Inbound vs. outbound marketing

- [Instructor] To apply some of the most effective marketing strategies today, you first need to understand the difference between inbound and outbound marketing. Now, in the simplest terms, inbound marketing is passive, while outbound marketing is aggressive. Inbound marketing seeks to attract customers to your products or services through content designed to inform audiences at the time and place that the audience is seeking out the information. For example, let's assume you're in the market for the ultimate hiking pack. Maybe you do a quick search on Google to find this unbiased consumer review of the top 10 backpacks. Going through the list, you see a number of related blog posts that help inform your decision. Before you know it, you've found a backpack, a tent and more from one source. You're happy that you found a reliable solution. Meanwhile, the inbound marketers at Switchback Travel have delivered success for the brand by developing marketing content that earned your trust and inspired you to make a purchase. Inbound marketing puts the consumer in the driver's seat, serving up relevant content at the point of interest only. But while it's passive for the consumer, it requires an immense amount of work from marketing teams. To succeed in inbound marketing, teams must continually produce content to compete with other businesses that are equally vying for your attention. It requires a holistic approach in which marketers must plan content campaigns around singular goals, products, or services, in addition to evangelizing the larger brand. They must create content for every potential channel their audience might be on, and they must ensure their content remains relevant and up to date at all times. Luckily though, it's easy to measure the success of inbound marketing. Marketers rely on various tools like Google Analytics to track individuals around the web. They can identify which pieces of content drive traffic to their websites, how users interact with that content on their websites, how users found their content online, where users go after viewing the content and so much more. Outbound marketing differs from inbound in that it requires proactive outreach to potential customers to encourage them to buy a product. Some examples of this include television commercials, radio ads, banner ads on websites, direct mail to your home or office, billboards, flyers, and magazine ads. This isn't marketing content you seek out. It's marketing content that interrupts you in the moment instead. Outbound marketing is more traditional in that we've been experiencing it for centuries. It promotes brand awareness and often leads to immediate action, which makes it quite complementary to an inbound marketing campaign. You might not be familiar with the Switchback Travel brand, for example, but you're likely familiar with Dick's Sporting Goods or REI. Their outbound marketing might impact whether you choose to purchase your new backpack through Switchback, or you may take what you learn from Switchback and go right into an REI or Dick's to make your final purchase instead. Outbound marketing is becoming harder and harder to measure or succeed at these days. For example, outbound marketers used to target highly watched television programs for their advertising, but with the growth of streaming television and limited ways to measure the impact of a commercial on streaming networks, it's hard to prove an ROI. In addition, 63% of consumers start their buying journeys online now, which suggests that consumers have learned to passively ignore the aggressive approach of outbound marketing. Now that you know the differences between inbound and outbound marketing, it's time to get a bit more granular. The lessons that follow will break down some of the most popular marketing strategies used today and the value designers can bring to each one.