Inbound and Outbound Marketing are different strategies, but they have the same objective: to generate business opportunities.

Adopting one of the methods, or even applying both together, will depend on the type of product or service you’re working with, the way the company works with its consumers, among other factors that will determine the most appropriate way to generate leads.

Let’s start by understanding the differences between the two systems, but it’s important to bear in mind that one is not better than the other.

There are only methods that adhere more comfortably to the needs of each business.

In this sense, let’s first get to know the characteristics of the Outbound system.

What is Outbound Marketing

Outbound means outgoing in Portuguese. This means that the premise of this system is to generate business from the outside in.

In other words, the main characteristic of this method is the interruption of the lead’s activities, so that they remain focused on the sales proposal, i.e. the company initiates contact with consumers to promote its products or services, using direct communication methods.

Therefore, when we think of Outbound, we think of traditional marketing, with TV ads, radio ads, telemarketing, banners, billboards, among others, designed to attract the consumer’s full attention.

However, this profile is not limited to offline advertising. For example: the ads before and during your favorite YouTube video, the ads in the middle of your Spotify playlist, among others.

And who hasn’t been targeted by an ad that reaches their mobile or computer screen via cookies? After all, it’s through them that companies collect behavioral data from users, seeking to refine their approaches, trying to make actions less invasive and more in line with each person’s personal preferences.

This online interruption is also part of Outbound, the method by which the company/brand goes after the lead through advertisements and contacts made by salespeople.

What is Inbound Marketing

Inbound means incoming in Portuguese. In this method, the company/brand creates ways of attracting the customer, keeping them engaged and relating to them continuously until the sale happens.

Inbound was born out of the development of the Internet and the advance of online business. And the working tool of this system is content.

It educates the public with informative texts about needs that people don’t know they have. The lead then continues to engage with the company or brand through nurturing content.

And so the marketing funnel is born, containing the buyer’s journey in its top, middle and bottom phases.

The main characteristic of Inbound is to sell without selling. In other words, creating a relationship of trust with leads is fundamental for sales to occur in a natural process.

Nothing in Inbound interrupts the user’s activities; on the contrary. Every sales argument is embedded in the content that forms part of their activities on the Internet.

The problem and the solution

For example, while reading a blog article, the problem and the solution are presented at the same time. The problem would be the need that the consumer doesn’t yet know they have.

And the solution is the product or service to be sold. But the sales phase only takes place at the bottom of the funnel, when the lead has already bonded with the company or brand through frequent consumption of content.

A web series on YouTube can educate your target audience about a topic and, at the same time, convince them that your solution is the best for what they need: an example is a running channel.

On these channels, the public learns about exercise and equipment (sneakers, socks, t-shirts, gps and cardio watches). When deciding on sneakers or sneakers, they opt for those recommended by the channel.

The use of emails in both systems

Although email marketing is a proven effective strategy in Inbound, many Outbound salespeople try to use it to make the first contact with customers using bcc email (not recommended), which is the sending of emails with hidden copies.

In this format of sending messages, the recipient receives the email as if it were individual, but it is actually part of a list of hidden addresses.

It is important to note the following:

• Any contact made by email without the recipient’s authorization constitutes spamming.
• To get someone’s permission to receive your emails, you need to build a list of contacts. This can be done both online and offline.
• The bcc email is not recommended for Inbound and Outbound Marketing, as it is an amateurish and precarious technique for sending emails.
• For actions carried out by email, use a professional email marketing tool.

In short, email marketing can be adapted to both methods but, first of all, you need to build a list of contacts and verify the emails.

In this way, you guarantee that your messages will be delivered to the recipients’ inboxes and not to the spam folder.

Is email marketing better in inbound or outbound?

No Exit

To create a list of contacts using the Outbound method, professionals can actively request leads’ registration data at points of sale or events, for example, using moments such as registering for discount clubs, advantage clubs, in exchange for gifts, etc.

It’s important to note that all lists contain large numbers of invalid emails, either due to spelling mistakes (if they are built using paper forms) or typos.

This is where email verification makes all the difference, removing invalid emails. In the case of online forms, real-time verification is recommended.

Another important detail is that the approach of an Outbound email will be completely different from the Inbound method.

In other words, the salesperson will not have the support of attraction content to carry out their sales approach. The messages sent will focus solely on commercial appeal, without engaging with the lead.

No Entry

Precisely because it is linked to relationships and content, email marketing is more present in the Inbound strategy.

To create a list in this method, professionals make useful material available to consumers. For example, ebooks, training courses, infographics, etc.

The leads, in turn, will access the content by filling in their details on a registration form. It’s an exchange, where the currency is the registration data.

The advantage is that, in this method, the registration is from a person interested in a topic that is addressed and solved by the business in question.

Integrated with a real-time verification API, the form generates clean lists with promising leads, as the tool prevents invalid emails from entering the lists.

Conclusion

Inbound and outbound marketing generate leads. However, you need to assess the type of business and everything related to it, so that you can apply the method most capable of creating opportunities.

It’s always good to remember that being present in digital is indispensable, even for companies that operate physically, through well-defined points of sale.

Nowadays, a company that isn’t online, even if only through a website, is seen as outdated. And in this line of thinking, Inbound ends up being used more than Outbound.

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