Inbound versus Outbound Home Service Marketing

There are two types of digital marketing.  Inbound marketing is a marketing technique where customers are attracted to your marketing content and they are drawn to your marketing message.  Outbound marketing interrupts the experience of your potential customers to communicate your marketing message.  Inbound marketing can be thought of as permission marketing.  Outbound marketing can be thought of as interruption marketing.

Inbound marketing is called permission marketing.  Compared to outbound marketing, inbound marketing is about creating content that is then discovered by a person interested in your electrical, landscaping or painting services.  Some types of inbound marketing are:

• Blogs
• eBooks
• YouTube videos
• Webinars
• Websites
• Search Engine Optimization
• Keyword targeting
• Landing pages
• Email marketing

Outbound marketing is called interruption marketing.  Outbound marketing interrupts a person while they are doing something else to communicate a marketing message.  Some types of outbound marketing are:

• TV ads
• Radio ads
• Print ads
• Cold calling
• Social media ads
• Email blasts
• Direct mail
• Billboards

Some people say that inbound marketing is good and outbound marketing is bad.  However, I feel that they both have their place.  They do have their pros and cons in how you want to interact with your intended audience for your electrical, landscaping or painting business.

Inbound marketing is beneficial in that you can create content that is then able to be discovered by a person.  You do not have to pay to constantly show that content.  The content can be created once, and this made available on a number of different platforms like text on a website or a video on YouTube.  The content can also be requested like someone signing up for a webinar or an email newsletter.

Inbound does have negatives.  It is passive in that people need to search out the content.  If the person is not interested, your content wouldn’t be displayed to them.  Additionally, you are competing with many other players who might also be trying to interact with the same people.  These other players may have been doing it longer or are considered more of an authority if you are just starting out.

Outbound marketing is beneficial in that you can target exactly who you are trying to reach and for a price get your marketing message displayed to them.  Some forms of outbound marketing like cold calling or direct email have a lower cost than other forms like TV or radio ads.

Outbound marketing does have some negatives.  People have been bombarded with these techniques and consider them a nuisance.  When the message is not a match for the person receiving it, this is very true.  The methods are also very broad so the marketing message might reach a lot of people with no interest or need in our product or service.

Inbound and outbound marketing both have a place in your digital marketing strategy for your electrician, landscaping or painting company.  Though they have pros and cons, they both can be used at different points and with different purposes.  Some techniques are great for a broad, awareness raising marketing campaign.  Others are better suited for a target call-to-action to find people ready to purchase right now.