Marketing is generally, but not always, inbound. Inbound is about getting prospects to come to you (instead of you reaching out to them: outbound)
That said, certain outbound activities might also fall under the responsibility of your marketing department:
- Prospecting (a.k.a. List Building): creating a list of prospects, identifying potential decision-makers, and obtaining their contact info.
- Lead generation: through campaigns, events, website pages, etc. To attract and gather a list of qualified leads to be directly contacted or nurtured until they’re ready to buy.
- Boothing at conferences and collecting information from interested people.
- Creating and distributing lead magnets: tools/guides/templates/books etc. that aid with identifying your prospect’s intent.
Within Marketing, there’s also Push vs. Pull Marketing:
Push Marketing
Is when you take your company/offerings to the prospect, increasing exposure and awareness. Is interruptive, you’re trying to get prospects to notice you:
- Ads (online, TV, Radio): some people argue that Ads are pull, but I disagree. It’s interruptive.
- Visual merchandising (retail displays).
- Product placement (movies, influencers).
- Direct sales (promoting at a tradeshow, selling face-to-face).
Pull Marketing
On the other hand, attracts prospects to you. This could be achieved through building your reputation, trust, and customer loyalty by:
- Becoming a thought leader through content marketing.
- Designing strong referral programs.
- Good account management to ensure customers return and repurchase.
- SEO.
Wait, I’m confused now…inbound, outbound, push, pull?! So what?
Use the right activities in the right places. Some work better or are less effective based on where your prospects are in their buyer’s journey. Depending on what you already have in place, you may want to revise your activities/campaigns if you’re doing too much of something or prioritizing the wrong type of campaigns that aren’t best suited for your business or the solutions you have to offer.
Here’s a matrix comparing activities and recommendations between Inbound vs. Outbound and Push vs. Pull. Target percentages of time for the activities below are suggested starting points for a new business and are subject to variation depending on the solutions you sell (I’ll explain more about what to prioritize in the Growth Engines section).
| INBOUND | OUTBOUND | |
|---|---|---|
| PUSH | • Getting prospects to come to you • Interruptive | • You getting in front of prospects • Interruptive |
| E.g. Ad for a webinar | E.g. Cold calling, Email Outreach | |
| So What? • Work best for solutions (highly visual, ergo easily marketable) that are either innovative, not in a crowded competitive marketplace, strongly differentiated, or easily communicable with words. • Might also work if prospects are aware of their problem but might not have considered your type of solution. • Low priority if you’re none of the above or if your solution needs to be experienced first before they understand how it’s better. • Target 20% of your time. | So What? • Most effective when you know these prospects are highly qualified and ready to buy or highly discontent with an existing provider. • An activity in which you can control your output. Results can be consistently predicted based on activity. • Target 40% of your time. • Good sales techniques are key. | |
| PULL | • Getting prospects to come to you • On their own accord | • You getting in front of prospects • On their own accord |
| E.g. Blogging, SEO, Publishing a book | E.g. Boothing at trade shows, Google Pay-per-click (PPC) Ads | |
| So What? • The long game. ROI of time spent or monetary investment into these activities isn’t usually immediately quantifiable. • Important for building reputation, brand, and thought leadership. • Target 20% of your time. | So What? • Great if you know where to target them and what to say to catch their attention. • Generally, the highest and quickest rate of conversion. • Unfortunately, it’s limited because it’s challenging to control when or how often people search for you. • Target 20% of your time. |
ASSIGNMENT
Evaluate your current activities
- Are they the right activities for your solution or context?
- Are there other channels or campaigns you believe are effective but have been avoiding?