While outbound marketing and inbound marketing are two different animals, each with different strategies and practices, they play well together. What’s more, the two approaches are not mutually exclusive. There’s no reason a business can’t use both. That’s why a growing number of companies create integrated inbound and outbound marketing strategies that use the best of each discipline to multiply the impact of their marketing programs.
A classic integrated approach is to use outbound marketing tactics to reach a wider audience and build your brand, and, at the same time, use inbound marketing tactics to reach a more targeted group of prospects.
Executing an inbound marketing approach requires brands to create helpful and engaging content that addresses topics and queries prospects are already searching for. Outbound marketing requires marketers to push messages to consumers through advertising methods, including print, radio, TV, billboards and social media — as well as cold email inquiries and LinkedIn messages.
There are many ways these marketing strategies go hand in hand. You can leverage both channels in ways that complement each other to boost your site visits and drive sales.
While there are differences between the two, there is also one essential similarity: Both forms of marketing depend on having great ideas and compelling content that grabs people’s attention, builds brands and attracts new customers.
Companies have a lot to gain from taking an integrated marketing approach, including:
- Gaining a competitive edge. While your competitors may be focused on either inbound or outbound marketing campaigns, combining the two will set you apart and give you an edge.
- Expanding your target. Outbound gives you the chance to reach the target audience you want to reach in ways that are different from inbound marketing. This collectively allows you to reach a bigger audience than with inbound campaigns alone.
- Paying attention to quality. If you’re brave enough to mix the two marketing disciplines, you’re likely also to be skilled enough to create the best possible promotions to market your business, products, and services.
Integrated Marketing Best Practices
When you’re ready to create an integrated marketing campaign using both inbound and outbound tactics, how can you ensure the two will work together? Consider employing these three integration best practices:
- Be Consistent: Your promotions should share the same voice, personality and goals. For example, consumers expect to experience the same messaging in your digital campaigns as they do through your radio ads.
- Think Complementary: Both your outbound ads and your online ads should support the same goals. In fact, they can help fuel each other. For instance, you can leverage insights gathered from paid search efforts to learn how to speak to your customers in your print ads.
- Execute Simultaneously: Capitalize on momentum by launching inbound and outbound promotions at the same time.
Examples of Outbound and Inbound Integration Campaigns
Examples of integrated inbound and outbound marketing campaigns abound. Here are several ideas for integrating inbound and outbound marketing in your company.
LinkedIn + Email Promotions
LinkedIn offers today’s businesses many opportunities to reach targeted audiences. One of the most powerful ways is with email campaigns. Today, email is the single most powerful way to reach business people, including senior management. Combining the robust LinkedIn business directory with the most powerful form of marketing offers an ideal mix of inbound and outbound marketing that could deliver exceptional results.
Online Landing Pages + Print Ads
One of the easiest and most effective ways to intermingle inbound and outbound marketing tactics is to include URLs to specific online landing pages — either stand-alone or built into your website — in your print ads. People who take the time to visit your landing pages after seeing your print ads are your best prospects.
Billboard + Landing Page + Remarketing Ads
Although they’ve been around for generations, billboards are still powerful forms of marketing when done right. One right way to use them is to promote a URL on the billboard that clearly drives people to one of your webpages where they’ll find a call-to-action. Once you create a list of leads, consider remarketing ads on Facebook and Google to entice those consumers to convert into customers.
Post Cards + URLs
Mailing postcards to a targeted list of consumers is still a powerful way to reach people when they are offline. However, be sure to give them an incentive to find you online, such as by providing a URL to a coupon they can apply to their next purchase — either from an online or in-store purchase. This tactic can increase exposure for your brand, drive more digital and physical traffic, and result in instant conversions from prospects to happy customers.
Digital Influencer + Video
Hyperlocal brands can benefit from coordinating digital marketing with targeted print ads that drive a specific action. For example, a local restaurant could run a digital influencer campaign and a brand video campaign across social media within a defined radius at the same time to raise awareness.
Radio + Social Media Ads Advertising
Radio is an often-overlooked form of advertising by many companies. But this is a significant oversight because businesses have an opportunity to leverage this cost-effective form of marketing outreach to achieve higher marketing gains. To boost the power of radio ads, consider driving listeners to one of your social media accounts for a special offer. This will bolster your messaging both in the outbound and inbound marketing arenas.
While inbound marketing may be the most talked-about form of marketing today, outbound marketing can still play an important role in complementing your marketing strategy. If you’re struggling to achieve your goals using inbound marketing only, you can try the suggested outbound marketing tactics mentioned above. By unifying your campaigns using both disciplines, you can compound your opportunity to move more people to take your desired actions.