Inbound marketing
Encyclopedia
Note: The sole purpose of this article is to disambiguate two pairs of meanings of inbound and outbound marketing. Please see the linked articles for in-depth information on the respective meanings.
Inbound marketing and its opposite (outbound marketing
) have two pairs of meanings depending on the context:
Inbound marketing and its opposite (outbound marketing
Outbound Marketing
Interruption marketing is a pejorative term that refers to promoting a product through continued advertising, promotions, public relations and sales. It is considered to be an annoying version of the traditional way of doing marketing whereby companies focus on finding customers through advertising...
) have two pairs of meanings depending on the context:
- One pair of definitions are:
- Inbound marketing is a marketingMarketingMarketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
strategy that focuses on getting found by customers. This sense is related to relationship marketingRelationship marketingRelationship marketing was first defined as a form of marketing developed from direct response marketing campaigns which emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction, rather than a dominant focus on sales transactions....
and Seth GodinSeth GodinSeth Godin is an American entrepreneur, author and public speaker. Godin popularized the topic of permission marketing.-Background:...
's idea of permission marketingPermission marketingPermission marketing is a term popularized by Seth Godin used in marketing in general and e-marketing specifically. The undesirable opposite of permission marketing is interruption marketing. Marketers obtain permission before advancing to the next step in the purchasing process. For example, they...
. David Meerman ScottDavid Meerman ScottDavid Meerman Scott is an American online marketing strategist, and author of several books on marketing. Based in Boston, he is a speaker at conferences and corporate events and he runs seminars about marketing around the world....
recommends that marketers "earn their way in" (via publishing helpful information on a blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
etc.) in contrast to outbound marketing where they used to have to "buy, beg, or bug their way in" (via paid advertisements, issuing press releases in the hope they get picked up by the trade press, or paying commissioned sales people, respectively). Brian HalliganBrian HalliganBrian Halligan is an executive and author. He is CEO and co-founder of HubSpot, a Cambridge, MA-based inbound marketing company. Halligan is also an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at MIT. He has co-authored two books on marketing.-Academia:...
, cofounder and CEO of HubSpotHubSpotHubSpot is a venture-funded marketing software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its customer base grew from over 1,400 in July 2009 to over 3,600 in November 2010, mainly in the USA.-History:...
, claims he coined the usage of the term in this sense. - Antonym for this usage: In this pair of senses, outbound marketing is a pejorative term for traditional marketing that focuses on interrupting customers through excessive and inappropriate advertisingAdvertisingAdvertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
and promotion. This sense is synonymous with interruption marketing.
- Inbound marketing is a marketing
- An older pair of definitions are:
- Inbound marketing is market researchMarket researchMarket research is any organized effort to gather information about markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy...
. In contrast to the above, pieces of information about customer needs and interests, not customers themselves, flow into the company. Knowledge of customer needs drives future company offerings, and product or service capability. This sense is related to the term product managementProduct managementProduct management is an organizational lifecycle function within a company dealing with the planning, forecasting, or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle....
and product ownership in Scrum. Peter DruckerPeter DruckerPeter Ferdinand Drucker was an influential writer, management consultant, and self-described “social ecologist.”-Introduction:...
believed this to be the quintessence of marketing. - Antonym for this usage: In this pair of senses, outbound marketing is a non-pejorative term for marketing communicationsMarketing communicationsMarketing Communications are messages and related media used to communicate with a market...
: information about finished product capability flows out to prospective customers who have a need for it. This sense is almost synonymous with product marketingProduct marketingProduct marketing deals with the first of the "7P"'s of marketing, which are Product, Pricing, Place, and Promotion, Packaging, Positioning & People....
.
- Inbound marketing is market research