Every business needs to market itself – no matter how big or
small it is. Now the act of marketing itself can be distinguished broadly into
2 categories. In other words, there are 2 different approaches to marketing.
They are…

·        
Inbound
marketing

·        
Outbound
marketing

Let us now try to define both of them.

Inbound marketing: Inbound marketing is when the customers are calling you to
make appointments, purchase products, or gain information. Inbound calling is
marketing and promoting a business with the customer’s permission. In the
competitive market we live in today, it is a key to accept that the customer
wants that control. But there can be another kind of inbound marketing. Supposing
you are a travel agent and let customers enquire and book travel packages. When
a person calls in and asks for a package and makes a booking, you may also
offer him/her car rentals as well. Cross selling can be very profitable and you
can do it with inbound marketing.

Outbound marketing: This is easier to define because outbound marketing is
what we normally come across every day. Outbound marketing can be defined as
the effort of the business to reach out there to let the world know about its
products or services. The idea is to grab the attention of the prospective
customer, make him/her interested in the offering, hold the interest for long
enough to deliver a message, and motivating the person to take positive action.

Here are a few examples of outbound marketing. Actually we
come across such efforts all the time – the advertisements we see on TV; the traditional
advertising on the billboards, newspapers and magazines; the printed material
in brochures; cold calling and even business merchandising such as printing the
company logo or a message on coffee mugs, key rings, pens etc.

Outbound marketing first aims to establish the brand when a
new product is launched and then there are follow up advertisements to keep the
brand alive in the mind of the people.

So which one is better for you – inbound marketing or
outbound marketing?

The fact is, both inbound marketing and outbound marketing is
very effective – there have been many businesses that have tried both and been
successful. So it is best for you to have enough information on both of these
and then decide which one is better suited to your business and your unique
situation.

Web Marketing Photo

By janeb13 from Pixabay