The world of marketing can seem overwhelming if you are also trying to run a business and ensure that your sales and profits increase year on year. It is, however, incredibly important as it is one of the best ways to get your products and services in front of new customers. There are a number of ways you can do this and working with Marketing Strategy Consultants like the ones from https://www.reallyhelpfulmarketing.co.uk/specialist-services/marketing-strategy-consultant/ will allow you to explore what all these options are and identify the ones that are best for your business, customers and of course your budget.
There are two main marketing concepts that you should be aware of and these are inbound marketing and outbound marketing. They have two very distinct differences and both have their own benefits and challenges. Here is some more information on both methods of marketing.
Inbound marketing
This type of marking is focused on bringing customers to your products and services and this can include those that might visit your store or find you online. You can achieve this by providing insights into your business and the products and services that it offers through writing blogs and articles, creating videos and information guides. These pieces of information can then be shared on your website as well as in your social media posts. One of the key benefits of inbound marketing is that it is classed as non-invasive, meaning that your customers can consume the information at a time that suits them. It also allows you to create educational content that can be used to inform your customers. One of the challenges for inbound is that it is a process that needs to be continually renewed with new information being added all the time to keep it relevant. It can also take a lot of time to set up and maintain and it needs to have an overall strategy to help ensure its success.
Outbound marketing
This is where you look to send a message to a large number of people all at the same time and includes marketing using direct mail, cold calling, emails, pay-per-click and other traditional marketing methods like radio and tv adverts. This kind of advertising tends to take place when customers are not expecting to be contacted by your business. For example, an advert that appears during their television program or an advert that appears in their social media feed or Google search results. One of the main benefits of this type of marketing is that it can reach large numbers of people in one go and help you to reach people who may not even be aware that your business exists. One of the main challenges is that the marketing messages tend to be more generalised so as to encompass the large numbers of people it is aimed at.