Having a presence on the web is not enough; having a website or corporate social networks is not of the same use if they are not supported by a digital marketing plan adapted to each business. Within this type of marketing, two concepts stand out, inbound and outbound marketing. Although both have in common the search that consumers know the products and services of a website or online store, the strategies and techniques they use make them completely opposite. Jorge Zuñiga Blanco, a successful entrepreneur and marketing expert from Costa Rica, discusses why outbound marketing is important for business success.
While inbound (or attraction) marketing seeks to attract the attention of potential customers through quality content and highly effective messages, outbound is traditional marketing. It focuses on channels that reach as many people as possible. Outbound marketing consists of the set of unilateral actions, i.e., from the company to the user; focus on the sale of products and services through clear and concise messages. For this reason, paid media such as television or radio are used; within the digital age, we also constantly see this type of advertising, for example, the advertising that jumps at us while watching a video on YouTube, or the banners that interrupt us when we play online, or that ad that cuts your eyes while browsing your favorite pages.
Although this type of marketing has fallen into disuse, it is neither obsolete nor useless. Explains Zuñiga, “For this reason, it continues to be used. When you want to capture customers or leads, you can send specific messages in bulk, with the aim of creating an impact on as many people as possible, for times so that it is etched into the minds of consumers, regardless of whether or not they are interested in the product or service, for example, to publicize a product. To make it really effective, it is necessary to send the message in many formats.”
Inbound marketing, on the other hand, is a topic that has filled hundreds of pages of books and thousands of articles on the web. Although the term is relatively new, it has revolutionized the world of marketing. Since the beginning, it has focused on meeting the needs of Internet users. This methodology combines non-intrusive advertising techniques with SEO, social media marketing, web analytics, mailings and attractive content to contact and accompany users from their first visit to the website, to guide you during your navigation, to the final transaction. Even some strategies include after-sales tracking, which gives a plus and reinforcement to the strategy.
The main objective is to contact the people who are starting the purchase process to accompany you to the end, in a friendly and close way, so it has been proven that it is an effective strategy for increasing leads, visits to the website, contacts that register in corporate newsletters, among other actions.
Applied to digital marketing, inbound arises in response to the change in behavior of consumers and Internet users, who are currently looking for a two-way communication channel between their favorite brands or public characters and themselves, which has been possible since social media emerged, offering uninterrupted information and entertainment. That’s why Inbound goes hand in hand with information, entertainment and content marketing.
Once we have managed to get visitors to the website or social networks, it is necessary to convert traffic into leads, i.e., in phone calls, emails, quote orders, etc. For this, it is necessary to have calls to action, or CTA, to generate actions, which can be to ask for live chat about the products, register for the newsletter, etc. Adds Zuñiga, “In inbound, the conversion rate is 30 to 50% higher than in outbound or traditional advertising techniques. However, it is necessary to pay close attention to the attractiveness of the contents, the design of the page and especially, that intrusive techniques, such as banners that cover the visibility of the screen, are not used.”
Users who did not complete the purchase should be monitored to maintain interest in the products and services that originally caught their attention; some users did not buy due to lack of liquidity at the moment, so they may be contacted again to inform them of promotions or discounts that may interest them. But users who did have to also be tracked so that they do not stop visiting the website or online store. This is what remarketing campaigns, social media posts with promotions, and even sending personalized emails are recommended to invite them to read more content or purchase the latest promotions.
For inbound, unlike outbound, not everything is selling and getting customers, satisfaction and customer service are very important. That’s why it is vital to create a close, friendly and personalized relationship with each consumer with whom the business has contact.
