Offline Marketing: A Short Introduction

There’s nothing new about offline marketing. In fact, this marketing practice has been around since people began advertising their products and services to entice potential customers to buy from them. This particular marketing scheme is simply placing an advertisement through any marketing channel that is not found on the internet. This includes outdoor marketing and advertising campaigns (billboards, flyers, etc…), as well as TV, radio, and print ads. The only thing that has changed about this method of advertising is its name.

Many people say that traditional marketing campaigns aren’t as effective as they were before the internet came into play. This may seem true at first, but if people take a second look at the situation, it is apparent that employing this type of marketing strategy still has its perks. The increasing popularity of the internet over the years has led companies, as well as advertising and marketing agencies to focus most of their time and energy towards online marketing.

It’s hard to ignore the large amount of people who go online to browse through the many blogs, social media sites and other websites every day; however, online marketing will never totally replace old-fashioned, traditional marketing channels such as TV, radio and print media – at least not in the near future. Although it is now often used in conjunction with online advertising and marketing campaigns, offline marketing is still a viable way to reach more of one’s target audience.

Supplementing Online Marketing Campaigns with Offline Channels

Before the internet took over, the only way to market a company’s products or services is to do it the old fashioned way. That means printing out flyers and distributing them to potential customers, paying for billboard space, placing ads in newspapers or on the radio or television. Times have indeed changed since then, but the value of traditional marketing campaigns still remains.

Despite the fact that almost everything is now available online or has an online counterpart, a vast majority of people still enjoy reading newspapers, watching television, listening to the radio rather than to go online to get their daily dose of news and entertainment. That being said, a company or business has a lot to lose if they neglect offline channels when creating their marketing strategy.

Merging offline and online marketing campaigns can also help give the brand consistency by providing their audience with a seamless transition from one marketing strategy to another, making the brand presence seem stronger and more solid than with having two separate campaigns that have nothing to do with each other.

In order to be competitive, big and small businesses alike need to have a website in order for their potential and existing customers to understand what their brand is really about. These business websites contains information about the company, as well as about the products and services they offer. Having all this information in one easy to navigate website definitely enhances and improves customer satisfaction.

Setting a website up is easy. The tricky part is getting people to visit the site. Online marketing efforts such as social media marketing and advertising on websites and paying for ad space on search engines can only do so much. By employing marketing strategies using offline channels, companies can reach potential customers who wouldn’t normally respond to online marketing campaigns. Here are just some of the benefits of integrating an offline approach to a full-scale online marketing campaign:

  • In order to get offline customers to go online and visit a company’s website, it is important to include the business’ website address, social media account details, or a QR code in their offline marketing paraphernalia and advertisements. This way, people know where to go to get more information on their products, services, or any promotions they are offering.
  • Also, simply adding a hashtag to a print or TV ad can drive a company’s target audience to troop to Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites to help spread awareness about a particular brand.
  • Television ads can also serve as teasers to videos uploaded to video sharing sites. This generates more interest for the online videos and may help them go viral much faster.

The connection between offline and online marketing doesn’t end there. Online marketing efforts can also be done to supplement large-scale campaigns done on offline channels like trade launches, expos, marketing events, and multi-channel offline advertising campaigns. Marketers can use social media to promote a company’s participation in such events and offer special discounts or promotional items to those who have learned about the event through online media channels. Banner ads and online video advertisements similar to offline print and TV advertisements may be placed online to supplement the ad campaign employed through traditional channels.

Who Benefits the Most from Offline Marketing?

Marketing strategies are never one-size-fits all. Not all businesses need an offline presence in order to attract more customers. In the same way, not all companies would benefit from a full-scale online marketing campaign. It is important to first understand who the target market is. Once they have been identified, it will be easier for marketers to decide whether to concentrate their efforts on internet marketing or invest more on more traditional advertising strategies. Those who would benefit more from a more old-fashioned approach are:

  • Local businesses – The internet is too big of a marketing channel for businesses that serve only a small community or a portion of a city. Advertising through social media can reach a lot of people, but it may not be the right people. By channeling all their efforts into promoting their businesses through community newspapers, flyers, posters, and direct mailing activities, these businesses are able to connect to their target audience faster without wasting too much time and money on internet marketing activities that may produce misleading results.
  • Brick and mortar companies – If a company’s product or service is only available offline, it follows that advertising through offline channels is needed in order to build their brand. Online advertisements are a big help, but these companies should also be aware of the potential customers they can reach through billboards, flyers, and other forms of offline advertising.
  • Large corporations – While the internet can help spread the word about the products and services offered by large companies, offline marketing is still necessary in order to build a solid brand. These companies need more than a social media page or an account in a popular microblogging site in order to make their brand a household name. This is where grand marketing events using traditional channels come into play. The more visible the brand is both online and offline, the better.