It goes without saying that online marketing is a must for most businesses today, but is offline marketing completely obsolete?
Absolutely not! In fact, there is a significant opportunity your business is missing if you are not taking advantage of offline marketing tactics.
Why market offline?
In the 21st century, there has been a significant shift toward online marketing. It offers an effective way to reach a wide audience. Additionally, it can be a cost effective way to achieve many of a company's marketing goals.
Nevertheless, a business that focuses solely on the on the online realm without investing in some offline media is going to miss some important opportunities.
The vast majority of consumers do use the internet to at least some degree, but there is still a significant portion of the population that either does not use the internet or does not use it to a degree that will make it easy for a business to reach them through digital marketing.
If you ignore the opportunities that can come from offline marketing, there are millions of consumers that are not being touched by any message from your brand.
What kind of customers is offline marketing effective for?
An offline marketing effort can be effective for reaching a variety of different consumers you may be failing to reach through your online marketing efforts. First, you have the group of people that do not use the internet enough for online marketing to reach them in a way that is reliably effective.
In addition to that, you have specific groups of customers who may be online, but for whatever reason, they might be hard to reach with your online strategy.
For a business that operates on a local or regional level, offline marketing can be particularly valuable. The online end is going to be important, but the offline media can be used to communicate directly with the consumer that is near you. You can use print ads and billboards to raise awareness, TV and radio commercials can be effective, and you have additional options like A4 flyers, leaflet mail and QR Codes.
All of these options can raise brand awareness with the local consumer and they can also help to guide potential customers to your online assets.
Offline marketing tactics
There are many different mediums for offline tactics, here is a reference guide of options available:
Flyers
Flyers are basically full page print ads that you can give away to potential customers. They are an affordable option and they can be used to reach a wide audience in a way that is creative and brand specific.
You can hand them out in a strategic location to reach a wide audience and you can put them on doors to target a neighborhood that is in your service area.
Posters
Posters are another affordable option that can offer great visibility. They can be used to steer potential customers to an event or to make them aware of a sale or service that a business may have on offer.
Posters are large and they tend to catch the eye, so the consumer gets the message without the business having to directly give it to them personally. The consumer sees it as they are just going about their day.
Leaflets
The small size of leaflets can make them particularly effective for reaching an audience with a message. They can be put in newspapers and magazines, and they will easily fit in a purse or a pocket.
The leaflet can also contain a good amount of information in a small package, so it can send a fairly broad message.
Brochures
With brochures, you have a versatile piece of marketing material that can work well for telling consumers about a business. The visuals on brochures tend to be eye-catching and the foldable small size makes them great for handing out.
In a brochure, you can place a complete overview of the services and products that a business may offer. In addition to that, you have the opportunity to get the consumer to cycle through a series of ideas as they move through the pages.
Print Advertising
While print advertising can be costly, it does provide a business with an opportunity to reach a large but targeted audience. With print advertising, you can select a publication that will target a demographic that you have reason to believe will be a good customer base for your business.
It offers very good visibility for reaching a large segment of a specific demographic.
Print Publications
If you can get content published in a print publication, it can do wonders for raising brand awareness and building your brand's reputation.
It can help to build your reputation as an expert in your field and it can get people interested in your brand in ways that standard advertising will not.
Billboards
A good billboard ad is something that consumers are bound to see. They are usually placed on highways and their size makes them hard to miss. In addition to this, people tend to travel the same routes repeatedly, so you get the advantage of a large group of consumers seeing the same message on multiple occasions.
If you are working on a marketing strategy for a business, don't forget the role that offline marketing can play. It offers a great opportunity to expand your reach to those who aren't online and particularly to grow your local customer base.
Offline and online marketing can be integrated in with each other to increase your share of the market.
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Written by Jessica Walrack on Friday, April 29, 2016
Jessica Walrack is a professional freelance writer with a background in sales and marketing. After 7 years in the corporate world, she stepped into the online sphere and has now been freelancing for 4 years. She specializes in helping businesses to create a stellar online experience for their audience in order to build industry authority and increase profitability. In her spare time, Jessica enjoys traveling all over the world with her family.
