Outbound Marketing, What is it?

Outbound Marketing, What is it?

The term Outbound, as it relates to marketing, most commonly refers to reaching out in some way to engage a prospect about your products and services. This can include cold calling, emailing, social media outreach, direct mail, and paid advertising. Inbound marketing is essentially the opposite of outbound marketing, and refers to letting the customers come to you when they need you, most commonly through your website or social media.

There is without a doubt, some blurry lines between outbound marketing and inbound marketing, and most good marketers use a combination of both when running an effective marketing campaign. Think of Outbound Marketing as the initiator of the initial introduction of a company to a potential client, and inbound marketing as the ongoing development of a relationship with that client. Outbound marketing greatly increases the chances of your company getting that crucial initial introduction.

There are many different types of outbound marketing, including outbound call (cold calling), email, social media outreach, direct mail, paid advertising, trade shows, tv/radio/newspaper, and press releases. We will highlight some of the more popular outbound types below.

Outbound Calling (Cold Calling) – Outbound calling, often referred to as cold calling, is one of the most common types of outbound marketing. In the B2B sales world, cold calling is very common, especially when organizations have a dedicated inside sales team.

Outbound Emailing – Outbound email can come in a variety of different forms, but from a B2B perspective, it generally refers to who the email is coming from. Both the sales and marketing departments are responsible for outbound emailing. The goal of the sales department is to obviously close more deals, whereas the marketing department aims to engage both new and  existing buyers in different marketing activities.

Social Media Outreach – Social media is a very common place for outbound marketing. Once again, this can occur in many different shapes and sizes. For example, on LinkedIn you could have a company putting out engaging content on LinkedIn, as well as an individual salesperson reaching out to potential prospects directly. Whether it’s Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter, there are a lot of ways to do outbound on social media.

Direct Mail – Direct mail is the mailing of physical materials or items to potential prospects or customers. Although this seems a bit outdated, direct mail is making a big comeback in B2B marketing because of a reliance on email.

Paid Advertising – Paid advertising is how companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter exist. Companies pay money to rank higher or directly advertise to specific groups of people. Take OutboundView for example, as a company, I can advertise on Google so my website ranks very high for specific keywords. On Facebook, I can advertise only at people based on very specific demographics and job titles, and on LinkedIn, I can advertise specifically at people within certain companies or that have very specific job titles.

TV/Radio/Newspaper – Many companies still do advertising via tv, radio, and newspaper. This generally means creating an advertisement that promotes your business via these channels.

PR – Press releases are a great way to formally let people know what’s happening at your organization. A press release is a formal release of some kind, and the content can range from strategic hires all the way to product releases or acquisition. Press releases are very common, especially for mid-large sized companies.

As you can see, there are many different types of outbound marketing, and some of the best marketing campaigns typically involve a combination of both outbound and inbound marketing tactics. At OutboundView, we specialize in outbound marketing strategy and execution. Ready to get started with your marketing campaign? Let us help!