While inbound marketing is the buzz around the internet, its sibling, outbound marketing, is still alive and kicking. The strategies differ significantly, with inbound marketing being more laid-back and outbound marketing being more salesy.
It’s a good idea to get to know and implement both of them into your overall marketing strategy, as each one can fit specific goals better than the other. Here’s what you need to know about getting started with outbound marketing and making it work for you.
What Is Outbound Marketing?
Outbound marketing is a form of promotional strategy that seeks out customers and sends specific messaging to them. This is in contrast to inbound marketing, which involves potential customers having a more active role in seeking out a company. When you think of traditional advertising, like radio, television, and direct mail advertisements, you’re thinking of outbound marketing.
Outbound Marketing Examples and Best Practices
The following outbound marketing strategies are just a few of several options to try for your business. We’ve also included tips and best practices with each example.
1. Email Marketing
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Email marketing uses emails and email newsletters to promote products, share company news, and clue in customers on other exciting events. Email marketing is easily one of the most popular outbound marketing strategies right now. Head to any online retailer or blogger and you’ll probably find a prompt to sign up for an email list for exclusive news, promotions, or discounts.
Tip: This outbound marketing strategy always works best when there’s a clear process in place to keep building an email list and engaging subscribers. Focus on quality rather than quantity, ensuring that each email is hyper-specific to your subscribers’ interests and needs. Check out these best email examples for inspiration.
2. Cold Outreach
Cold outreach includes cold calling and cold emailing. These forms of outbound marketing require a company to reach out to their ideal customers or clients to generate interest in their services or products.
Tip: When done correctly, cold outreach can be highly effective. The trick is to make it not feel salesy. Cold outreach tactics need to feel sincere and relatable to the customer. Most customers want to feel a genuine, human-to-human connection rather than feel as though they’re being marketed to. Be sure that everyone on your outreach team is able to deliver sincere conversations.
3. Paid Advertising
Paid advertising is often in the form of search ads, website ads, or social media ads. When people visit a website or search a term in Google, they might see your targeted ad, which could interest them enough to click over to your website or landing page.
Tip: Optimizing is the best way to ensure paid advertising success. Make sure your ad headlines and content are optimized for the best keyword targeting and create landing pages that are hyper-specific to your ad offers.
4. Press Releases
Press releases tell the public what’s going on with your company, whether you want to inform others about a new product or service or give a rundown on the latest company news. They can be an excellent way to drive eyes to your business without being overly salesy.
Tip: Press releases should have a date, be concise, and include some quotes from relevant experts, like company executives. Use clear and straightforward language that appeals to your target audience.
5. Promotional Events
Some businesses promote their company through events, such as webinars, conferences, and trade shows. As an outbound marketing technique, a promotional event can drive new clients simply through your company’s advertising and participation. Some companies also choose to sponsor other events, another form of outbound marketing.
Tip: Make your promotional event a success by having plenty of advertising leading up to it. Offer early-bird registration, promote the event on social media, and place ads on your website and physical locations to let everyone know when it’s happening.
6. Podcast and Radio Ads
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One of the most modern forms of outbound marketing is podcast advertising, which is basically a new-and-improved form of radio advertising. Companies can create their own commercials or partner with podcast and radio hosts to speak about their products or services on air.
Tip: It’s usually best to advertise on radio stations and podcasts with similar audiences as your company. Remember that these ads are audio-focused, so you’ll need to tell a story that engages consumers just by listening to your ad.
Outbound marketing requires businesses to reach out to their customers in meaningful ways. Although many forms of outbound marketing are somewhat outdated in favor of digital-focused inbound marketing, more modern forms — like paid internet ads and podcast ads — can be highly successful with the right strategies in place. Check out our guides to direct response marketing, Facebook advertising, and Google advertising for expert tips and tricks.
One of the best ways to improve the success of outbound marketing campaigns is to warm up your prospects by building brand awareness. Installing social media share buttons on your blog or website allows your visitors to share your content with their networks on social media, exposing your brand to a wider audience. And when those audience members are exposed to outbound marketing, the fact that they recognize your brand will increase the odds that you’ll capture their attention.
