digital marketing

With all things being digital, it’s easy to overlook the power of offline marketing techniques. 

Yes, it’s true that online marketing offers so many benefits, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses (think speed, lower costs, relationship building, and measuring what’s truly effective). 

But a cardinal sin of marketing is blending in. And only doing exactly what your competitors are doing is a sure-fire way to disappear into the crowd.

Successful companies blend all sorts of marketing. I’m certainly not recommending giving up on digital marketing, the digital space is powerful, and today it should be a huge focus for your business.

What I am saying, however, is that by incorporating some offline tactics, you can lift up your entire marketing strategy and grow your business.

If you do something online or offline, it should be in line with your overall marketing strategy, and it should be effective in getting you extra business. 

That means you pay $X for a campaign, and it generates $Y in return (preferably $Y is higher than $X). 

When all’s said and done, that formula should make you a profit, and it should have generated more customers and more revenue for your business. Each of which will provide you with a lifetime value, which feeds back into your marketing so you can work out how much you can spend on your next campaigns.

If you use a digital marketing agency, to develop and execute your strategy, you will want to work with them to ensure they also get the traditional side of marketing and how the digital and traditional worlds connect. 

it’s always important to tell them about any offline campaigns you’re doing. This way they can effectively measure the impact and make sure there’s a connection and cohesive message between the two.

What Offline Marketing Tactics Should You Use?

Let’s keep it simple, ignoring the semantics between whether direct response digital TV is in fact digital or offline. If you’re starting out in offline marketing you’ll likely be doing one or some of the following:

  • Television or radio advertising
  • Magazine or newspaper adverts
  • Direct mail
  • Brochures and catalogs
  • Billboards or posters
  • Leaflet drops or leaflet inserts
  • Sponsorships
  • Telemarketing and cold calling
  • In-store demonstrations and promotions
  • Discount coupons

Old fashioned you say?

Expensive you say?

Success depends on various specific things, rather than blanket rejecting an entire format. People are busy, but a stunning brochure that sits on a coffee table for a look-through when the kids are in bed will do more than hoping someone stumbles across you online when they’re searching for new furniture.

It depends on things like how good your creative is (in a marketing context, not just something visually stunning). It depends on the offer, the message…

…but perhaps most importantly it depends on finding and delivering the right message to the right audience.

So Why Consider Offline Marketing?

You can argue that the world is on the internet. And it is. Everyone’s on the internet, including your competitors.

Think about it like this… the thing that stands still in a world that’s fast will stand out. And that’s definitely what you want from your marketing.

And it goes back to my earlier comments. This is not about doing things offline. It’s about doing things offline and online in a cleverly crafted blend of marketing channels.

You will learn how much it costs to get a customer, thus how much you can spend on marketing to gain each of those customers. That’s marketing in a nutshell. It’s way more than just relying on a person not always being connected.

The growth opportunities for smaller businesses willing to take a chance on offline marketing alongside any usual online activity are great. You are building your brand constantly, in all the places your audience hangs out.

And the good news is that as the world jumps online, some of the more traditional methods are dropping in price. Even smaller companies are now able to take out TV ads, for example, thanks to the host of channels that offer advertising opportunities and the competitive prices that it creates.

Final Thoughts on Offline Marketing

Part of successful business means not discounting anything that might work. It can seem expensive to try new things, but start off with the math, and work out what you need to generate to be successful.

Realistically for your marketing to work, it needs to include a mix of all sorts of marketing and understanding that its fluid – what works one month may not work the next. The key is finding the right audience and measuring what works.

Once you get the formula, you can create effective campaigns offline (and online) time and time again.