In the marketing world, there is a battle raging. The two sides? The digital savvy inbound marketing whizz kids vs. the tried-and-true outbound marketing advocates.

But why the conflict?

Both inbound and outbound marketing techniques definitely have their place in the business world, but when it comes to long-term marketing success — inbound marketing comes out on top.

But why is that? To understand why inbound marketing tends to work better than outbound marketing it’s important to understand what the two are.

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing attracts customers through relevant, helpful and engaging content that adds value at every stage of the customer’s buying journey.

With inbound marketing, potential customers find you through channels such as informative blog posts, eye catching social media updates and search engines.

The idea of inbound marketing is to turn your business into a magnet that attracts people that are actively looking for the products or services that you offer. They don’t have to know your company, but they soon will.

This form of marketing is in stark contrast to outbound marketing.

What is Outbound Marketing?

Outbound marketing attempts to tell people about your company by getting in front of them — regardless of whether they want to know about your company at all.

Outbound marketing is also known as interruptive marketing. Outbound marketing is (constantly) fighting for your attention.

Those TV ads screaming at you to buy a brand new 9-piece outdoor dining set when you live on the 9th floor in an Auckland CBD apartment? Outbound marketing.

That pop up ad for a new brand of chocolate milk when you’re lactose intolerant? Outbound.

Outbound marketing is designed to grab the attention of your potential customers and not let go until your advertisement has run its course.

People Prefer the Inbound Way

In many ways, inbound marketing is the opposite to outbound marketing.
Inbound is designed to be a less aggressive approach to marketing. It’s a direct response to more and more people tuning out, switching over, or skipping traditional advertisements in favour of experience-focused alternatives.

Can’t stand TV ads? Get Netflix. Radio ads kill your road trip buzz? Get Spotify.

In short, people are becoming immune to ads.

Outbound on its Way Out?

Outbound marketing still does have its place in the business world, but it shouldn’t be your main strategy.

Outbound marketing is still an effective way of telling as many people as possible about your company and increasing brand awareness. However the ROI can be very low especially when you consider how expensive things such as TV and radio commercials are.

Direct mail (booklets, flyers, pamphlets etc.) and print ads are very common examples of outbound marketing and they can be successful if done correctly. Funny, intelligent and shareable ads can provide fantastic cut-through in the oversaturated, ad-heavy world.

Although it’s not totally game over for outbound, inbound marketing is by far the more effective long-term strategy.

Turn the Crowd into Paying Customers with Lead Generation

So you’ve created some awesome content and more and more people are engaging with your brand than ever before. Site numbers are up. Life is good.

However, window shoppers don’t increase your bottom line.

Are you looking to be the most popular kid at school or a business that wants to make money? It’s great to be popular but it’s even better to be making money, and that’s what business is all about.

That’s where Lead Generation comes in.

Digital technology in the lead generation space enables businesses to track where traffic is coming from, track leads, allocate these customers to sales teams, convert leads to sales and see how the company is performing.

Ready for the Next Step?

At Quentosity, return on investment is our specialty. We provide our clients up and down New Zealand with a complete digital marketing consultancy service.

Whether you are based in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga or Christchurch (or anywhere in between) we work with you to streamline your sales process and nurture the leads that our inbound marketing techniques generated to convert them from “just looking” to “just buying” and increasing your profitability.

By partnering with HubSpot, Quentosity can ensure that no lead is left behind and increases the chances of converting that customer into a paying client.

If you’re ready to take the next step, contact us today as discover what we can do for you.