WebiculesA business needs customers to grow- this is the most basic logic behind every business plan. So, the next logical question would be, how does a business organization find its customers? Or how does a company spread the word about its existence, brand image, and its (new & existing) products? For the aforementioned question, a company needs to understand the concept of outbound marketing. As the name itself suggests, it is an approach, which is outgoing in nature. In simpler terms, it aims at initiating a fruitful conversation between a company and its customers.
Outbound marketing includes the usage of general and broad media, such as television, radio, magazines, and newspapers, among other mediums. For more specific purposes, it could be utilized in the manner of one-on-one meetings with potential clients or customers. Additionally, it could be conducted in the form of cold calling and blanket emails, which target a large number of people. All of these strategies are adopted in the hope of generating sales. Once leads are generated, the company’s sales representatives take over to cater to the sales.
The concept of outbound marketing is simple- know your customer personally and make your first impression the best one, since first impressions are always important in marketing. Your customer learns to trust you or not on the basis of how you have interacted with them. From this point onwards, various other strategies are incorporated by the company for further development, but this remains as the most important aspect of all businesses all over the world. Gaining customer trust and loyalty is by far the most vital step for any business organization.
Many experts believe that outbound marketing is increasingly becoming obsolete with the impressive advent of inbound marketing technologies. Having stated that, there are still many companies that spend over 90% of their marketing budget on outbound marketing. So, for which kind of customers does outbound marketing work? There could be a general answer to this question, as everyone, at one or the other time, does get affected by outbound marketing. But to answer it precisely and somewhat accurately, there is a greater chance for outbound marketing to work for middle-aged to older population, owing to their inclination towards the traditional method of gaining information of the world around them. Since these customers are more accustomed to watching television or listening to radio programs in their free time, their chances of being impacted by outbound marketing are stronger.
Every market has its own needs and requires its outbound marketing strategy to be designed according to these specific needs. For difficult markets, an aggressive marketing campaign is required, while new products or services may need more explanation, persuasion, and patience with the customers. It could also prove to be highly harmful, if one is ignorant and unaware of the marketing world and its neck-deep competition. Pick any market, and it has to have a fierce market out there with every brand trying to push their products/services forward in order to further expand. So, it is imperative for marketers to understand their customers well and to know what would work with them and what really wouldn’t, because like they say, know your customer well and your battle is already half-won!
