Inbound
marketing consists of businesses that are found by customers and are advertised
through word of mouth.
The
role of outbound marketing is finding customers by building brand awareness
through advertising and promotions.
I
think a majority of companies need both inbound and outbound marketing in order
to be successful. Although it may seem like businesses such as Facebook or Youtube
solely rely on inbound marketing, these companies still depend on other
companies that use outbound marketing in order to make money. For example, just
the other day I saw a southwest airlines advertisement on the side of my Facebook
news feed. Now as I just mentioned, Facebook does not spend money on advertising,
however Facebook’s revenue is through other companies who do spend money to
advertise on their websites, in this case it was Southwest Airlines.
The
percentages of inbound/outbound marketing for each business varies but insurance
companies come to mind when it comes to outbound marketing because although
some friends may reference me to a good insurance company due to their lower
rates, these types of businesses spend a lot of money on advertising. I always
see commercials on TV or the radio for State Farm and Gieco.
Another
industry that comes to mind is restaurants. As we just learned from our
innovator presentations, Five Guys became popular through word of mouth.
However, other restaurants such as McDonalds constantly advertise new items on
the menu and the latest prices and deals.
Before
this post I always thought social media and other websites such as Facebook are
primarily inbound businesses, but after analyzing the strategies of these
companies I realized they still rely on other outbound-based companies.
I think McDonalds advertises so much as to almost brain wash you to think that their food is good :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I don't think any company can just rely on inbound marketing these days. The world is getting too small, and people have access to all businesses out there. It's not like the old times where there were a couple of restaurants or businesses in town where you could rely solely on customer’s word of mouth. Now we have yelp and advertising and coupons, and 5,000 of the same stores or restaurants in the same block....you need both inbound and outbound to make sure you get the whole pie of customers.
I agree with both of you, inbound and outbound marketing ensure the coverage is complete. I like reading or hearing a recommendation from someone, because advertisments are not reliable for determining the quality of the product or the service. Advertising does serve to make the public aware of the product/servcie, but perhaps inbound marketing carries more weight. Perhaps if you find the information by seeking it out, your perception of the "truthfulness" of the inbound marketing is that it is superior than that of outbound marketing.
ReplyDeleteAs far as 5 Guys Burgers & Fries, I saw and ad on a bill board just the other day, so they must be incorporating some outbound marketing in their plans now. Great post Jacqueline!