Inbound marketing techniques work best when they are used to support a traditional sales effort, rather than replace it. Once the persona of a target audience is established, it is easier to reach them with customized social media tactics (i.e blog, twitters, facebook posts) alongside traditional sales tactics. Directing efforts to a more specific, interested audience leads to attaining and also retaining valued, loyal customers as opposed to efforts made to a random group of potential clientele.
A company should look to see how to combine the two techniques synergistically , as opposed to stand-alone strategies. I came across the following article that coined a new term for the combination of the two techniques - mixbound marketing. This article also makes a key point that these two strategies should be used within an organization to complement each other as opposed to compete with each other.
http://vmrcommunications.com/blog/mixbound-marketing/inbound-and-outbound-marketing-foes-or-friends/ Note that the right mix of the two strategies also depends on the variables within a given company, for example size, as well as budget. A larger company with more funds available can afford to use more outbounding techniques as they tend to be more costly, whereas a smaller company with less resources may depend more heavily on the cheaper inbounding strategies.
A great example mentioned in the above article that demonstrates the combination of both strategies is the use of Facebook sponsored stories (outbound with a social layer) to amplify the reach of a Facebook page that focuses mainly on growing its fan base and engagement rate with an organic approach that is rooted in posting remarkable content to the Facebook Wall (inbound).
The role of outbound marketing serves to emphasize personal, direct and regular contact with clientele. This emphasis works to assure accurate assessment of decision-maker roles and influences early on. Outbound techniques initiate personal relationships that a company generates and works to maintain them. Once these relationships are established, tailored selling tactics can be developed, and this is where inbounding techniques can come into play.
The article you referenced above provides some interesting examples of how to make that integration between inbound and outbound marketing. That's the first time I've seen the term "mixbound". As you mentioned above, the synergy between these two marketing efforts is key in the success as opposed to focusing on which one to use as part of the strategy.
ReplyDeleteI still can't help from thinking how this will evolve over time. The use of social media and other forms of inbound marketing has increased dramatically in recent years (as stated by HubSpot among others). Based on research, this trend is anticipated to continue to grow. As our technology continues to evolve, I imagine so will the percentage of inbound marketing.
Carmin,
ReplyDeleteI like your references about “mix-bounding”. It is never a black or white answer when talking about problems in business world. I agree with you that the best answer is always that how to successfully realize the goals and in this question, how to get the best marketing result. Based on different situation and the nature of a business, different weighing between inbound and outbound marketing will happen. For TVtoWear, I will say at the beginning phase, a 70-30 of outbound-inbound may help expand the name. Later, with the development of the company, the influence of inbound marketing will increase and the company can rely more on it since more and more customers have the using experiences with the website and a review system will be built. Under this situation, it will be 50-50 of outbound-inbound marketing. I can see a future when inbound marketing will take more weight in your marketing strategy. At that time, enough people know the website and word-of-mouth will be the major media to spread the brand.