The Importance of a Two-Pronged Marketing Strategy

Outbound remains a critical piece of any company’s marketing strategy. However, in today’s digital marketplace, the outbound tactics of direct mail, email blasts and telemarketing works best when coupled with a corresponding inbound approach.

When working together with inbound marketing, the cost of outbound is lowered while the quality of leads produced is increased. In fact, when executed correctly, the sales opportunities from a combined approach of inbound and outbound marketing can lead to double or even triple the sales opportunities than either method executed on its own.

It can be difficult to know exactly how to marry these two marketing techniques to ensure the best outcomes. What follows are just a few of the ways inbound and outbound marketing can complement each other and, therefore, increase their success rates.

1. Targeted Content. Personalized experiences are the name of the game today. In other words, whether they are reading a blog or opening a direct mail piece, people want to feel as if it was written just for them. Make sure that anything customers or prospects receive from you captures their wants, needs and pain points. Content also should include information that is relevant to buyers at various stages of their sales journey.
2. One-to-One Connections. Sales conversions are more likely to occur when there is personalized follow-up at every stage of the sales journey. A phone call after a direct mail piece or email solicitation goes a long way towards building a relationship with a potential client.
3. Experienced Telephone Agents. The individuals managing inbound and outbound calls from customers must be adept at knowing how to listen and build rapport with potential customers. Not only should they be well-versed in the product or service your company offers, they also need to understand how to handle leads that are not yet qualified so that they place them where they need to be in the sales funnel.

When companies understand the importance of combining their inbound and outbound marketing tactics, they can devise a marketing method that allows them to set realistic and measurable goals and then do the work to allow them to reach those goals. While it is true that many of today’s companies believe that outbound marketing is no longer relevant, these companies would do well to understand that when it comes to inbound and outbound marketing, it is not an either-or proposition. Rather, the most sales conversions come about when these two strategies work together.