So with all the cooing over inbound marketing and lashing out at outbound marketing, you may be surprised why I am here talking to you about the best outbound marketing tips you can employ for your business.
The answer is simple; outbound marketing, with its cons and disadvantages, still has many benefits.
I mean, there is a reason why global brands like Coca-Cola still advertise their products on TVs and online platforms.
Even the coiners of the term “inbound marketing” still advise companies to include advertising in their marketing strategies.
This suggests the idea that although, by itself, inbound marketing is pretty effective when combined with top outbound marketing tactics, you have a marketing revolution waiting to happen.
In light of this, I will be sharing with you some outbound marketing tips and tactics drawn from the various types of outbound marketing that exist today.
Let us get down to business.
10 Outbound Marketing tips/Tactics Your Business Needs
1. Engage your social media platforms
Current reports state that over 3.96 billion people, about half of the world’s current population of 7.96 billion, are on social media platforms.
This figure shows that for businesses seeking to drive brand awareness on a large scale and attract their target market fast, social media is one of the outbound marketing tactics that cannot be ignored.
Understanding the vital marketing role they play, these social media platforms have a payment system in place for companies or businesses seeking to advertise their products/services.
The payment plans differ from one platform to another, with Twitter and Facebook being the cheapest.
One benefit of promoting your goods/services on social media is easy access to your market’s data as these platforms typically store information on their users interactions and activity.
Using this data, it becomes easy to identify your potential customers and direct your post to the right market.
2. Use cold emailing properly
Cold emails are un-invited emails, emails not asked for or required by potential customers.
These emails usually offer a service or sell a product and are frequently labeled as spam by email service providers, and NO ONE loves receiving spam.
Now, you may be wondering why I have included cold emailing as one of the effective outbound marketing tips you can apply since it is often viewed as spam by receivers and email service providers.
But done properly, cold emailing can spread awareness about your brand, inform your target market about ongoing deals that might interest them, and ultimately generate new leads.
However, to effectively do this, your sales emails should be personal, offer value in exchange for what you are asking, and not appear “salesy.”
One way to effectively do this is to put to work the information gained about your target clients from the market research you have done.
Knowing who your prospects are and what they need helps you craft cold emails with a higher chance of attracting your market and not ending up in the spam folder.
3. Advertise in a subtle way
Have you ever heard of undercover marketing?
No? yes? Maybe?
Well, undercover marketing is subtly advertising your product/service in a way that is not obvious to your market that it is an ad.
The marketing campaign for the blockbuster King Kong movie is a good instance of subtle advertisement.
Large King Kong footprints were forged on sandy beaches to spread the word about the movie and get people excited.
Bringing this home, if Facebook is the platform your target market mainly uses, then in addition to promoting your products/services via Facebook ads, you can also advertise it by boosting your day-to-day posts, which are ads in disguise.
These posts can be stories about your business, lessons learned along the way, success stories of clients, etc.
It should offer value, be engaging and relatable, and ultimately promote your product/service to your target market.
If you are wondering why boosting is necessary, promoting your post allows it to reach a larger audience, unlike a regular post.
4. Pay-per-click (PPC)
Pay-per-click ads are standard on digital platforms like Google and Facebook.
Instances of Google PPC ads are top results that appear with the word “Ads” next to them when a Google search is run.
These ads typically appear when a target market inputs a keyword related to the business advertised.
For PPC ads to be effective, a business needs to research ahead and include in its ads the keywords its prospects will most likely use when performing an organic search for the type of services it renders or products it offers.
Without these keywords, a PPC ad will not draw high click rates because the target market may never come across it.
Because of its ability to generate genuine market leads at low cost, PPC marketing are functional outbound marketing tactics for almost all kinds of businesses.
It allows brands place their product/service before the right audience; someone actively searching for something related.
These companies also enjoy low brand promotion costs as they are only required to pay anytime someone clicks their ad.
Hence, if a run PPC ad is not as successful as planned, these companies get to save their money and try another ad model – talk about a win-win.
5. Traditional media ads
Believe me when I say the traditional media era is not dead, nor does it look like it will die in the nearest future.
Yes, the rate of people who consume media via the traditional forms has steadily declined.
But billions still watch TV in their homes, listen to radio programs, and read newspapers/magazines, making the offline media form one of the best marketing options for effectively spreading brand awareness on a large scale and attracting your potential market fast.
However, one con of this outbound marketing tactic is that compared to digital ads, offline media ads are highly-priced, especially Tv ads.
Depending on how far and wide the ad reach is, TV commercials can go for as high as $50,000 (I kid you not).
But as I said, it all depends on the broad ad reach.
A company operating a local business can pay for a Tv commercial that promotes its product/service to only the community locals.
If you consider Tv ads too expensive, consider promoting your goods via radio or magazines.
A radio commercial, depending on the location, audience size, and length of the ad, may range from as low as $200 to as high as $5000 per week.
6. Take part in trade shows and other events that give business visibility
Asides from digital and offline media advertisements, trade shows/fairs are another outbound marketing tips functional for driving awareness about your brand and drawing in your target market.
After all, who can sell your goods better than you?
And even if you lack the skills to sell your products effectively to a stranger, there is always the option of taking along employees who can get the job done.
Trade shows provide a business with many benefits. For one, it gives it visibility.
It allows the brand remains relevant in the minds of prospects.
It allows the business to make new connections and attract target clients.
Attending trade shows also tells your market that your competitors have nothing on you.
It highlights that you are confident your business is as good as the competition, if not better.
7. Cold calling
As cold emails are un-invited emails, so are cold calls un-invited calls.
And although unsolicited sales phone calls do not sound like a marketing tip that would be well-received by a prospect, done correctly, cold calls are effective outbound marketing tactics, especially for b2b companies.
The trick is to captivate your prospect as fast as possible.
One way to do this is by giving your prospect a reason to listen to what you have to say and not cut the call.
The reason can be something like – your business will not fully expand without this product/service I am offering you. Here is why I said so.
Again, although you want to cold-call as many target clients as possible, ensure your conversations are not pushy.
Instead, it should show that you care about your prospect and want to help them solve their need.
If a prospect indicates a lack of interest in what you have to say, respect their wishes and take their name off the call register.
Do not breed hatred for your brand in the mind of a target market because of ongoing sales calls.
8. Offer discounts or coupons via emails and ads
Ever purchased a product from an unknown brand simply because the item was sold at a discount?
Yeah, me too.
This shows that offering discounts, promotions, and coupons on your products or services is a good marketing tactic to attract new customers to your brand because everyone loves free stuff.
Even the percentage of un-invited emails and ads that get opened increases when a reasonable discount offer is included.
9. Employ direct mail adverts
Sending physical letters are excellent outbound marketing tips too.
This is more so because mailing activities are now mainly digital, as people rarely receive hard-copy letters these days.
Hence, sending a letter with the name of a target market scrawled on it is sure to raise curiosity about the mail contents and the sender more than a digital mail.
However, you do not want your mail to get scrunched up with bill payment mails because it is obvious it is a sales mail. So you need to get creative.
While you may not be able to use memes or gifs in a physical letter, you can use visually-appealing postcards, put coupons, a gift card, or even a penny in the mail.
The idea is to do what will arouse the prospect’s curiosity about what is in the mail.
10. Make use of online video platforms
According to studies, in 2021, about 86% of marketers were already using video to attract their market.
This year, the figure has increased to 88%, showing how fast videos are consumed.
With global online video platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, Pinterest, etc., it is easy for a business to use short video ads to drive awareness about its product/service on a large scale.
Conclusion
So yeah, while I am one of those that tout inbound marketing as one of the best inventions since sliced bread, I am also realistic enough to tell you that inbound marketing has its share of disadvantages, which is where these outbound marketing tactics or tips, if you may, come in.
Properly combined, these two marketing strategies will guide your marketing activities as you press on to achieving set marketing goals.
RELATED: Marketing Strategy Guide
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I am a content writer with a 2 years experience writing articles in the e-commerce, general lifestyle, marketing, food & drinks, health, and finance niches. Asides writing, I love to watch Korean movies, reading comics, and just laze around!