What Is Outbound? How to Leverage Proactive Outreach Without Feeling Salesy

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Transcript

1:16

Hello. Hello. Thank you for tuning in to the Kaffeen Espresso Podcast today. And today we're gonna be talking about what is outbound marketing and how to leverage pro proactive outreach without feeling salesy. So look, I did a marketing degree. I've spent 20 years in the marketing industry, and even I still have to Google the terms inbound and outbound marketing because a bit like the term above the line, below the line, like the, it feels like the, it feels like the suns are shifting and it doesn't always feel like a certainty what it means. So I just wanted to firstly acknowledge. Even if you are a professional in this area, it can, these terms can be discombobulating, just acronyms and jargon. Not the best a but also that what the relationship is between them and how you should be approaching them. So I just wanna give you an initial thought of inbound marketing is great. But what if you can't afford to wait? Outbound marketing gets results faster, but most people avoid it because they think it's salesy. And in this episode, I want to bust that myth and show you a different approach how I would recommend to do it right. So let's get started with inbound versus outbound and why waiting for clients isn't enough. So when it comes to attracting high value clients, there's always a debate between inbound and outbound marketing. The truth is, I really do think you need both. Inbound marketing is. Attracting clients who are already looking. So inbound marketing is really about pulling in potential clients who are actively searching for solutions, whether it's through blogs, video content, lead magnets, podcast episodes, books. The goal is to educate and nurture these prospects until they're ready to buy. The benefits is, the benefits are that it's non-invasive. People are engaging on their own terms. It genuinely builds long-term trust and credibility, and it will continue to generate leads over time on your behalf. But the real challenge is it really does take time. You need a steady stream of content. You need to be optimizing it, and you need patience to see results. It very much is a long-term strategy, and the problem is, as with most long-term strategies, remembering to be consistent and to do those things, you create more content, optimize it, et cetera. It's frustrating when you need results. Sooner rather than later. I'm saying that because most people start thinking about marketing a new business strategy when they need clients immediately. The real state they should be considering that in is several months, maybe even years prior to when they actually need clients for this to work well. Then contrast that with outbound marketing. Outbound marketing is proactively reaching the right people. It's really about initiating conversations with potential clients, even if they aren't actively searching for services like yours. It includes everything from direct outreach, like LinkedIn messaging to traditional methods like cold calling cold emailing, or billboard advertising. Really basically getting up in your face is how I describe it. So what are the advantages of this? Faster results for sure, directly connects you with decision makers, which means that you're not beating around the bush, you're getting to the point and they know what you do and who you do it for. It builds brand awareness with people who wouldn't have found you otherwise. I have come across so many businesses who. I think once they built the website and hit publish on Squarespace or wherever, people are gonna start queuing up ready to come and see them. The reality is just'cause you built it, the people aren't waiting for it to arrive of the marketplace. And so it's really important to be making people aware to be doing outbound so that people know that, especially if you offer an in innovative service or product, and they may not even know it exists. Just thinking of a Henry Ford quote. I'm pretty sure it was Henry Ford. I feel like I quote Henry Ford a lot. I weirdly aligned with that guy. But he said if I'd asked people what they wanted before I built the car, they'd have set a faster horse. If you don't know what you're looking for, how on earth are you gonna find it? And I feel like there's some Cheshire Cat from Alice and Wonderland quotes there too, but I'm not gonna go down that rabbit hole. Nah ha. What else is good about it? So it gives you more control over who you engage with, but the challenge is that it requires a really clear targeted strategy, otherwise it can feel pushy or ineffective. I would argue that you really need both, and this is why, because outbound gets you in front of high value clients. Now, while inbound builds credibility for long-term growth. Outbound ensures that you aren't waiting around for leads while inbound nurtures them. Once they do engage, combining both creates a system that attracts nurtures and converts without solely relying on one approach. If you are only doing inbound, you might be waiting much longer than necessary for clients. If you're only doing outbound, you might be missing out on long-term trust building that makes sales easier. So I wanna talk a little bit about how outbound can be relationship based and not pushy. And also how the the warm approach that we use that gets replies without feeling spammy. So I, the, there is a way of engineering outbound so that it is more intelligent and. Targeted and less just slapping you around the face with a fish. It's super important to be aware of who is most likely to buy from you now. Who you are gonna best serve and who might have a greater propensity to be moving forward with hiring you over the shorter to medium term. You need to be realistic about these things. Sometimes when we see things fall down with clients, it's when they're not realistic about how long it takes from somebody first coming into contact with their business to becoming a client. They expect results way faster than would be natural. Just because you showed up on their doorstep and said, Hey, we're here. We think we might work well together. Doesn't mean they're gonna say, oh yeah, actually we've got a project just waiting. Here you go. Here's the brief. It has happened in the past. But it's very rare and infrequent. I'm not gonna claim that is the way it works. However, if you are being really smart about it, if you are using the filters, for example, in LinkedIn Sales Navigator in a search to find the right kind of people who want to work with you, you can also use those filters to. Wisely determine interest and propensity to buy, which means that you are building a group of people that you'd be then reaching out to with your outbound and introducing yourself to, but which is much more likely to have a higher result rate, a higher hit rate than if you are doing an activity where there is no real filtering down in terms of the targeting of who you're reaching out to in place. I think it's really important as well to craft a message that gets engagement without pitching. I would never ever recommend reaching out to somebody and saying, Hey, we think we'd work really well together. I know I literally just said that in the previous sentence, but that was just. Placeholder text in that context. It, this doesn't work. You need to build some goodwill first. If you just go directly, ask somebody for something, you rarely get what you want in return. This works in so many different ways. If you are trying to get the attention of wait staff in a restaurant and you smile, then they are more likely because you've given them something, intangible. Without a a value attached to it but they feel warmer towards you. They're more likely to listen to you than if, say for example, you snap your fingers. It's really similar when you're reaching out to prospective clients. If you go out to them and say, Hey, I think we should book a call. I really think we can help you. It is a bit like the snapping of the fingers at the wait staff. And it's super important to be approaching that initial a approach with something an offer to them that is higher value. Now, you may be thinking my time on a telephone call and my advice on their business is high value. This is our hourly charge out rate. And and I can see it from your perspective, but it doesn't work like that. You'd need to position it in a different way. The way that works for a lot of digital first businesses is offering something called a lead magnet. This is infrequently used in the more kind of creative services aspect of the business that we work in. And often those clients, it takes a while to educate them on what this is all about. But if you already have a lead magnet in place, believe me when I say the inbound outbound. Combination approach on LinkedIn, which is what our specialty is, it can be set up so quickly and efficiently in actually just three hours if. You already have a lead magnet in place that you know, engages your prospective clients, and also you need to know that your prospective clients are hanging out on LinkedIn. That is also super important, but if you don't have a lead magnet in place already, I just wanna make you aware that is an item, something. It might be a recorded webinar you gave. It might be a a PDF covering. Responds to a pain point or challenge that they feel it might be a free copy of a book, which you offer. It might be a five day email minicourse it. It could be a checklist, it could be any one of a number of things. If you search leave magnet online, you'll find a plethora of options. Don't just do anything. There's if this sounds like you, then get in touch because there's a way we can help you navigate to the thing that is the right fit for you, that is most likely to create goodwill with your prospective clients. But if you do have that lead magnet in place already, then you are three hours away from having this work for you on LinkedIn. I just wanna give you a recap of what we've talked through really briefly on this mini podcast episode today. Outbound done right is when you are reaching out to people. When it's relationship based, it's not pushy. You are reaching out to them with a warm approach, something that generates goodwill, that gets replies. Positive feedback without feeling spammy. You are never just going and asking for the call. You are getting engagement without pitching. And a crucial thing that we've not talked about here which I think is something for another episode, is following up. Because something else we see a lot of, and we're gonna talk a lot about rejection over the next few podcast episodes but another we we will be covering off in that respect is the fact that. Lots of people reach out to somebody, don't get the response that they hope for or any acknowledgement and then give up. And actually, so much is in the follow up. And there's some incredible stats around why it's important to follow up that I want to share with you in future episodes. But if you are keen to implement this inbound outbound combo. In your business using LinkedIn, then I really recommend joining us in the LinkedIn lead liftoff. If you've already got a lead magnet and you know your clients are hanging out on LinkedIn, it gets you set up with an automated outreach system in three hours. So you're making the most of this channel. You can go to the link in the show notes or head to www.kaffeen.co/llo and you can get access to that. There. There's a cap on the number of people we can work with because this is a one-to-one service and there is a beta price currently of. If this sounds of interest to you, I really recommend you don't delay. We're gonna be launching it to a much wider audience soon, and I'd love to see you in there before it gets booked up. Okay? Until in the next episode, see them. Bye-bye.