Outbound Marketing

A more traditional form of marketing, outbound marketing uses tactics to initiate messages and reach out to audiences in the hopes that they will contact the brand or product on their own. This practice is typically known as “pushing” a product or service on its customers, and can sometimes be very assertive or overwhelming.

However, there are plenty of ways that outbound marketing has been applied to the Internet and the digital marketing sphere. Advertising agencies can place advertisements across a whole range of platforms and channels to try and grab the attention of a wide audience.

Inbound Versus Outbound Marketing

You may be familiar with both terms, inbound marketing and outbound marketing. However, there is a distinct difference between the two. Inbound marketing revolves around the prospect of earning the interest of an audience naturally, while outbound marketing pushes products and initiates contact with a customer.

Traditional forms of outbound marketing include commercials, cold calls, and newspaper ads. This form of marketing has been translated to the digital world as well, publishing commercials and ads across Internet sites around the world. Advertisers rely on this as a traditional marketing tactic in order to assume that it will reach the same level of success on the online market.

Studying whether or not outbound marketing is successful over the Internet is an interesting field of attention, and outbound marketing often competes heavily with it. However, there are still a lot of tools that advertisers can use to employ successful outbound marketing.

Difficulties of Outbound Marketing

There are a few challenges presented by this traditional marketing tactic. When using the Internet to promote a product or service, it is much easier to generate leads than it is to aggressively reach out to potential customers. Here are a couple of other pitfalls of outbound marketing:

• It is becoming easier and easier for customers to add these advertisers to a blocklist, such as a spam filter or a “do not call” list.
• Outbound marketing typically has high cost with low yield.
• It is much more difficult to track ROI with outbound marketing than it is with inbound marketing or other forms of advertisement.

Dynamic Methods of Outbound Marketing

Although it is widely considered an old-fashioned form of marketing, there are plenty of ways that it can be spiced up and brought to life. There are a variety of methods to consider when choosing outbound marketing as a way of advertisement for a certain campaign. Try one of these methods:

• Trade shows – This is a fun and interactive way to promote and push a brand while also gaining customers in a way that makes them feel like they are in control.
• Seminars – Everyone likes to learn. Seminars can be fun, informative, and interactive ways to push a product to customers while making them feel like they have gained something of value.
• Email newsletters – This is a non-invasive way to reach out to customers in a way that they can either take or ignore without any harm done.

Outbound marketing is traditional and requires a lot of effort, but it is still seen frequently around popular spots on the Internet.