::: PHMC GPE LLC ::: MARKETING & CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AGENCY

Inbound vs Outbound Marketing

Inbound Marketing and its opposite Outbound Marketing have various meanings depending on the context.

• One pair of definitions^[1][2] are:
  • Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy that focuses on getting found by customers. This sense is related to relationship marketing and Seth Godin's idea of permission marketing. David Meerman Scott recommends^[3] that marketers "earn their way in" (via publishing helpful information on a blog 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 Halligan, cofounder and CEO of HubSpot, claims^[4] he coined the usage of the term in this sense.
  • Antonym for this usage: Traditional marketing (outbound marketing) is a marketing strategy that focuses on finding customers by building brand awareness through advertising and promotion. In contrast to "permission marketing," a pejorative term for this type of marketing is "interruption marketing."
• An older pair of definitions^[5] are:
  • Inbound marketing is market research. 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 management (product ownership in Scrum). Peter Drucker believed^[6] this to be the quintessence of marketing.
  • Antonym for this usage: Outbound marketing is marketing communications. In this sense, information about finished product capability flows out to prospective customers who have a need for it. This sense is related to the term product marketing.