Since the advent of the internet and the proliferation of social media, marketing your business digitally through search engine optimisation and content marketing has become the main way of advertising and reaching customers directly. After all, it’s a cheap and efficient way of marketing, and allows you to target the precise demographic that you would like to engage with. But as much as digital marketing should be an important focus of a business’s marketing campaign, it’s important to not eschew offline marketing completely; after all, we still live the bulk of our lives in the real, physical world.
Below we’ll look at some of the best offline marketing techniques for bolstering your overall marketing strategy.
1. Broadcast marketing
This refers to media outlets such as television and radio. It’s really important to know your audience; if, for example, you are targeting a local customer base, don’t do a marketing campaign with a national radio station. Approach your local stations first and work up when you need to reach a wider audience. This focused approach to targeting your audience will see you save money by reaching the people you want first. TV advertising may also be worth considering. It no longer needs to be a mass marketing medium, advanced TV enables you to target a niche audience who are more likely to be responsive to your brand and message.
2. Offline Guerrilla Marketing
Offline guerrilla marketing refers to unconventional marketing strategies to gain peoples’ attention in unexpected, bold and sometimes shocking ways. It’s a great way to show customers that you’re daring while standing out from competitors at the same time. A good example of this would be to attach branded stickers on highly visible public objects in your local area – just make sure you don’t overdo it, there’s a fine line of vandalism that can be easily crossed here. Using chalk to create promotions on the pavement is another fine example.
3. Give Away Merchandise
Everybody likes a freebie, and this makes it the perfect opportunity to offer useful, branded merchandise that your customers are likely to use on a day-to-day basis. These items shouldn’t just be random trinkets, but rather functional merchandise that can add value to a customer’s life. Pens, mugs and USB sticks are all great examples of utilitarian merchandise that people actively use and that can be produced and distributed cheaply and easily. Just make sure that your company’s name and details are printed clearly on the item in question, so that customers will see it every time they use it.
4. Print marketing
Print marketing is through magazines and newspapers – anything that is printed. Again, this can be tailored to reach your target audience. If you are wanting to market your business to a young audience, for example, there’s no point in choosing the Financial Times. Unlike a website that anyone can stumble on because it’s free, consumers will only buy a newspaper or magazine if they’re interested in what they publish. Meaning your business will be seen by the people you want it to be seen by.
5. Direct mail
Direct mail includes postcards, catalogues, leaflets – anything which is posted through the letterbox. One of the top reasons why direct mail is better than email is because direct mail will always land in someone’s hand. They will always collect the mail, so your task, as the marketer, is to make it stand out as much as possible, with quality design and up-to-the minute branding.
Whether you’re a local business wanting to target local residents with direct mail, or on a bigger scale and wanting to use radio, there are a range of tools available. Just because digital technology is becoming more prominent doesn’t mean you need to scrap traditional marketing methods; they can work hand in hand.