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Writer's pictureDarby Riales

Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing: What’s the Difference?

Updated: Feb 24, 2023

If you are new to marketing, you may have heard the terms “inbound” and “outbound” thrown around a lot. In this article, you will find a simple breakdown of the two types of marketing.


Inbound Marketing


Inbound marketing is designed to allow potential customers to make the initial move. It doesn’t involve cold-calling and cold-emailing. Essentially, it is putting your business out there for customers to find whenever they are ready. Inbound marketing methods include the following:

  • Blogs

  • SEO Strategy

  • Social Media Content

  • White Papers

Outbound Marketing


Outbound marketing is designed to actively seek out potential customers. It is often referred to as the disruption method as this style of marketing is meant to grab attention. Outbound marketing methods include the following:

  • Billboards

  • Direct Mail

  • Radio Ads

  • Telemarketing

  • TV Commercials

Pro Tip: Think of it this way - Pull (Inbound) vs Push (Outbound)


If you are looking to implement inbound marketing tactics into your business, then you need to understand the four stages.


Stage 1 - Attract

In the first stage, you will use blogs and social media content to present useful information to your digital audience.

Stage 2 - Nurture


The second stage is where you begin a gentle pull by moving potential customers through a sales funnel. The best ways to nudge your online visitors are with buyer personas, CTAs, email drip campaigns, landing pages, web forms, and interesting content.


Stage 3 - Convert

The third stage is where you will secure the sale thanks to personalized marketing tactics. In other words, you need to make your customers feel special. You can achieve this by utilizing analytics with reporting, CRM, and post-demo email campaigns.

Stage 4 - Evangelism

The final stage is to prompt word-of-mouth recommendations for your business. While you can’t control what people do, you can continue sharing high-quality content that your consumers enjoy. Approximately 65% of business comes from word-of-mouth. So, give your audience some great content to share with their friends and family.

Automated Inbound Marketing


If you find that constantly pumping out content is getting overwhelming, you can always automate. The software-as-a-service industry is better than ever before, and you can easily find one that suits your needs. Inbound marketing automation tools can include the following:

  • Behavioral Tracking

  • Blog Building

  • Buyer Personas

  • CRM

  • Email Marketing

  • Website Visitor Verification

  • And many more

Pro Tip: 80% of companies that used automation for their inbound marketing strategies saw a bump in lead generation, and 77% saw conversion rates go up.


Wrapping Up: Inbound Vs Outbound Marketing


There is no doubt that you should be utilizing inbound marketing strategies in your business. To make things easier, you may want to consider automation to improve your overall sales and save you loads of time.

For help with content creation and digital marketing strategies, get in touch with Clever Girl Copywriting today!






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