Active marketing and passive marketing are two different approaches businesses use to attract and engage customers. Here we break down how to think about them, and how they relate to channel and acquisition strategy.

What is active marketing?

Active marketing involves proactive and direct efforts to reach potential customers. It requires a hands-on approach to engage with the target audience and promote products or services. Some key characteristics include:

1. Direct Outreach: This involves actively contacting potential customers through methods like cold calling, email campaigns, and direct mail.

2. Engagement: Active marketing often includes interactive strategies such as social media campaigns, live events, and webinars to directly engage with the audience.

3. Immediate Results: It aims to generate quick responses and immediate leads or sales. Examples include paid advertising (PPC), promotions, and sales blitzes.

4. High Effort: Requires significant time and resources to implement and manage.

What is passive marketing?

Passive marketing, on the other hand, focuses on creating a presence that attracts customers without direct outreach. It relies on creating an environment where customers can find the business on their own. Key characteristics include:

1. Indirect Outreach: Involves methods like content marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), and branding that make it easy for customers to discover the business.

2. Awareness Building: Passive marketing aims to build long-term awareness and credibility through blog posts, social media content, and informative videos.

3. Gradual Results: Results from passive marketing are often slower to materialise but can lead to more sustainable and long-term growth.

4. Lower Immediate Effort: Requires less direct interaction with potential customers and can be more cost-effective in the long run.

Differences between active and passive marketing

There are pros and cons to both approaches, though at Growth Method we tend to prefer passive acquisition channels and strategies as they tend to result in a calm, more sustainable culture for the marketing team, and a better experience for customers and prospects.

• Aspect: Proactive, direct outreach vs. Indirect, creating a presence

• Typical channels: Cold calling, email marketing, paid search ads vs. Content marketing, SEO, social media presence

• Engagement: High engagement through direct interaction vs. Lower engagement, relies on audience finding content

• Results: Immediate, quick responses vs. Gradual, long-term growth

• Effort Required: High effort and resources vs. Lower immediate effort, more sustainable long-term

• Goal: Generate immediate leads or sales vs. Build long-term awareness and credibility

• Cost: Often higher due to direct marketing costs vs. Generally lower, focused on organic growth

• Measurement: Easier to measure short-term results vs. Harder to measure, focuses on long-term metrics

• Customer Interaction: Direct interaction with potential customers vs. Indirect interaction, customers engage at their own pace

• Content Strategy: Promotional, sales-oriented vs. Informative, value-driven content

• Timeframe: Short-term focus vs. Long-term focus

Some of our favourite passive strategies include SEO, email automations and product-led growth.

Key takeaways

When developing your marketing strategy, it's essential to consider both active and passive marketing approaches to create a balanced, comprehensive plan that addresses both short-term goals and long-term growth.

For most teams we suggest a 70/30 split to balance passive and active marketing strategies and channels, with 70% of time spent on passive marketing and 30% on active.