If you think about outbound marketing strategies, you will know that it is all about reaching out to your potential customers. Unlike inbound marketing, it revolves around the customers who may have problems but aren’t actively looking for a solution. When people think about ‘marketing’, they consider a few phrases, such as TV advertisements, social media advertisements, marketing campaigns, etc. However, these terms look a bit out fashioned.
However, there always are a few methodologies in which you can let the customer know about your product. To a large extent, those methodologies work to their full capacity. However, in recent times, we have seen that this type of marketing is not getting favored, especially in the ecosystem of online marketing. There are many contrasting views upon its negativity and ignorance. In this article, we will dive into its definition, strategies, and relevance.
What is an Outbound Market?
If you are new to it, you may struggle to understand that what is outbound marketing and whether it is right for your business. But don’t worry, you have come to the right place to get your answers. It is the kind of marketing that revolves around conversations with your potential customers to be attracted to your brand. For example, TV advertisements, social media campaigns, direct mails are all associated with this marketing.
On the other hand, Inbound marketing happens when a customer confronts you and starts a conversation. For example, they can reach out to your website, go through your sent newsletters, or read your ebook. An outbound plan of marketing focuses on building stellar relationships via engagements, targeted interactions, and prioritizing your company’s output more than anything else.
No one denies that inbound marketing has increased in popularity in recent years (and rightfully so, as it produces outstanding results). However, outbound still consumes more than 90% of the marketing budget due to more cost per outreach. If you want to improve the return on investment (ROI) in outbound, you must prioritize your marketing budget upon those strategies that work best for your brand.
Strategies to Try Out
Most of the marketing success comes as a consequence of different marketing strategies. Regardless of whether the marketing is inbound or outbound, there are numerous ways to reach out to your respective audience. Usually, it takes multiple strategies for you to reach out to your goals. Here, we have seven outbound strategies for you to try out and reach your goals.
1. Cold Email
Emails may have been in the spotlight for a long time now, but it is still an influential aspect of prospecting as it generates incredible ROI for marketers worldwide. We all tend to receive newsletters from multiple promotional websites, but there is also one outbound marketing strategy that we tend to forget i.e. cold email.
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
Cold emails are those emails that you deliver to your prospects. You are starting the interaction with your customers. Therefore, it is part of the outbound principles of marketing. No one likes unsolicited emails. Spams are always there to detract you.
However, you can also ensure that your cold email isn’t unsolicited. Outbound principles aren’t about forcing someone to decide or doing sales-based spam. In terms of creativity, it can overlap with inbound marketing. Using your knowledge of the targeted audience, you can create cold emails that generate responses and leads.
2. Direct Mail
If you want to know that what is outbound marketing, you should also be aware of direct mails. Direct mails allow you to send letters to your subscribers via the mail. So much of our life revolves around the internet nowadays. However, we can still live without it and receive emails. As per the estimates, we still like to see our name associated with something in our mailbox. Therefore, it is an effective outbound strategy.
According to a scientific study, around 70% more customers get inclined to a brand because of direct mail over online ads. They don’t regard the website advertisements highly enough. Direct mails may not have the creativity of online posts, or you may not be able to put a GIF. However, it is an ideal way to gain attraction for your brand. Moreover, it can still be relevant to your voice and how you represent yourself.
3. Search Ads
Search advertisements can be seen as an overlap between inbound marketing and outbound marketing tactics. When a targeted user has effectively searched for respective information about your website products, you’re still trying to ideally place your brand in front of them.
Image taken from Google
Search ads can bring great success to your marketing brand. It can also be a part of the brand management strategies to evolve your business. When you invest in these ads, you can straight away create your brand’s presence in the eyes of SERPs, with a guaranteed attraction of traffic to your platform. Of course, you must be financially well-equipped because you must be paying for each click, which shows that optimization is the most important aspect of search ads.
4. Social Media Advertisements
In marketing, we usually talk about interacting with those customers who aren’t actively considering your platform. On social media, there is an overwhelming majority that belongs to this category. Therefore, if you aren’t running social media ads, you miss out on a great marketing opportunity.
Image from Facebook
To grow the audience of your platform, social media integration is important. Now, social media has become more and more “pay to play” kind of environment. Therefore, it is one of the best outbound marketing tactics out there. Paid social media campaigns are
- Cheaper than organic social media campaigns
- Increases brand awareness
- Improves attraction
Strikingly enables you to integrate your social media marketing campaigns in your functional websites, which your customers can visualize. You don’t need to worry if you don’t have any technical knowledge about the websites because Strikingly ensures a user-friendly interface, which generates positive customer feedback.
Strikingly provides different kinds of layouts and templates for a marketing website. You can consider any type of visual and customize it as per your marketing requirements. You can even add sections as per your will.
5. Events
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
Marketing may have revolutionized the digital world, but it doesn’t mean that it has ignored the importance of functions and gatherings. Meeting people is not a dead art by any means. One of the best outbound marketing strategies for your brand is to organize an event and manage it. You can rely on Strikingly to create an event website for management purposes. It may consume a massive cost upfront, but it will be worth it for the welfare of your brand.
6. Cold Calling
Outbound strategies do not always have to be innovative, and cold calling certainly ticks all the boxes. Regardless of its poor reputation, cold calling is still beneficial to many businesses around the world.
Sales and marketing are ideal in boosting website traffic and commencing conversations, and this is precisely what cold calling brings to the table. However, you must be pragmatic in your approach as it has a good and bad side. You can easily make the case that cold calling is all about the numbers. Of course, outbound marketing strategies revolve around volume, but the quality is always more important than quantity. In this case, the quality refers to the number of conversations you have with your respective customers.
If you are considering cold calling as part of your plans, make sure to invest in the right software, as it will save you time and make your process efficient.
7. TV and Radios
Numerous online marketing sites worldwide have changed the nature of how businesses advertise their products or services. If you are considering TVs and radios, it may require a more significant investment from your end than on other platforms. However, they still generate effective results for your business. An American teenager usually spends two hours on social media. However, an American adult consumes more time on TV.
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
Even though it is the period of social media, traditional media is still here. Therefore, it is an ideal opportunity to consider TVs and radios as part of your outbound marketing strategy. You must ensure that you share the right demographics to give your brand an effective layout, which eventually gives excellent value to your investment.
Is it Still Relevant Today?
You won’t find a single businessman who doesn’t want to minimize costs. When you, as a consumer, delete a promotional email without reading it, you may wonder that why that businessman would continue to invest time in going with that outbound marketing strategy. There can be a possibility that the owner has created a considerable mailing list, and he/she sends out promotional emails to all email addresses. By doing that, the owner won’t care whether the email is going to his/her targeted audience or not.
The reason behind this aggressive approach is their trust in outbound. They still believe that it is a valuable marketing strategy. It is suitable for developing brand equity (unless your emails become repetitive to annoy the consumer) and promoting new products to the audience. If you are inclined to do such marketing campaigns, it is vital to look for a reliable website-builder, such as Strikingly.
Strikingly enables you to conduct numerous marketing campaigns that can work across multiple devices. It becomes possible because the websites you create on our platform can work efficiently on both desktop and mobile versions. If you have a great marketing plan, you are destined to succeed. Once you create a marketing plan, make sure to head over to Strikingly, register yourself, and create a website to integrate your marketing campaigns effectively.