In the last few years, companies have been adapting their marketing strategies and started focusing on online marketing to communicate and build brand awareness among their target customers, but we can’t underestimate the importance of offline marketing and think it’s something of the past. If you want to succeed and reach a wider audience it’s nice to mix these two strategies a bit.
We can’t deny that social media marketing campaigns are important to connect with thousands of people and increase sales by harnessing the power of the internet. It’s common that companies invest a lot of time and money on their online presence, but it’s also important to be present in the real world as well. There are people who still believe in personal interaction, face to face business and actually seeing and experiencing the product. So, if you want to expand your target consumers, see people talking about your services it’s useful to consider some Offline Marketing Strategies.
Meaning of Offline Promotion
Offline marketing strategies can easily be defined as traditional media strategies out of the online world, such as Television, Radio, Events, Traditional and Digital Billboards, that companies from different sectors use to reach and communicate with their target audience. It tends to have a greater impact on consumers who do not make frequent use of social networks, or who rely more on traditional media. Even though we’re living in a digital era, offline promotion is still relevant and can come up with good results, the main secret to succeed is to choose the right tools to connect with your customer.
When Should You Go for Offline or Online Marketing Strategies?
We are all aware of the importance and the results online and offline marketing can have for our business. However, offline marketing has been diminished by the belief that it’s a trend from the past and won’t have any effect on people, which is wrong. Offline promotion still reaches different types of people, generates sales and catches brand-new clients. The main key to succeed is to always combine offline and online marketing, since it will build up a dual interaction and retain potential customers who consume different types of media. That is why it is very important to continue integrating both of these marketing techniques.
Offline Marketing Examples
Storytelling
It’s essential to brands to create a real connection with their audience in order to build a solid relationship and stay on their top of mind. To achieve that we need to build a marketing strategy on our Storytelling, which means tell your public a story about your product and company, transmitting your values and proposals in an inspiring way that will naturally connect with the audience. It’s also captivating to show empathy, with some Storycaring, avoiding basic messages and changing our approach and discourse, especially after the COVID-19 crisis when our society feels more united and seeking the well-being of our community.
A well-structured campaign can involve the spectator, enthralling him to ask for more, creating new connections in an emotional way.
Networking
Networking consists of connecting with different people to increase brand awareness and boost your business and services. Even though it can be easily done on digital platforms, we can’t underestimate how powerful it can be in a face-to-face meeting. It can be done when attending different types of events, speaking at congresses and breakfast meetings for example. These actions promote the exchange of information, build professional connections and learn more about a different or specific market and companies’ strategies.
Promotional Products
When attending events, or promoting internal marketing within your company, a good strategy to build loyalty and engagement with your clients and employees is to give them personalized products. Something that can be useful in their daily lives and increase the value of your service, it can be a personalised tote bag for example. Your employees will be happy and motivated to keep doing their jobs with some gifts, doesn’t matter if it’s for the ones who are already working with you, or a nice Welcome Pack for the new ones. On the other hand, you can use different types of promotional products as an event gift to attract potential clients, or even as a gift to a guest who arrives at your hotel, or bought something in your shop.
That way, they will feel special and it can generate a good review online and recommend your business to their friends and family, divulging your brand.
Local Sponsorship
The sponsoring strategy can go from a local and small event, to a soccer team who puts your logo in their t-shirt. There are many different causes and local events your company can support, such as Pink October, a campaign dedicated to preserving the Oceans, Earth day, etc. It’s up to you to see what connects best with your business values. Take the opportunity to approach consumers through an interesting dialogue, and show that your company is not just thinking about selling, but also showing solidarity with current causes, reinforcing trust to your business.
Business Cards
Business cards are one of the oldest and best ways to keep in touch with clients, suppliers and potential clients as one of the most effective offline marketing tools that you can give to people at events, restaurants, business meetings or to your friends. Remember to put your slogan with a short message that can let people know about your company and services.
Flyers & Coupons
Another common advertising strategy element are flyers and coupons which are still very used for many businesses to promote their brand and products. If you print an attractive and well-designed flyer, with the main information, good pictures of your products and distribute it to target clients, they will take a moment to take a look at it.
Ads in Newspapers & Magazines
It’s still a high number of people who buy and read printed newspapers and magazines, for personal use, to give to clients in an office waiting room, or even local magazines. This type of strategy gets a great influence on consumers and it’s worthy for any kind of business. It might seem a bit old school, but if you choose the right local paper or magazine, it can fit in really well and be a nice little detail.
And as every communication channel, before publishing your ad, keep in mind to choose the proper section based on the interests of your company and to create a nice design and absorbing message to attract the readers.
TV Campaigns
Between many options, one of the most popular is to advertise on TV where you can reach thousands of people and create a huge impact of your brand in a few seconds, all you need to do is choose the best channel, program and hours to promote your campaign according to the option that will help you to reach your target audience and achieve a high percentage of impressions.
How to Measure your Offline Success
The ideal marketing strategy is defined based on your goals and financial resources to promote your marketing campaign. However, it is important to choose between the different strategies of the offline world, combined with online marketing to achieve better engagement with the target audience and current clients. If you study these approaches well and think about a good plan of attack, you can make yourself known without the necessity of spending a lot of money to reach customers.
The last step is to measure your Offline Success and see how many people acquired your product or services through your offline promotion. There are few different ways to do it, but we can highlight three of them:
- Vanity URL: This is a unique URL that people who see your business advertised on TV, flyers, newspapers access and get to your website. Later on, you can use web analytics tools to know how many people have accessed that link and bought something.
- Coupons and discount codes: This is a very easy way to check how many people have seen your campaign and also a strategy to retain clients if they have 2 free deliveries or some discount on the next purchase.
- Google Analytics: You can use Google Analytics to see the traffic in your website during your advertisements on TV, and see how many people accessed your page after seeing your advertisement.
There are different ways and options to advertise your company and reach your target audience, in addition to measuring the success of the campaign. The most important thing is to find the way that best suits the needs of your business, and this within the allowable budget for each marketing strategy. Have you ever considered trying any of these strategies? Make sure to study your market well and use the right tools to achieve your goals.
