4 Ways Inbound and Outbound Marketing Can Work Together
It’s not exactly breaking news that inbound marketing is the reigning king of conversation (and recommendations) in the marketing world as of late. So does that mean that good ole’ outbound marketing is dead? Not the way I see it! While inbound marketing has tremendous benefits and a lower cost per lead compared to outbound marketing, I believe these two approaches can actually work together to create a more successful marketing strategy. People often think of these two marketing approaches as silos, operating as separate entities, but you would be surprised at how these two strategies can complement each other. Let’s look at a few examples.
Leverage your content with outbound strategies
Inbound marketing is all about drawing prospects in by creating and sharing useful and engaging content, for example an e-book, blog or video. We absolutely love these strategies for drawing people in, but why stop there? Leverage the content you’ve created and distribute it using push strategies. For example, take your best 4 or 5 blog posts from a quarter and package them into a newsletter to be sent out to your clients and prospects via email blast or even snail mail.
Use outbound tactics to build your blog audience
Blogs tend to be a cornerstone for inbound marketing. It’s a great way to create up-to-date and interesting information in digestible bites that will appeal to your target prospects. The more you build your content over time and use key words, the more you will be able to “pull” new readers to your blog through search. But outbound tactics can also lend a hand here in building a following. Why not create a customized email blast for your clients, prospects, colleagues to let them know about your blog and ask them to subscribe to it? This is a great example of inbound and outbound working together and can be used to promote any type of content like video, e-books, and white papers.
Follow Up with Content
Sometimes there is no substitute for in-person networking or meeting with a prospect face to face. This can be one of the most effective ways to build relationships and is a classic outbound marketing strategy. Again, if you’ve been building content as part of an inbound marketing strategy, it can help here too. Instead of sending a bland “nice to meet you” follow up email, why not send a link to a pertinent piece of content that touches on something you and the prospect discussed? If you’ve built your blog up over time, this will likely become a great source for relevant follow up content. If you can share your own content, that is ideal, but don’t shy away from sharing others’ content if it will provide value to your prospect.
Use Calls to Action (CTAs)
Advertisements, email marketing and hard copy mailers are all examples of traditional outbound marketing tactics that can be effective when done correctly. But what makes them even more effective at generating leads? Calls to action! If you have the budget to advertise or send out hard copy mailers, don’t let them “stand alone.” Make sure you include an effective CTA that will draw prospects to the content you’ve already created through your inbound marketing strategies. Ask them to subscribe to your blog, download an e-book, or watch a video.
Are you an inbound or outbound devotee? Or like us, do you use both? Click below for your FREE download of our “10 Tips for Building B2B Marketing Strategies”:
