Mixing online and offline marketing is a concept that may sound somewhat contradictory, yet, it’s quickly becoming the reality of the business world. First of all, even though these techniques exist in different environments, they’re often complementary and can be used to boost the efficiency of others. In a way, they form a symbiosis that helps your business grow and expand in ways that you never before imagined possible. Still, what are all the benefits of mixing online and offline marketing? Let’s find out!
1. Online Influencers
The first idea that pops to mind when it comes to combining online and offline marketing is the idea of using an offline influencer to leverage your online business. The problem with this lies in the fact that you need to learn how to pick the right influencer for your business. First of all, the number of followers may be a metric that makes a difference between micro and macro-influencers but there’s one metric that matters far more. Namely, influence is not that easy to describe, pinpoint or understand. Fortunately, there are numerous tools and platforms that offer a, more or less, accurate estimate of universal influence or influence per social media channel. It is quite essential for every business owner to have the map marketing local business, as to grow a successful business it is essential to focus on the bigger market as well as the local region.
There are numerous scenarios in which micro-influencers can be more cost-effective and even outright more effective than macro-influencers. For instance, if the influencer in question is an expert in your field or industry, their opinion will carry more weight than an opinion of someone unrelated to the field, even if they do have more followers. Celebrity endorsement, for instance, is a tricky subject and usually has more effect with smaller order value purchases. A person is unlikely to buy a valuable asset just because their favorite actor suggested that they do so.
2. Covering Offline Events
If you’re hosting an event, the best way to attract more audience is to advertise and promote it online. Nonetheless, there’s more you can do here. Ideally, you want everyone to attend the event but what about people who can’t attend in person, even though they are interested in the event itself. They might be too far away, have a busy schedule, or some other unexpected occurrence preventing them from attending in person. Well, in that particular case you could live-stream the event or upload it on YouTube and other social networks later on. Sure, this is not as effective but it might just end up being the next best thing.
3. Billboards And Banners
Previous two techniques that we’ve discussed both used online presence to boost the effectiveness of your brick and mortar. This can go the other way around, as well. If you’ve just launched a new website, have a sale on your e-store, or plan to host a social media contest, you can advertise this through old-school marketing methods. In general advertising on hoardings is incredibly efficient, seeing as how it sends a clear message while being non-invasive. Unlike with digital marketing, you won’t be able to tell the exact ROI behind this marketing move. After all, the metrics of old-school marketing are not as easy to track, nonetheless, the results will be there, regardless of how aware you are of them.
You can also opt for wildposting by posting the same kind of static posters in one location in order to attract attention. And if you are looking for one then Grassroots Advertising is one of the best wildposting company in North America.
4. Omnipresence
The frequency of contact with your audience matters quite a bit and there’s a theory according to which you need to get in touch with a person, at least, seven times in order for them to become a paying customer. However, it also matters how many channels you do this through. Namely, if you only reach out to them via your Facebook, they’ll never look at you as anything else than a Facebook-only brand. The more channels you reach out through, the better, nonetheless, once you start appearing in the offline world, this is where you get the benefit of a massive credibility boost.
5. Discount Codes
This is a method that goes both ways. You can leverage your online presence to distribute coupons for offline purchases or make in-person sales with the discount reward that can be redeemed online. Due to the fact that both of these methods are used to drive sales, the cost-efficiency that comes from them is pretty clear and straightforward. Keep in mind, nonetheless, that a gift or a bonus may work just as well as a discount when it comes to an increase in loyalty. By using this in both the digital environment and offline marketing strategy, you’ll boost its effectiveness.
6. Local Mobile SEO Drives Offline Sales
There’s an interesting statistic that claims that 78 percent of local mobile searches end up being offline purchases. This is either due to the fact that people are checking out your offer before visiting the brick and mortar store or due to the fact that they want to compare your prices to those of your competitors prior to buying. This is just one of many reasons why investing in mobile SEO might be the right thing for you to do.
7. It’s Safer
The very last thing you need to keep in mind is the fact that your audience comes from different demographics, backgrounds, and sources. This is why it’s a lot safer to simply cover it all than to wonder whether you’ve missed out on a potential customer just because there’s a channel that you’ve forgotten to cover. Sure, you need to identify the channel that’s bringing you the most ROI and focus your efforts on it as much as you can but you can’t afford to neglect the rest, either.
In conclusion
Of course, this is not the end of the list, due to the fact that there is a myriad of ways for you to organize your marketing strategy. What matters the most, however, is the fact that you can’t afford to ignore either online or offline aspect since you need them both to grow and prosper. This, nonetheless, takes a lot of planning and skill when it comes to execution. Therefore, getting some outside help from an expert wouldn’t be a bad idea either. We hope you see the benefits of mixing online and offline marketing.
Bio: David Koller is a passionate blogger and copywriter for Media Gurus, mainly interested in SEO and Digital Marketing.
