The move to the digital age has certainly turned the tide to inbound marketing, but it’s not quite the time to chuck your file on Don Draper marketing methods into file just yet. There is still a substantial portion of the industry that requires a little bit of Mad Men advertising style, but timing and gauging your target market will be key to the success of this strategy. There are sales tactics that still stand the test of time, despite the success of an inbound strategy. A healthy combination of both seems to be crucial for the longevity of a brand and to ensure continued growth.

Direct Contact Still Works

If you happen to have a reliable sales automation tool, it’s time to put your contact list to work and make direct contact with your database. While you can use this platform for inbound marketing only, if you’ve built up a fair amount of trust with your followers, it’s a viable tool for direct sales. If you happen to have new products or services on offer, your customers will want to know about it. You know this because they indicated in on their desire to receive news from you. Flyers, catalogues, and spot sales are great for direct contact.

You Need Numbers Fast

While your website’s blog offers great solutions to the World Wide Web, it may take some time for that blog to gain enough traction in order to attract the right customers to your products and services. For a business that has overheads on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, waiting for the inbound sales to start paying off can sink the business before it takes off. Outbound marketing is a quick win for businesses that need money in the bank, fast. While it might not be the best way to attract long-term customer relationships, it’s a stepping stone and point of contact which can be developed over time.

Your Competitors Still Have Outbound Strategies

Sometimes it’s good to see what your competitors are up to, and then just run in the other direction and focus on the customer base that wants something fresh and new. Other times, it’s important to be visible among your competitors in order not to be forgotten. Instances where you would want to be part of an outbound strategy include rallies, expos, and sponsorship events.

It’s The Only Way to Reach Your Target Market

While the internet plays an important part of the buying decision for consumers, there are still pockets of society who aren’t phased about blogs, vlogs, and influencers. They still read the newspaper on Sundays, react to sales pitches on the golf course, and consider a good salesman to be the guy with the red tie who won’t take no for an answer. In this case, all the inbound marketing in the world won’t have nearly the response outbound marketing would.

When deciding on a marketing strategy, it’s important to decide on a course of action that will appeal to your target market. While inbound seems to have replaced outbound, there is still a small space left for the hard sell tactics.