Outbound marketing is proactive and direct outreach to potential customers.
On the other hand, with inbound marketing, the customers come to you. This typically includes attracting them organically through valuable content, usually through search engines or social media.
Neither is better or worse than the other one: every company needs both. That being said, they can serve different purposes.
Inbound marketing is great in the long term because it takes a longer time to develop. You have to create lots of valuable content, and wait until it gets picked up by the search engines and noticed by your audience. It may take months before the first results start coming in.
But when it gets to this point, it does wonders.
Outbound marketing is the one that will generate leads and drive sales quickly, though. Because you’re actively reaching out to each potential customers, you significantly shorten this cycle.
The key is to find the right balance between these immediate results and sustainable growth that inbound brings to the table.