Inbound vs. Outbound: Your MSP Marketing's Heavyweight Showdown

The simplest way to explain inbound vs. outbound marketing is not to look at the actions of the business or its marketers, but rather, how the target market responds to the information presented to them. For inbound and outbound marketing, the true difference comes from how the client receives, consumes, and acts upon that information. Let’s compare the two marketing strategies and how to use them to reach your marketing objectives. 

An Example of Inbound MSP Marketing

An owner of a 35-workstation manufacturing plant has some questions about whether remote monitoring of their organization’s network may help with time-loss issues. The owner opens up a browser and searches for information about remote monitoring for businesses in their area. The search yields a few service articles and a couple blogs that link back to a local IT service provider’s website. The owner decides to click on one of the blog articles. The selected blog, entitled 4 Ways Remote Monitoring Can Save Your Business Thousands, had been posted to your MSP’s blog six days ago. After reading the blog, the would-be customer proceeds to peruse the site and read through your service articles, downloaded an archived newsletter, and watched a video testimonial.

After heading back to their original search, they take a few minutes to look up a few of your competitors. Since your website’s content was up-to-date and of higher quality the business owner decides to contact you to learn more about the specific options your MSP can offer him. 

Boom. You’ve just received a quality lead that has all but decided that you’re the best managed IT service provider for their needs. Inbound marketing at it’s best.

An Example of Outbound MSP Marketing

The CEO (and primary decision maker) of a local medical clinic drives by a billboard with your MSPs information on it everyday. He sees it, is familiar with your branding, and has read the text on the sign but never really thought  about using your services. 

During his lunch break, the CEO is listening to the radio and hears information about how your managed IT services are looking to help healthcare organizations make sure they’re in HIPAA compliance. Again, he hears the information but doesn’t really think about applying them to his company. 

A few days later, he gets a cold-call from one of your MSPs sales representatives who inform him about all the dangers and penalties that can arise from ignoring HIPAA compliances. He recognizes your name and brand as an IT company that has experience with HIPAA compliance and agrees to take a sales demonstration meeting at a later date to discuss how he can make sure that all of his businesses are in compliance with these regulations. 

Which is the better solution?

Just like with most aspects in life, marketing isn’t black and white. While trends have been moving away from a strictly outbound strategy and toward inbound marketing, there is no magic formula that will guarantee marketing success. The best solution is one that has been tested to work for your business. Using a combination of outbound and inbound marketing will help you reach the largest amount of potential targets - but figuring out that combination is going to take some work!