Offline Marketing, Advertising and Branding Still Work

Despite the overwhelming success of online marketing, offline marketing remains an effective way of attracting new customers and opportunities. Whether it takes the form of print advertising, word of mouth or trade show displays, there are still plenty of opportunities to showcase your products and services that don't involve a computer screen. No matter what type of business you own, offline marketing and advertising are effective tools you can't afford to ignore. Offline marketing remains a force to be reckoned with and how it can benefit your business.

1. Marketing is not just limited to the computer screen.

Traditional print media has the advantage of catching eyeballs in places out of reach of digital media. A well-designed flyer placed in coffee shops and other high-traffic areas can draw just as much attention as a well-placed online ad. The visual appeal of your flyers and hand-outs are important, but not as important as the content and information. Be careful with what you want to include:

  • Keep your content brief, organized and to the point.
  • Use an eye-catching and memorable headline.
  • List benefits. Why is your company or product the best choice?
  • Edit and Proofread. A sloppy brochure with poor grammar or confusing text decreases your reputation and trustworthiness.
  • Know your audience, and cater to its need. Think about what your demographic would want to see. Keep an active voice, but stay away from sounding too salesy.

For brick and mortar businesses with an online presence, the business sign offers an effective form of advertising. Like business cards, a well-designed and highly visible sign serves as a first point of contact between a business and its clientele. A good business sign can do more to draw customers than an online campaign while using fewer economic resources, according to the Small Business Association.

2. Live, face-to-face contact is more personable than working from behind a computer screen.

Seventy-two percent of adults rely on social networking sites to connect with clients, colleagues and customers, Pew Internet found. Nevertheless, live events remain the best way to take advantage of the face-to-face dynamic and strengthen business relationships through personal encounters. Trade shows, expos and conferences provide ample opportunities to showcase products and services to a new customer base and join forces with fellow entrepreneurs to share strategies and build up professional networks.

Taking a personable face-to-face approach in addition to social media and online marketing will round out your campaign and improve your reputation.

3. Some online campaigns just aren’t that effective.

The average response rate for e-mail was a scant 0.12 percent compared to 4.4 percent for a direct mail campaign, according to the Direct Marketing Association. Thanks to anti-spam technologies and understandable paranoia from users surrounding phishing and malware, most e-mail campaigns often end up trapped within the spam folder or discarded by recipients without ever being read.

E-mail campaigns often require a mailing list, whereas direct mail campaigns such as Every Door Direct Mail can deliver advertisements to each and every front door in a local area. Such campaigns can be a tremendous benefit to small businesses with local services, such as tire shops, cleaning services and restaurants.

It's possible to blend traditional marketing tactics with online marketing strategies. For instance, QR codes, designed to be scanned and read by smart phones and other mobile devices, are often applied to physical promotional items and advertisements in order to guide customers to information and promotional offers found online.

About the author

Kaitlin is a graphic designer that helps small businesses develop e-commerce sites to compete with the big boys.

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