Inside Out Marketing or Outside In Marketing?

  

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Inside Out or Outside In?

Many of our clients know that my mantra is one of “Outside In Marketing”. What is Outside In Marketing?

To me, it’s looking at the business through the eyes of the customer, understanding their pain points and the value they have derived, and then using their words to develop marketing content so that it’s relevant and resonates with future prospects. When I googled Outside In Marketing, I was pleased to find several other marketing consultants preaching the same message which is reassuring.

Inside Out Marketing:  the default approach

Surprisingly, many B2B technology companies, a segment we spend a lot of time with, are the biggest offenders of the opposite approach - Inside Out Marketing. Smart engineers build great technology with lots of bells and whistles. Product managers load up the marketing arsenal with features, features, features. Corporate marketers host an internal messaging workshop with a team of people guessing at what might be of interest to the customer. Web content and other collateral gets written. Products and programs are launched to the market. Sales is left to interpret and guess what the benefits to the customer might be, so they develop their own pitches and presentations and there is no consistent message. No one along the way thought to talk to a customer. 

Hard to see the forest for the trees

It can be challenging for marketing organizations to employ an Outside In Marketing approach for many reasons. They may be too close to the process to take an objective view. They may not have the resources. They may not know how or where to begin or even who to talk to. There may be trust issues on the part of the customer, or even the sales force who could broker the conversation. 

The path to Outside In Marketing

Organizations who do it best, work with a neutral third party who knows how first to engage with the sales force, establish a relationship and earn their trust. One who knows how to structure a discussion with the customer and ask the right questions to uncover the true customer experience. And who can translate the key findings into useful and actionable messaging. 

Evolving a marketing organization from Inside Out Marketing to Outside In Marketing can be done, doing it successfully just takes some "Outside In" expertise.    

Think about your own company. Are you Inside Out or Outside In?