Outbound marketing means promoting a product through ongoing advertising, promotions, public relations, and sales, often known as interruption marketing. It is regarded as an irritating twist on the conventional marketing approach of companies that focus on acquiring customers through advertising. Outbound marketing and interruption marketing are commonly used interchangeably, which is confusing. This generates uncertainty because the phrase previously had a certain meaning, namely that information about ultimate product capacity was distributed to prospective purchasers who need it, i.e. product marketing and communication. This post will look at some instances of outbound marketing channels and methods.

Did You Know? When a corporation uses outbound marketing, it seeks to contact customers through mainstream press advertising or direct, in-person interaction. The most effective outbound marketing tactics are cold emails & cold phone calls and Trade shows with search ads.

What Is Outbound Marketing?

Outbound marketing involves sending a message to many people to convert them into customers. This method is based on the idea that the larger the group you send your message to, the greater the outreach for the product/service. Traditional marketing methods such as direct mail, events, billboards, cold phoning, newspapers, and radio are generally used under outbound marketing. It can be incorporated with more modern technology such as pay-per-click advertising and spam emails.

Various Types Of Outbound Marketing Channels

There are various types of outbound marketing channels and the outbound marketing tactics;  they are described as follows:

• Advertising Techniques

Traditional advertising, also known as above-the-line (ATL) advertising or local marketing, encompasses television, print (newspapers, magazines, etc.), and billboards. This advertising approach can help you reach large audiences, but it lacks specific targeting skills. For the top funnel activities like brand awareness campaigns, ATL advertising routes are beneficial. Although traditional advertising is viewed with suspicion, it remains effective if we consider the number of people who watch television, listen to the radio or read the newspaper every day.

• Digital Promotion

Although the 1st digital advertisement, which appeared in 1994, didn't have a lot of targeting, the digital ad market is as sophisticated as it is after 25 yrs. To give you an idea of how diverse the ad landscape is, here are a few examples of digital ads: Display ads, social media ads, over the top (OTT) commercials, email ads, native advertising, and online video ads are all examples of search engine marketing (SEM).

• TTL (ThroughtheLine) Marketing

The brand promotional mix in TTL ads includes both ATL and BTL advertising formats. The brands could, for example, undertake a notoriety campaign on the television, in newspapers and on social networks and expand the homemade business. TTL can often incorporate digital-out-of-home ads, a new ad style that displays the dynamic commercials on the traditional outdoor media.

• Making Cold Calls

The most well-known method of communication is cold calling or telemarketing. When a salesperson calls a list of potential clients to gauge their interest and convert them into paying customers, this is known as cold calling. The term cold call refers to a salesperson who has never spoken to a customer before. Hot calling is considered the next step in telemarketing after the prospect has expressed interest in your services.

• Email Promotion

Although email marketing is considered an inbound marketing or outbound marketing tactic, any approach, whether or not the client agreed to receive it, may be classified as outbound marketing because the sender begins the communication.

• Syndication of Content

Content syndication doesn't restrict you from publishing your content on a third-party website. This may be a guest post, thought leadership piece, an interview, or a rehash of one of your previous articles. Company collaborations, in which you can collaborate with another brand to develop a compelling piece of the content, such as a downloadable guide, can also lead to content syndication.

• Tradeshows and Events

Organisations can meet the prospects and the customers face to face at events and tradeshows to create contacts, convert potential customers and retain the existing customers. Corporations can host their events, such as Salesforce's Dreamforce, or sponsor or attend events or conferences hosted by third parties.

Also Read: Learn How to Boost Your Business with Inbound Marketing

How To Create An Outbound Marketing Plan?

Developing an overseas marketing plan necessitates a thorough examination of the impact and irreversibility of mass media efforts and local marketing. We will learn how to develop an outbound marketing strategy for your business in this part.

• Know What You're Selling: Outbound marketing platforms for promoting offerings vary greatly depending on whether they are B2B or B2C. Because of the scale of the target audience, B2C products can be promoted in general media, whereas B2B products must use more specialised venues like industry magazines.
• Understanding Your Target Market: Creating customer persona examples will assist you in selecting the best marketing channels to sell your products. Various services and audiences will necessitate a difference in the approach, even while employing comparable marketing platforms. To choose the proper platforms to sell your goods, research your audience's behaviours, content consumption preferences, etc.
• Investigate Your Rivals: Competition is good for outbound marketing. Because the marketing channels are saturated, brands must constantly outperform their competitors to be recognised. Therefore, keeping an eye on the competition is highly essential. Look at what they're doing (and what they're losing out on) and think of methods to set yourself apart
• Make a Campaign Message: Make a list of the main points you want to get over to your audience and do outbound advertising. Make your users work to understand what you're trying to say unless it's a newspaper or internet ad. The campaign name, headline, slogan, and hashtag should be included in the messaging. While making something viral is difficult, adopting narrative approaches that encourage audience interaction can significantly increase engagement.
• Platforms to Consider: Your promotional mix should highlight the marketing channels you wish to run your campaign. It could be done online, offline, or a combination of the two. The funding should be carefully allocated to ensure that the campaign receives the necessary airtime. Once the platforms have been narrowed down, you must develop a plan for each one. For example, you must plan the target audience, ad creatives, bidding, and so on for social media ads. Similarly, you may need to deal with an advertising agency to purchase newspaper ads.

Top 5 Outbound Marketing Strategies

2020's Top 5 Outbound Marketing Best Practices As you plan for 2020, these are the top five outbound marketing best practices.

• Stay Away From Shady Marketing Tactics

Marketers frequently use dubious and unproductive strategies in the chase of rapid gains. A few instances were buying the email lists, sending the unwanted bulk messages, and not including the unsubscribe link in emails. These approaches are uncomfortable for the recipient, but they may also result in fines due to regulatory compliance such as GDPR. Make sure you have the user's explicit permission before sending them promotional emails or text messages.

• Use Of Linkedin To Generate Leads

Is there an objective approach to engaging with a potential key customer if we don't have prior communication with them? Marketers and salespeople frequently ask. It's a great thought, and the key is to take advantage of LinkedIn's capabilities. The LinkedIn Premium and Sponsored services allow you to send messages to people not connected to you, called InMail. While standard LinkedIn messages are similar to Premium InMails, Sponsored InMails are more effective and allow you to include a call to action.

• Implement An ROI-Tracking System

Due to the lack of a solid targeting and tracking system, traditional marketing is referred to as the spray-and-pray strategy. While it is partially true, there are steps to gauge the success of your advertising. Indeed, advertising pioneer Claude Hopkins worked with A/B testing as early as 1910. He'd send different ad variations to see how each one affected sales. Here's how to do it yourself: Create different QR codes for offline media providers to track the right source. Offer a platform or advertisement-specific discount or coupon codes. Net promoter surveys (NPS) can be used to assess the success of various platforms.

• Use of a Full-featured CRM Application

Keeping track of leads, prospects, and customers is one of the most difficult tasks for salespeople. While CRM software solutions can streamline sales processes, most of them fail to log phone calls. Close and other CRM solutions are useful because they provide a built-in call automation capability that allows you to handle the entire inside sales process from a single interface.

• Create A Channel For Distributing Outbound Content

Content syndication is a well-known form of content distribution, and marketers must create an outbound content distribution workflow to support their content marketing efforts. That means there should be a standard procedure for publishing new content.

Also Read: Best Eco-Friendly Business Ideas in India

Conclusion:

Outbound marketing involves promoting a product through advertising, promotions, and public relations. Outbound has maintained its status as the fastest and most efficient go-to-market approach, even evolving to incorporate modern best practices in digital promotion, advertising techniques, tradeshows and events, syndication of content, email promotion, making cold calls, and TTL (through-the-line) marketing. There are five steps in outbound marketing practices for 2020.

Follow Khatabook for the latest updates, news blogs, and articles related to micro, small and medium businesses (MSMEs), business tips, income tax, GST, salary, and accounting.