You’ve probably heard the terms “inbound marketing” and “outbound marketing” being thrown around by marketers, and have perhaps wondered what exactly the difference is between the two.
What is Outbound Marketing
What is Inbound Marketing
The differences between Inbound and Outbound Marketing
Best described as “interruption or push marketing”, outbound marketing is what used to be traditionally just known as just plain marketing. It’s interruptive in nature and pushes itself at an audience whether the audience wants to receive the marketing content or not. Outbound marketing methods include TV and radio, print, outdoor, direct marketing, trade shows, cold calling, email blasts and telemarketing, just to name a few.
These marketing tactics were once effective. But over the years, they’ve lost their effectiveness. The market is so saturated with advertising that people no longer pay attention to one-way messages that are interrupting their daily lives and aren’t relevant to them.
Another problem with this form of marketing is that many people who are not part of your target audience are exposed to your message, which makes these mediums costly and ineffective.
Contrary to outbound marketing which pushes content to audiences, inbound marketing attempts to “attract” potential customers with interesting content.
The term inbound marketing was first coined by Hubspot in 2006. They have defined this term as:
“Inbound marketing is a business methodology that attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them.”
Inbound marketing focuses on strategies to pull audiences in, using an approach that’s focused on attracting customers through content and interactions that are helpful and relevant instead of just pushing content and vying for a prospect’s attention.
Let’s review the major differences:
| Inbound |
Outbound |
| Attracts interested audiences |
Pushes to everyone |
| Communication is to two- way |
Communication is one -way |
| Customers find you |
Customers are sought out |
| Marketers provide value |
Marketers provide little or no value |
| Is part of content consumption |
Disrupts content consumption |
| Content is written to help consumers with their needs |
Content is written to sell products only |
| Marketers seek to entertain or educate |
Marketers rarely seek to entertain or educate |
Now that you have a clear understanding of the differences between inbound and outbound marketing, it’s easy to understand why inbound marketing methods are going to lead the way to the future. While there’s still a place for outbound marketing methods, as consumer behaviour shifts, our marketing tactics need to adapt.
Inbound marketing is a business methodology that attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them.