Inbound vs outbound: what are the differences?
Attracting prospects to your website is the new goal of digital marketing. The fact is: outbound marketing is not only losing the interest of consumers, it can even drive them away. Inbound marketing, on the other hand, takes a close interest in the behaviour of the persona right from the first contact, and generates relationship marketing that builds loyalty. Lessons in seduction.
Inbound VS outbound: traditional marketing no longer in vogue
Digital transformation is forcing a good number of VSEs, SMEs and large companies alike to review their strategic ecosystem and optimise their web marketing prospecting. In the age of mobile marketing and digital marketing, what are the major differences between inbound and outbound marketing? What methodology should you choose to encourage fruitful encounters?
Inbound marketing, the new digital strategy for subtle seduction
We've unearthed a video that explains in an educational way why inbound marketing is a web marketing approach that is popular with both salespeople and prospects. It clearly defines the major differences between outbound marketing and inbound marketing.
We've also included a full article that gives a pictorial summary of the inbound marketing process and its conversion funnel through 4 key stages.
Outbound marketing is more like hunting than fishing
Invox uses this metaphor in this video:
Outbound techniques are intrusive and/or do not add value for the Internet user: paid search with the purchase of keywords, Google adwords, retargeting (adverts that follow the consumer from one site to another), internet banners from a display network, etc., outbound marketing is now showing its limitations in terms of effectiveness and falling conversion rates.
Outbound marketing techniques, and advertising in particular, are considered intrusive by consumers. Let's look at the figures:
- As early as 2013, the French were horrified by advertising on social networks and media.
- In 2014, 8 out of 10 French people said they were disturbed by advertising when surfing the internet.
- Banners are becoming the bête noire of Internet users: in 2015, they decided to get rid of them and block them with anti-advertising software such as Adblock.
- More than 5.7 million Internet users use an ad blocker, and the number is growing...
During the advertising blackout, content marketing seduces your prospects
Content marketing enables you to attract a qualified audience to your website. It is the essential starting point for all inbound marketing solutions.
Content marketing, the new ally of digital marketing
Your web content has proven acquisition and loyalty potential: it is more visible than outbound formats over the long term.
First and foremost, content creation ensures sustainable positioning in search engine results. Improving your natural referencing on the Internet is a question of essential visibility in relation to your competitors! When you think that Internet users don't look at 53% of adverts on websites...
Social media is another type of SEO that focuses on awareness: community management helps you share your content and encourage your community. What content do you send out to influencers? Your press relations 2.0 deserve a specific content marketing strategy.
What's more, web content marketing provides generous amounts of content, such as white papers or blogging, before converting, turning a web user into a customer. Outbound marketing is a one-way street: its e-marketing policy is to sell at all costs.
For example, advertising interrupts the consumer without providing any added value. Inbound marketing offers useful value to Internet users, without disturbing them. And when you've finished paying for it, your advertising disappears while your content remains! Your readers and customers take the time to consult your content at will. Outbound marketing is ephemeral...
The image below sums up the differences between inbound and outbound marketing: permissive marketing versus intrusive marketing.
Guess who is the most effective when it comes to lead generation?
Through content marketing, inbound marketing responds to your customers' needs and expectations.
The figures demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach:
- On social networks, 46% of Internet users take the plunge and buy because of content with high added value, or because their friends recommend the product or service. Linkedin is a key player in the BtoB sector.
- 70% of readers prefer blog articles to find out more about a company's activities.
- 81% of consumers trust what they read on blogs.
- Companies that have invested in the production of blog articles generate 55% more traffic than companies that prefer to promote their business outbound.
- The blog becomes the heart of a web strategy, generating 126% more leads than a company that does not produce articles.
- For 72% of marketing departments, inbound marketing is more visible and more effective than advertising.
With inbound marketing, Internet users come to you, seduced by your content. They are the ones who choose to fill in their profile on the landing page you have designed for them, with a carefully crafted call to action.
Let's talk marketing profitability now!
More profitable web marketing thanks to marketing automation
Marketing automation saves your company time and money. When it comes to profitability, marketing using inbound marketing techniques such as lead nurturing and lead scoring allows you to :
- generate 54% more leads than outbound marketing,
- achieve a customer acquisition cost 61% lower than with outbound marketing,
- optimise your return on investment with content that remains visible online, as opposed to advertising where you have to (re)pay to be visible.
Source figures :
- "Les Français dérangés par la publicité intrusive", article in Stratégies magazine on the study carried out by Publicis ETO/Toluna (July 2015),
- "Les Français et la publicité sur internet", 2014 study by Opinion Way/mozoo,
- "The 2015 Ad Blocking Report
- This 2014 study of 500 marketing managers by Mass Relevance/ Spreadfast,
- The "Second Advertification Barometer" by Kantar média and Adledge from October-December 2014,
- 100 statistics on inbound marketing, 2014 study by Hubspot
Lead nurturing, the high-performance marketing strategy for building loyalty
You have collected qualified data via a newsletter subscription form, for example. To prepare the ground for your sales proposal, lead nurturing consists of qualifying your prospect's expectations and responding to them step by step.
You chaperone them, as it were, and adapt your communication to them, right up to the point of purchase. This is known as incubation, and it involves a methodical analysis of the needs of each prospect profile. The result is your segmentation of potential customers, and the segmentation of the content you offer.
To help you determine the stages your prospect goes through, and what is relevant to recommend in terms of content, it is advisable to study the customer journey and establish a lead scoring just for them.
Your lead scoring for your email marketing
Your lead scoring enables you to define the right time to send your emailing, and to determine what type of mailing it is wise to send. In a marketing automation logic, your email marketing enables you to invite your prospective readers to read the useful content that will help them make their choices.
Lead scoring consists of evaluating and measuring your prospect's stage of development: defining whether they are in the process of obtaining information, looking for arguments, making comparisons or deciding to buy: you qualify your leads as hot or cold prospects.
Adopt a lead management solution worthy of a digital agency
You can buy software solutions in SaaS mode on a no-obligation, monthly subscription basis, but the important thing is to commit to a customer relations tool that allows you to optimise your productivity and increase your conversion rate.
The secret, as you will have realised, is marketing automation using lead generation and lead management software, coupled with a CRM tool that enables you to send tailored, automated email campaigns.
Do you want to increase your sales? Then acquiring software represents an excellent investment.
Our suggestions:
- get to know Plezi, marketing automation and inbound marketing software,
- discover Intercom, a solution that allows you to unify all your communication with your customers, such as automatic emails,
- Automate your lead generation with Conversaa, a marketing automation solution,
- optimise your CRM with love, try Oryanoo,
- enjoy Dialog Insight's relationship marketing solutions,
- use our search engine on the home page!
With the figures to back you up, you'll see that inbound marketing is effective, but also that outbound marketing is just talk and talk and talk... Take the plunge: become your own media, your own digitaland webmarketing agency. Ready to catch the eye of your prospects ? Increase your leads tenfold: inbound marketing solutions are at your fingertips!
Updated article, originally published in December 2016.