Around the marketing world, you’re likely to hear a lot of talk about inbound or outbound marketing and strategies. Some individuals or agencies heavily rely on or recommend one approach over another, so you may have heard things like, “Inbound is the only way to go!”

At 3Fold, we believe both approaches have value. The key is understanding which approach matches your situation. Also, we take a slightly different tack on “outbound” marketing, instead contrasting inbound marketing with interruption marketing. You’ll understand why in a moment.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing happens when people are looking for a certain good or service, and you help them discover that you offer what they’re looking for. So they already have a want or need for what you sell, and your marketing only has to sell them on you.

What does inbound marketing look like? Here’s a possible scenario: A potential customer uses Google to search for “financial advisors near me.” You’re running ads on Google Adwords, so your firm shows up at the top of the Google results page, even before the top-ranked websites.

With inbound marketing, the prospects you draw in are already partially through the sales funnel, so you can focus your energies on making sure you’re a good fit for them.

Interruption Marketing

Interruption marketing tries to make people think about you or create a need for your goods or service. You’re interrupting the prospect’s life and trying to convince him or her to check you out. Many traditional marketing approaches are interruption-based: TV, radio, billboards, mailers, digital ads, etc.

These prospects are at the very top of the funnel, and have a much longer sales cycle. Because of that, and because many prospects will simply ignore interruption marketing, this approach is typically much more costly than inbound marketing.

When is interruption marketing necessary?

Some goods or services are unsought—people don’t think about them or don’t want them, but probably need them. Business coaching is often an unsought service, and life insurance is an unsought good. When there’s little inbound traffic for your good or service, interruption marketing may be the right choice for you.

The more you know…

You don’t have to choose sides between inbound and interruption marketing. They are effective in different situations and for different purposes. We can analyze your situation and make specific recommendations about the best way to reach your market and accomplish your goals.