What's your initial reaction when you see a phone book ad or listing in the classifieds section of a local newspaper? Usually the first thought is "companies still spend money on this in 2014?!" Unfortunately - or fortunately, if you're one of the millions of people who has been interrupted when sitting down to dinner - it's also time to add cold calling to this list of wasteful ways to blow a marketing budget. This is in no small part due to the fact that inbound marketing ROI (return on investment) is so much higher than traditional outbound methods.

Ads are everywhere. Market research suggests we see upwards of 5,000 advertising messages a day. And it's important to note that this is even true of digital channels, such as the untargeted practice of Internet marketing, which is a very different prospect to a highly focused inbound marketing campaign.

But cold calling remains the most frustrating practice of traditional interruption marketing, which is why we make a compelling five-point case to replace this relic with inbound marketing.

5 Reasons to Stop Your Cold Calls and Move to Inbound Marketing

1. Cold Calls are Annoying (and Ineffective)

As we touched upon earlier, cold calls tend to come at the worst possible time for consumers. Whether it's as they sit down to eat with the family after a long hard day, or race to meet a strict work deadline, if your sales call is the one to interrupt them then the relationship is already off to a rocky start. Do you really want to have the first association a potential customer makes with your business to be frustration? This is one of the main reasons that conversion rates are so low for cold calling, especially when compared to inbound marketing ROI. 

2. Inbound Leads Cost Less

Up to 61% less, according to Search Engine Journal. That's because they don't require the sheer volume of calls and the associated labor that cold calling does. Content is not only helpful to potential customers, it does its job over and over again, reducing the cost of conversion every time it does so.

3. Inbound Marketing is Customer Driven

The focus of cold calling is forcing a sale, where as the goal of inbound marketing is to inform and persuade. Rather than squeeze the entire sales process into one high-pressure conversation, an inbound marketing campaign is based on content that guides your potential customer along the path to purchase at their own pace. It's informative, rather than intrusive, and the relationship you form with customers is all the better for it.

4. Ads are Everywhere, Advice is Not

As explained above, it's easy and untargeted to simply push out traditional broadcast advertising messages, which is why everyone does it. Taking the time to provide valuable advice and explanatory content for customers is much less common. This also means that it stands out and provides a competitive advantage for your business, making it another check in the inbound marketing column, as far as we're concerned!

5. Inbound Brings Customers Back (with Friends)

For all the reasons above and more, inbound marketing builds relationships with your customers rather than pushing them to breaking point. When your new client has had a positive, informative experience on their way to doing business with you they'll not only be much more likely to come back, there's also every chance they'll tell others to do the same.

Bottom Line

Just because cold calling is a proven strategy that traditional sales professionals swear by, it doesn't mean that it will be around forever. The approach has always had a negative association and was generally adopted due to a lack of better options. Thankfully, the digital era offers your business those options (and impressive inbound marketing ROI rates provide the incentive to make the move!) 

In short, inbound marketing campaigns are more efficient, cost effective, and more customer-friendly than traditional tactics like cold calling. Given the opportunity to make not only a sale but a lasting customer relationship, the choice should be clear!