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Inbound and Outbound Marketing: what’s the difference?

There are countless marketing strategies, including Inbound and Outbound Marketing, which provide different solutions and strategies, but what's the difference?
There are countless marketing strategies these days. After all, we are living in an era of intense digital transformation, where consumers are increasingly predisposed and interested in interacting with companies and making transactions over the internet. Therefore, the more this relationship and preference increases, the more tools and strategies emerge to win over these people.

Among the countless marketing actions, we can mention those of Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing, which provide the sales team with different solutions and strategies for different purchasing moments. However, many people tend to confuse a strategy with the other, although they are used in very specific processes.

Therefore, in today's post you will better understand the difference between each of them, as well as their main benefits. Continue reading!

What is Inbound Marketing?

O Inbound Marketing It is nothing more than a methodology whose central objective is to achieve customer loyalty. No wonder he is also known as attraction marketing, since your strategies are always related to attracting potential customers, so that they are increasingly closer to your company.


In a practical way, this attraction in Inbound Marketing is done through the production of content. In other words, content is actually the main pillar of inbound methodology.


Therefore, it is crucial to analyze the type of content to be produced, ensure that it offers maximum quality to users, and, most importantly, that it is targeted at the right audience.

Inbound Marketing
People of all types are attracted to well-targeted content
Content Marketing: discover the main strategies!

What is Outbound marketing?

Also known as traditional marketing, Outbound Marketing is known for carrying out activities aimed at attracting customers through the dissemination of direct products and services. Unlike the inbound marketing, the purpose of outbound is going directly to the customer, in an active way, not with the objective of arousing the consumer's interest at first, but rather of already offering the product or service in question.


To understand its concept even better, we just need to remember the traditional advertising advertisements, such as leafleting and billboards, for example. As today this practice is also found in digital media, we find online ads, on social media or other platforms, personalized emails (email marketing), banners and pop-ups

outbound marketing
Potential customers are attracted through physical and digital advertisements

Inbound and Outbound marketing: what's the difference?

In order for us to understand the methodologies that each of these strategies offers and represents, we will summarize them quickly and easily for you.


O inbound marketing works with attraction, that is, it seeks to win over customers by creating valuable content, on blogs or social networks, for example, offering the prospect the opportunity to follow their course on sales funnel of marketing, so that you reach a point where you are already educated and fully prepared for the moment of purchase.


No outbound, in turn, we do not have these steps defined. By working with more direct marketing methods, companies that use this strategy usually work with personalized ads and emails, as the objective is promote the product or service in a direct way.


An example of this are the famous ads on Google based on keywords, on the search network, among YouTube videos, emails with discount coupons, offers from companies, and many others. The user is not “treated”, as happens in Inbound. In Outbound, the sale is direct!


In short, we can list the main differences between the methodologies as follows:

1. Approach

One of the main differences between the proposals lies in the "sense" of the approach. While in Inbound, the potential customer comes to the company, captured by some content or interested in answering a question, in the Outbound, the company goes to the customer, offering its product or service.

2. Form of communication

In the case of Inbound, we have less direct but, at the same time, less invasive communication, involving content marketing strategies to attract future customers and to nurture them as they progress through the sales funnel.


On the other hand, in the Outbound, if communication is more direct, it is also more invasive, generating an interruption in the customer experience, making it necessary to evaluate it with criteria so that it can effectively achieve satisfactory results.

3. Type of content

Content production occurs in both strategies, with essential differences, but with the same objective: building and maintaining a good relationship with potential customers. Therefore, it is important to take into account the persona and the ideal customer profile for the company.


For Inbound, the content is more informative and broad, seeking to create a bond of curiosity and gradual interest with the potential customer who approaches looking for solutions to their pain; whereas, in Outbound, the content is more direct, highlighting the advantages of the product/service offered and the pain points it can solve, aiming to encourage purchase, especially in those that fit the business profile.

4. Return on investment

There are marked differences in investment and return on that investment between the two methodologies. In general, in Outbound, the investment is greater, since resources are often used paid ads, in addition to the need for a larger team to manage the most abundant leads. However, the return is usually faster.


Now at Inbound, we have a longer-term strategy, which depends on factors such as brand positioning in search engines, increasing website traffic and consolidating brand authority, which are built gradually. Therefore, investments may not be as significant as in Outbound, but they have a longer return period.

5. Generates competitiveness

As a result of all the benefits and advantages mentioned above, we reach a remarkable point for any business: competitiveness. Since the lead scoring promotes optimization in the collection and management of more qualified leads, the tendency is to increase profits, standing out compared to competition and increasing authority in the segment in which it operates.
What is Martech? The future of marketing in business.

How to apply these strategies in the sales funnel?

Knowing the differences between inbound and outbound, it is easy to understand what each one can do for your business and how to apply them efficiently in the sales funnel. In general, the inbound methodology is used in practically all stages of the sales funnel, from the user discovery phase to the moment the user becomes a qualified lead for sales.


In the sales funnel, the inbound marketing can be applied through the construction of rich materials and catchment structures with the help of content marketing in order to attract customers. An example is blogs, which contain posts with themes according to the persona's stage in the sales funnel, and, throughout their structure, have elements (such as CTAs) that make the reader take action.

Practical example:

Let's say you have a construction company and want to increase your sales process through inbound methodology. The first step is to understand that users who come to your domain need some information, right? In this case, creating a blog (with Techniques of SEO) can be highly efficient, as your brand will create content according to the reader's level of awareness.


During these posts, you can insert CTAs for rich materials, so that they are converted into leads, and thus worked on and nurtured to advance in the future. sales funnel.

Na outbound methodology, for example, we don't need to spend a lot of time creating content or formulating strategies to educate readers. After all, it is a direct method. Here, it is necessary to work on mental triggers, in order to awaken people's pain, needs and overcome objections about the offer being offered.


More eye-catching and persuasive ads They are one of the main pillars of outbound, since the sale is direct and companies tend to direct these ads to people who are already more aware of their problem and the solution. They are generally found in the middle and bottom of the sales funnel.


Furthermore, the ads created can lead people both to the shopping cart and to rich material, so that these users are transformed into “warmer” leads, that is, more aware and likely to make a purchase. They just need a little push!

The differences between the Inbound and Outbound Marketing pipeline

Regarding the sales funnel Inbound and Outbound marketing, therefore, while in the first one we work on the entire stage of customer awareness, from the moment a problem is discovered (top of the funnel) until the moment the lead is ready to buy from you (which is the last stage in the sales funnel), in outbound marketing We already work with direct sales, and this tends to reach people who are in the middle of the funnel and at the bottom.


In other words, they are people who are already aware of a problem, are looking for a solution, but are on two paths: either they are in doubt about whether or not to buy from your company — that's where we come in with e-mail marketing campaigns and other strategies aimed at resolving this user's doubts — or are they ready to buy products and services in your niche.


What you will do is simply target ads to those people who are already predisposed to buy, having efficient copywriting and mental triggers, so that they are convinced.

Marketing Sales Funnel
Use of strategies and tools to convince customers to purchase a product or service

Inbound Leads x Outbound Leads

To understand the difference between leads coming from these two sources, you must first understand two important concepts:

Pain: term that defines a lead's need, that is, that inconvenience or problem that they need to solve in relation to their business/company;
Fit: English expression that means fit or fit, with a fit lead being one that fits what the company offers or the customer profile the company is looking for;

In approaching the marketing for sales In this way, we are looking for a lead with a pain or a lead with a fit.


Leads coming from inbound are generally those who reach the content published in search of solutions to their pain. However, it is not initially known whether they will fit with the company's proposals. Hence the importance of qualifying them appropriately, to focus efforts on those who present a fit with the established ideal profile.


Regarding leads coming from outbound, we have the case of those who may or may not have a problem, but who are still unaware of your company. However, your marketing effort in this strategy will seek to reach precisely those who have a greater fit with the company, aiming to increase chances of conversion.


Generally speaking, therefore, leads from inbound are fewer in number and offer longer-term results, with higher conversion rates, while those of outbound are more abundant, with a lower conversion rate, but with a faster return.


It is also worth noting that a lead captured through one of these strategies will not necessarily remain there alone. For example, a lead outbound that did not convert into a first offer may continue in the flow of inbound, being nurtured until it is converted further.

How the Bytebio Can it help you in both ways?

If you are looking to change and further optimize your sales and marketing strategies, digital marketing industry, Bytebio offers solutions for digital transformation com marketing and technology. We study your business to provide the best customer acquisition strategies, understanding the target audience, personas, existing customer acquisition strategies, among other resources.


Therefore, we reformulate, with technology and intelligence, new strategies so that your sales goals increase even further, whether with Inbound, Outbound, or even with both.


Want to know more? Visit our page and sign up for one of our consultancies, Contact Us by filling out our form. Our experts will contact you quickly to assist you.

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