Outbound Isn’t Dead (You Just Suck At It)

Every year you’ll see a bunch of articles and thought pieces boldly wondering whether something in marketing is dead. Facebook. Email. Search.

This year there’s been a lot of buzz around whether or not outbound marketing is dead. 

So is it really dead? 

According to Rick Endrulat, President of Virtual Causeway, the answer is no. The only problem, he says in his Hot Takes Live session, is that it hasn’t really changed or evolved, at least the way most brands are doing it. AKA, most people just really suck at it. 

Many brands’ outbound marketing today is still utilizing outdated techniques, which may wind up being expensive and ineffective. It can easily become more expensive than inbound marketing, leading some to wonder if content marketing is the only way.

And especially with events being back “on,” brands are wondering how outbound is helping or hindering the process. 

You ultimately need outbound marketing and effective follow-up techniques in order to move people through the sales process. 

This means you need to focus on the right things in order to have efficient B2B outbound marketing. There’s a complex sales process here, so you can’t be lazy.

It’s also important to remember that:

• Inbound marketing is never free, even if it seems like it at first glance.
• You need to be able to combine digital and human interactions for complex sales, meaning having actual salespeople involved.
• Account-based marketing (ABM) and targeting can be an essential part of the process.
• You need to help guide the buyer’s journey.
• You can get instant results and have an amazing feedback loop if you’re implementing outbound correctly. 

So in practice, this means you must integrate your marketing efforts instead of relying on a single “one-catch-all” tactic because those don’t really exist. 

You need to know that your outbound is failing if you’re relying on old methods that are no longer efficient. You can stop lagging results.

It’s essential to marry more intentional targeting and predictive analytics with outbound marketing. 

Account-based marketing (and account-based selling) should become a core strategy here, and a big part of your outbound marketing strategies can be centered around those campaigns. 

And finally, you need to test. Validate that your strategies and marketing platforms are working for you. Without that, you’ll never know, and you certainly won’t be able to improve your outbound marketing campaigns. 

Want more? Join 48 of the top SaaS leaders on February 16th, 2023, as they dish out hot takes and surprising insights on product-led growth, RevOps, marketing, and sales. Save your seat now!