In the early years of the millennium inbound marketing became the new kid on the block. It’s based on the view that people don’t like being interrupted or sold to.

Instead, publish helpful content to support the buying process and build relationships. Leads then come to you rather than you having to go out into the market to find them.

All of this promised to sweep away cold calling, traditional advertising, direct mail and all of the established (or outbound) tactics.

Except, it hasn’t.

Breaking Down Barriers

There’s a lot of good sense in the inbound approach. For one thing it helps break down our natural barriers to advertising and marketing. Internet searches and social media channels offer ways to get our content and our brand ‘out there’ that didn’t exist even at the birth of inbound.

But outbound marketing is far from dead. It still delivers results.

In life, and marketing, it pays not to be too slavish to one view of the world.

• Inbound marketing principles help build brand awareness and trust (tick).
• They can coax prospects into your sales funnel while asking for minimal commitment (another tick).
• But you may have no idea who’s consuming your content until they’re ready to contact you (if they do).

You’re also relying on a prospect to take time out of their busy schedule to search for or notice something you’ve put out on the internet.

Sit Back and Wait Isn’t Always Best

Potential customers aren’t always on social media or searching for content on Google. So sometimes you need to target them more directly with an outbound approach.

Then there’s how people move through the sales conversion process. You can help this along by capturing their contact details, adding them to your email list and proactively sending them content relevant to their personal journey.

Is this still inbound, or has it become outbound? Does it really matter as long as you’re getting qualified leads?

A blended approach helps accelerate lead capture and nurturing. And maybe that’s all you need to know.

The optimum blend of marketing tactics and channels is different for every business. And that’s what we’re always searching for – the most effective mix that will help you build a high value pipeline that converts.

So it isn’t outbound or inbound, it’s how you combine both to deliver the best results.

You can find out more about building a high value pipeline for your business by downloading our free guide, or chat to us today.