is where inbound marketing comes in.

Inbound marketing, on the other hand, is commonly used by small businesses. It includes marketing strategies that are essential to pull audiences. The difference with inbound marketing with outbound marketing is that the latter gets the attention of people while the other focuses on assuring that the target audience will have an idea of what the business is about and what products and/or services can be expected from the business.

Inbound marketing include the following:

• Activities that expose the brand of the business even more like social media relationship improvements and development
• Implementing brand authority through customer involvement
• Creation of content that are deemed to be necessary, valuable, and informative

The Difference of Inbound and Outbound Marketing

With the initial discussion that has been presented above, we believe that you already have an idea on a few differences that set inbound and outbound marketing apart. However, to make it clearer for you, here are more precise differences that you can look at if you would like to identify which type of marketing it is that is applicable to be used in the process or situation where your business is currently at:

• Outbound marketing is more expensive to be implemented compared to inbound marketing.
• The reach of outbound marketing is wider in range compared to that of inbound marketing due to the outbound marketing’s aggressive nature.
• Outbound marketing uses tactics that push marketing activities, while inbound marketing use tactics that can pull the market.
• Outbound marketing uses print, TV, and radio advertisements while inbound marketing uses social media platforms and search engines optimization.
• Outbound marketing is a one-way communication where companies provide all the efforts for marketing schemes, while inbound marketing is a two-way communication process. Examples of outbound marketing jobs are telemarketing jobs and sales representative jobs.
• In outbound marketing, customers are being interrupted by companies through marketing programs while in inbound marketing, customers go to the business due to what they have seen from posts or also from referrals.
• Hence, outbound marketing is considered to be interruptive while inbound marketing is market permissive.

 

Both inbound and outbound marketing have advantages and disadvantages. The usage of such vary on the needs of your company on a particular time and the ability of the company to support those needs considering financial status, workforce, and branding conditions. Make sure to be aware of the items listed above so you can properly identify which type of marketing it is that is most beneficial for your business.