Is your CMO crazy to keep outbound marketing in the mix when inbound marketing is the hot topic of today’s marketing world?
The short answer is decidedly, no.
In the internet era, it’s virtually impossible to be successful in business without a strong online presence. Websites, blogs, Twitter feed, Facebook, if you’re not participating, you’re not in front of your customers. As a result, businesses are hyper-focused on inbound marketing leaving some sales and marketing professionals unsure where traditional (outbound) marketing fits into the new digital landscape.
According to the Corporate Executive Board, 57% of B2B buyers are already through their purchase decision before they even engage with a sales representative. This means that potential prospects are already researching and evaluating products and solutions and creating their own preconceived notions about which companies they want to buy from and those they do not.
Statistics like these drive marketers to invest more money on inbound marketing, content marketing, SEO optimization and the works. All important stuff. However, there are still plenty of reasons to keep investing in outbound.
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Create the first contact with prospects
Outbound marketing increases the company’s probability of creating the “first contact,” which will lead to a customer relationship you can develop further. A personal customer relationship is often the tipping point when it comes to making the sale.
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Tap into the power of personal
People ultimately seek personal contacts through face-to-face meetings, networking at industry events and trade shows when considering purchasing B2B products and services, according to Marketing-Schools.org. Outbound marketing lays the groundwork for these types of contact. This is especially helpful for CMO’s conducting B2B marketing or marketing a high end product.
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Take control of the future sale
By reaching out to the prospect before their evaluating process begins, you can tailor the message and highlight the specific benefits for the particular buyer. This will also give you the advantage of being ahead of your competition and by reaching the prospect before they do with their inbound marketing.
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Growth of channel and device choices
In the digital age, outbound marketing is not limited to the traditional channels. The growth of social media and the ever-present mobile device makes the process of reaching customers more precise and timely than ever before. Email, social media and PPC campaigns allow marketers to highly target prospects and analyze results to hone campaigns for maximum effectiveness. Social media networks and digital communities offer numerous ways for marketers to reach an audience via suggested or promoted posts, display ads, hashtag campaigns, etc. And because smartphones keep us constantly connected, the potential exposure to your messages is exponentially increased.
Today, the buzz in marketing is all about inbound. But outbound is still often the best way to reach the widest possible audience in the shortest amount of time. It stacks up as a solid lead generator. It’s highly targeted. And, since certain outbound marketing strategies are not widely used by the masses, it might actually be cheaper and a better ROI to invest in these strategies since the playing field is not as big anymore.
Is outbound marketing part of your marketing strategy? Tell us how you use it.
