3 Offline Practices That Still Work

In this age of digital marketing, newspaper advertising is still important. The 2013 Nielsen National Cross-Media Engagement Study showed that newspapers have a higher effectiveness rating than TV and social media in getting ads noticed and acted upon. Before you discount offline marketing, learn how it can help you reach consumers in different markets in ways that online marketing can’t.

1. Get Your Brand Noticed

The main goal of any marketing campaign is to get your brand and company noticed. Offline marketing can still do this in really big ways—like, billboard big. Dijital Farm relates the story of a billboard along I-95 in the Philadelphia area which reads “I Hate Steven Singer” with a website address directly below it. No doubt many who saw the billboard took the time to look up the website to see who Steven Singer was and why he was so hated.

This was the brainchild of Steven Singer Jewelers. Their story was that they made it so easy for the men to buy jewelry for their loved ones that they had no more excuses. Now all the guys hate Steven Singer Jewelers. This was an offline campaign that generated curiosity in people and gained visibility to the company and products. This is also a good example of multichannel marketing where the offline element, the billboard, draws people to the online element, the website.

Another advantage of this approach is that you can track visitors to the website that have seen the billboard. Use Web analytics to tell you who visited the website and who became a paying customer. You now have a way to evaluate the effectiveness of the offline approach using your online tools.

2. Print Ads Give People Something to Hold Onto

People love to get coupons. When they are for products or services they favor, people hold onto them. They become a constant reminder of you product or company as long as it sits in their home. This is where targeted direct mail is important. You want to send your ads to people most likely to want the product or service. Those are the people that post your coupon on their refrigerator door.

Putting QR codes on your brochures and print ads is another opportunity for multichannel marketing. You can have an online printing service put a QR code on your brochure, which takes people to a special page on your website that offers an extra discount on your products. The brochure and the QR code drive traffic to your website and eventually, into your store.

3. Retaining the Face-to-Face Advantage

A handshake can still be your best marketing tool, especially if you’re a B2B company. Joining your local Chamber of Commerce gives you opportunities to talk about your company and products with other business people. This is one way to increase your network and discover resources that could be a great benefit to you.

Participate in your local professional and trade organizations—this gets your face in front of people and be that spokesman for your company, which can be hard to do online. Furthering your offline efforts, take plenty of business cards and brochures to these meetings.

Tags: Advertising, B2B Company, Marketing, Print Ads, Sales, small business, Small Business Marketing

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