Granted, an online marketing strategy is essential for any business. After all, online marketing is the most effective and efficient way of reaching a large audience. However, completely ignoring the option of promoting your business offline would see you miss out on a lot of potential, as offline marketing can be a useful tool to supplement your online campaign. Although a majority of customers use the internet, there still is a substantial number of potential customers who either don’t use the internet or, for one reason or another, can’t be reached by your online marketing efforts. Using offline advertising through media channels which are not based on the internet to promote your product or services can help you attract more people to your web page and improve the efficiency of your online marketing strategy. Below are some methods to consider when devising an offline marketing plan to promote your business:
Flyers, leaflets, and brochures
These traditional marketing materials can still be an effective way of getting your message across and creating awareness of your business. In addition to allowing you to reach an audience with brand specific and creative designs, they are very affordable and easy to distribute, either in person or via newspapers. Presenting interesting and relevant content to the reader and familiarizing them with the products or services your company offers, will entice them to at least visit your web page. Adding a coupon for a discount at your store will prove to be effective in attracting new customers as well.
Business cards
Handing out business cards can also be a good marketing tactic. First of all, they are cheap to produce and can contain the most important information about your business, along with all your contact information. Listing your site URL, email, social media profile, and similar, along with a visually appealing design will attract people to your brand and help you get connected.
Branded merchandise
Most people like to show their support for a brand they love. Handing out, or even selling branded merchandise, such as T-shirts, mugs or backpacks with attractive or funny designs, logos or a catchphrase, will undoubtedly help you gain brand recognition and promote your business. Anyone wearing or displaying the branded items will be helping you in establishing your brand as prominent.
Billboards
Renting billboard space isn’t cheap, but it can give very good results in terms of business exposure and new customers if successful. The two most important factors that determine the effectiveness of your billboard ad are appeal and location. People like to see an innovative and witty billboard design. If your ad stirs a positive reaction in people when they see it, they will associate that with your brand. Placing the ad in a location with a lot of traffic and, if possible, near the location of your office or store, will contribute to the number of potential customers you reach.
Banners
If you are in the construction business or have a business partner in the industry, banners can be a great way to advertise. With all the advantages of a billboard, including visibility and size, and at a much lower cost, procuring the services of a company who designs and prints eye-catching quality fence wraps can help you with promoting your brand and company.
Vehicle advertising
If your business has cars, trucks or other vehicles, you can use them as billboards on wheels, by applying decals on them in the form of your company logo, website, and other contact information. This way, you will be able to advertise your company while performing normal day-to-day business activities. If you can come up with a creative design, people will recognize it and you are bound to achieve even better results.
Networking
Networking is a crucial segment of any marketing strategy. By connecting with people and other businesses through sponsoring, attending events and interacting with the local community, you will meet new contacts, such as investors, suppliers, or other people of influence in your business, in a direct, face-to-face manner. This will allow you to present your product or services to a specific audience, get valuable feedback and build new business relationships, while also improving your brand image. Another great way of meeting new business contacts is attending seminars or training to broaden and improve your knowledge on subjects relevant to your business niche.
TV, radio, and magazines
TV commercials are the classic way of raising awareness of your company. Although it is an expensive method of advertising, there is a good reason why commercials are omnipresent. Despite television and the internet being the dominating mass media, people still enjoy communicating through the original broadcast media – the radio. Contacting the representatives of your local radio station will give you an opportunity to get some air time and advertise your business at a much lower price. If you establish a good relationship with them, they might even invite you to be a guest on their programme if they ever decide to cover a subject closely related to your business. The same applies to magazines. People still read printed media, so you should not ignore the possibility of marketing your company by either placing an ad in them or publishing an article on a related topic and referring the reader to your company.
Although online marketing is the number one way of promoting your business, since it would be hard to imagine any successful company not having a developed online marketing strategy, there are still a lot of ways offline advertising can help you boost your overall advertising effectiveness. Combining offline marketing, which is hard to track in terms of results, with your marketing activities on social media and the internet in general, is sure to give you results. The examples mentioned above are just some of the methods you should consider adding to your marketing efforts to make sure you find the right balance and cover as much audience as you can, while building a good reputation for your company.
