Leads are great in any form! They can be either inbound or outbound leads, but there are differences between the two. Companies use distinct engagement strategies to attract them. Learn from the top B2B lead generation agency about B2B lead generation and get all your queries answered about inbound vs. outbound lead generation.
Outbound Lead Generation
Every business makes an effort to attract leads and nurture them so that they are encouraged to explore their business and consider the brand for meeting their different business requirements. Leads that a company generates by reaching potential buyers using different lead generation strategies are termed outbound leads. Let’s understand with an example- you reach out to people with cold calling or part of your ABM strategy to connect with decision-makers in a company using telemarketing services. These prospects may or may not be aware of your brand’s existence, so businesses need a robust lead generation process that involves brand awareness and then lead nurturing to convert them into customers.
B2B Inbound Lead Generation
Inbound leads are those individuals/ organizations who have initiated contact and implied their interest in the business to meet their business requirements and consider the products or services offered by the brand. Prominent examples of an inbound lead would be prospects who want access to whitepapers or case studies and are ready to exchange their contact details such as name, phone number, and title. Such people qualify as high-quality leads as they have expressed interest in the company’s products and services, even before the business could find and engage with them.
Key Differences Between Inbound vs. Outbound Lead Generation Strategies
There are some distinctions between the inbound and outbound lead generation process.
Engagement Channels: Inbound B2b lead generation takes place with effective content marketing strategies. Blog posting and sharing content on social media sites creates brand awareness. The sole aim and purpose of inbound lead generation campaigns is to make the brand discoverable on social media and search engines. Prospects are already active online, and businesses must make them aware of their existence. People will research online and come across your brand, explore it, and decide whether they want to discuss a potential collaboration. Content bridges the gap between the leads and your brand, and this works while generating B2B inbound leads, where you must build trust and instill faith in your business. Prospective buyers get familiar with your brand through interactive and engaging content and reach out to you. They would approach your business to decide if your company can help them achieve their goals by buying your products and services.
Who Leads the Conversation- In inbound lead generation, the prospects lead the conversation and choose when and how they would like to engage with the business. For instance, if they are ready to invest in a software-as-a-service (SaaS), they will evaluate their options and decide whether to purchase the service from the company. Most likely, they will have the budget and the need to make a buying decision and reach out to businesses that meet their requirements. So, they choose when to approach the business and which channel they would like to choose. Some would directly approach the business by filling in the contact form on the website or call the company representative to learn about the products and services offered. The inbound leads research and evaluate options before they contact the business. So, the timing and the channel depends on the prospects’ discretion, and the business has no role in how the leads will approach them. In outbound lead generation, businesses build and run campaigns based on their discretion to connect with the target audience.
Marketing Strategy: Which marketing strategy do you use for the inbound vs. outbound lead generation? Generating inbound leads requires a long-term investment in marketing collaterals. Case studies, whitepapers, and research guides are helpful resources that businesses utilize to attract inbound leads. They enable them to demonstrate their expertise in the industry they operate. Business organizations can use these marketing assets for a long time and keep attracting high-quality leads genuinely interested in the company and its offerings.
If we talk about outbound lead generation, companies need to create campaigns to attract outbound leads during a specific period or based on some particular criteria. For instance, an ABM campaign will use personalization in its engagement strategies to attract high-value accounts. For this, the business will target selected accounts that contain the ICPs with different customized messages, and during this process, leads will arrive in the B2B marketing funnel. Once the ICPs in the targeted accounts receive all the messages, and if they haven’t responded, the business will create unique marketing collaterals and customize the communication based on those particular accounts’ requirements. Also, different accounts would require a new engagement strategy, so the narrative keeps changing based on the leads targeted.
Conversion Probability: There are no prizes for guessing that inbound leads have a higher probability of conversion as they have expressed their interest in the business and its products and services. They have chosen to interact with the particular company and consider it to meet their business requirements. There is a higher probability that the lead has done its research and is now close to making a buying decision. They are market-qualified and sales-qualified leads that the sales team can nurture and convert into customers. On the contrary, in outbound lead generation, businesses cast a wide net on the target audience comprising their ICPs, and the conversion would depend on the leads having a budget that matches the pricing of the products and services offered by the business. Moreover, conversion will also depend on if they require your products and services. Not all target audiences are ready to buy in the market simultaneously. The 95:5 rule in B2B marketing says that only 5% of buyers are active in the market to buy, while 95% will make a purchase decision based on their discretion. So, outbound leads need more nurturing before companies can finally convert them into customers.
Hiring a B2B lead generation agency for generating high-quality B2B leads
Markable Solutions is a top B2B lead generation agency offering a robust lead generation portfolio of a mix of inbound and outbound lead generation strategies. Our lead generation experts will answer all your queries on the inbound vs. outbound lead generation debate and help you generate high-quality B2B leads for your business. You can book a free consultation and talk with our experts for a detailed discussion.
