December 9, 2019 The Value of Offline Marketing

Digital marketing isn’t everything. Here are five effective methods that can help promote your business in the physical world.

December 9, 2019

In this day and age, it’s easy to imagine a business is only able to attract customers via digital marketing. After all, people are glued to their mobile devices at all times of the day. Shopping trends suggest online purchases will continue to grow exponentially – and soon surpass brick-and-mortar stores. Additionally, potential customers often use the internet to research a company before parting with their money.

However, the digital world is far from the be-all and end-all of marketing.

In fact, offline promotional techniques should be part of any company’s advertising campaign. This is particularly the case for small businesses targeting a local customer base.

Why? Well, there are many appealing customer groups who, believe it or not, spend little to no time browsing the web. Offline marketing can also be effective in gaining conversions without any serious expense attached.

If you are struggling for inspiration, below are five offline marketing strategies that could help supply your business with a healthy boost in sales.

Flyers: An instant impression

Flyers, handouts and leaflets are a tried-and-tested method of grabbing the attention of prospective customers. Whether they are handed out in the street, posted through letterboxes, or left in a particular place for people to grab at their discretion, flyers instantly let people know about your business and what it offers.

The flexibility of flyers is especially advantageous. Along with being designed in any design you desire, they may feature whatever information deemed necessary. The latter means you can do everything from announcing a new product to presenting discount coupons. Flyers are also easy to produce and distribute at a minimal cost.

Don’t ignore trade shows

Trade shows are a great way of generating both connections and sales. Even if you don’t have a display, popping down to a relevant trade show could be beneficial. You can network with others. Learn how different organizations can improve your company. Pass out business cards and sell people on your products or services. The list could go on.

It is those with vendor booths, however, that prosper most of all. They are the best way of capturing the attention of those in attendance at trade shows. With that said, work needs to be done to maximize results. People come to you rather than the other way around, and they are there to be entertained in some form. Get it right with a mixture of engaging staff members and a memorable, interactive display, and watch the sales roll in.

Get in the paper

That’s right: people still read newspapers! Not just the nationally produced kind, either. Local and school/college papers are read all across the United States. Consequently, they remain a prime piece of real estate for marketing your business.

The most obvious way of promoting in a newspaper is by taking out a print ad. A print ad is relatively low cost in small publications as it is, but there’s always the chance of receiving a cut-price deal from a larger paper if they’ve got an advertising space they haven’t been able to shift.

Have you got an interesting story about you and your business? Although more unorthodox, the media is always in search of fascinating tales to cover. Give them that, and they will promote your business in return.

People cannot resist giveaways

Who doesn’t love receiving free goods or services? This is an efficient tactic to ramp up brand recognition without spending much money. A competition where a big-ticket item is up for grabs is one way of doing it. Although you could, for instance, offer bite-sized samples of a product to many different people. The example above is especially fitting for those who deal with small-ticket products.

Standout with guerilla marketing

Offline marketing techniques work best when combined with their online counterpart, and this is what an effective guerilla marketing campaign provides. For the uninitiated, guerilla marketing is the process of advertising in such a unique manner that people are unsure if it’s done to promote a business or not.

Temporary graffiti with an impactful message, a vibrant street party, unique displays, and so on. The amount of possibilities is only limited by your imagination. As for how it links to online marketing, people will share it on their social media. If you truly strike gold, it could even become a viral sensation. Add that online publicity to those who experience the guerilla marketing idea in person, and that’s a win-win in anyone’s books.

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