Act-On Software, a provider of marketing automation for fast-growing businesses, and Demand Metric, a marketing research and advisory firm, have just released findings from a joint benchmark study on Inbound Marketing Effectiveness, which revealed that neither Inbound Marketing nor Outbound Marketing alone drives today’s businesses.
According to the new report, the majority of marketers take a balanced approach to marketing, blending inbound and outbound tactics as part of an “Allbound” marketing strategy.
With the rise of Account-Based Marketing, Inbound Marketing is losing its authority and becoming a less effective strategy for B2B companies, while outbound tactics continue to hold steady and serve as the backbone of ABM.
A buzzword born with the advent of the Internet search, “Inbound Marketing” is in essence a new-age term for advertising and awareness. While it has long had value to offer at the discovery stage of the buyer’s journey, Inbound Marketing alone has not proven effective enough to grow a business, even as the hype around it has significantly eroded the mindshare of Outbound Marketing in recent years. On average, Outbound Marketing generates 43 percent of a company’s annual revenue, while inbound generates 41 percent.
To find out how the modern marketer values and invests in inbound vs. outbound marketing, Act-On partnered with Demand Metric and surveyed over 130 marketers nationwide at B2B companies. Results showed quickly that prevailing perceptions of Inbound Marketing were imprecise at best, with respondents volunteering outbound tactics like email and digital advertising when asked to indicate the inbound methods they used.
“While Inbound Marketing generates buzz, combining Inbound and Outbound Marketing produce real business results,” said Kevin Bobowski, CMO of Act-On Software. “And as more marketers adopt Account-Based Marketing and the outbound tactics that support it, it will be time to rethink the role of Inbound Marketing.”
