Combine Online Marketing and Offline Marketing for Your Business Growth

A business is like a child: It has to be nurtured in order to grow. There are many offline and online marketing methods to get things going and those need to be highlighted in your marketing plan.

Marketing is part of the backbone of your business. Unless you own a larger than life brick and mortar business with neon signs that can be seen from space, no one will know that your business exists and, more importantly, that your products or services can help them. Even those neon signs constitute advertising which is what you set out to do with a marketing plan.

Every business needs strategies for bringing in business.

A marketing plan is made up of several different strategies for business growth not just one.

To that end, many businesses with a physical building think that their marketing plan can only include offline advertising strategies. The rationale is that the only people your business can reach are those in the local vicinity or the state at the most.

The same goes for virtual businesses run from a website. Online businesses can benefit from the offline marketing strategies also.

What many businesses miss is that offline and online marketing strategies are not mutually exclusive. Using one or the other to promote your business is like only using half of your resources at any one time. You can get things done, but you can accomplish more if both halves worked together.

Do you want to get your business noticed in every nook and cranny? If so, consider combining both online and offline marketing to build your business. I’m going to give you an overview of offline and online marketing methods. Knowing your business like you do, how each can be utilized, if indeed each can, is going to be up to you.

The only advice here is to read carefully and start small. You have nothing to lose and lots of business to gain.

OFFLINE MARKETING STRATEGIES

Offline marketing strategies deal directly with the public. You will be out with the people, finding out from them what they need and explaining how you can provide it. People are busy and so are you. Finding catchy ways to make the best use of their attention span will be to your benefit.

Word of Mouth Marketing

This marketing strategy works by someone sharing about your business. In the beginning, offering free services to family and friends turns them into walking billboards for you. When you hook them, you have built a potential connection to each person within their circle of influence. You can encourage them to pass the word.

Whether they offer or are asked, their recommendation is an important marketing tool. Word of Mouth marketing is particularly advantageous for you if your business is being launched from a location where you have lived for a long time. Everyone knows you and will at least give you a try.

Radio and Television

In the world of greater and greater technology, people still turn on their radios when driving and flip on the television when they come home. Even if they are not actively watching or listening, hearing familiar names and places catch their attention. Television advertising can get expensive, but you might be able to cut the expense by using the public access channel or broadcasting your spots in the evening and late at night.

You can’t watch television in the car, so you listen to the radio. Write up a spot and buy advertising time on your local station. That 15 seconds of air time reaches everyone in the listening audience. If your particular service or product falls within a category covered by a radio show, contact the show’s host. Make an interesting proposal and you could be the next in-studio guest with the aim of expounding on your new business.

Print Ads

This tried-and-true method has brought shopper and product together for years. Contrary to what you may think, people still read newspapers and ads.

Don’t neglect local magazines and weekly papers. If your ad is in there, people will find you. Advertising in trade and other popular magazines that cater to your area widens your audience.

Direct Mail

Yes, people still use this method. Postcards, flyers and coupons in the mailbox are put directly into people’s hands. You can buy mailing lists from online and offline companies. Specify your parameters to get a list that is composed of people within your target market. For postcards, bulk mail rate is cheaper if you have a list of hundreds of names.

For businesses with a physical building, consider designing a coupon ad to attract clients. Include your coupon in a book of coupons advertising several businesses to local residents that are sent out by a third party. The coupons advertise everything from dry cleaning services to sunroom sales. For a price, they can even use your information to design the coupon. A coupon gives people a money-saving reason to come in and try your product.

Business Cards

The beauty of these little cards is that they can be carried any and everywhere. If you love to network, get a business card case and keep it full. Hand out business cards to friends, family and people you meet. Attending a function downtown? Mingle with the other guests and hand out business cards.

Business cards go well with flyers, brochures and purchase receipts. Staple them to flyers and other direct mailing materials. When you ship items, attach one to your catalog to encourage repeat business. Drop one into the bag with the receipt when ringing up purchases. It is a small but effective way to get the word out.

Trade Shows and Flea Markets

Depending on your product, having a venue other than your building is a great opportunity. You get a chance to meet fresh faces and pitch the value of your product to them. At these places, you have the time and space to do demonstrations if you can (cleaning products, beauty supplies, artwork, designs). People can ask you questions if they want. It also gives you a chance to test market new product ideas. In my area, we have several shows targeted to different demographic groups like a Senior Show for products and services that market to the senior market.

Magazine Articles and Columns

We mentioned ads in magazines because people still read them. If you are a writer, they could also be reading your work. Making use of your expertise in a certain area lends credibility to your business.

Let’s say that you are selling gardening tools in your business. A series of articles on gardening in an appropriate magazine will include your picture and resource box with your address information. The same goes for a column. People who are interested in what you have to say can visit your store.

ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGIES

Online marketing strategies connect you with the rest of the world. At any given time, your information could be viewed by someone halfway around the world. With billions of people from all walks of life making up the audience here, you have a lot of room to move and market.

It can be daunting but never fear. Keep to the goal of your business and use online strategies to reach your target just like you would use offline strategies. One advantage of online marketing is because the audience is so large; online strategies are designed to narrow down the focus for you so there is more hitting than missing with your marketing dollars.

Website

This is the first thing an Internet marketer might ask you. Do you have an online presence? It is hard for people to find you if you do not have a stable location. A website provides that for you.

Even if you have a physical building where you do business, people in other places will interact with you via your website. A rule of thumb for websites is, MAKE THEM EASY TO NAVIGATE. A website designer can guide you through this if you are not computer savvy. It is their business to know how to design a website for optimum performance and visibility.

Submit your website to search engines like Google, Bing, etc. Everyone uses search engines to find things online. It’s like virtual Yellow Pages. When you register with the major search engines, there bots will crawl your website pages. If there is something searchable there, you will be found.

Blogs

A blog is a way for you to post useful content and information about your business on your website. Blogs started out as online journals but have become a useful and necessary tool for marketing your business. Blogs are interactive if you use comments for customers to share their experiences. You can use your blog for opinion polls, getting ideas for new products or services  and general feedback on how well you are running your business on and/or offline.

Blogs are also crawled by search engines so register your blog and provide quality content that can be ranked. The use of keywords will help with your search engine optimization (SEO). Through keyword research, you can find the words most commonly entered into search boxes to find a business like yours.

An additional method is guest blogging which is when you share one of your unique articles with another blog/website to get exposure to their customers.

Social Media

Social Media is one of the newest tools in the online marketing arsenal. When there isn’t enough time to meet in real life or you’ve lost touch with people, you can find them through social networking. Take your pick from Facebook,YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram to name just a few of the most well-known. Each has its own pros and cons along with resources to help you connect with the right people for business.

The goal for using social networking sites is to build relationships, so you can build a following of people who know and trust you. That will lead them to your website and your business.

There are many ways to schedule your social media posts days and weeks ahead of time to keep your account active, but you need to still reply to comments and interact on your accounts.

Email Marketing

Email marketing needs to be in your marketing mix. It is like the direct marketing of online strategies. You can buy lists but the information you need can be gathered yourself with a few opt-ins on your website. Offer your website visitors a free newsletter full of useful information or another useful download for signing up. Make sure that you add a disclaimer that lets them know that the information they provide (name and email address) will not be sold. People don’t like their information sold to spammers.

That is how you begin to build your list. As more and more people buy from you, your list will grow. If this is an offline business, ask customers for their email address at the time of checkout for coupons and newsletters. Corresponding through email makes responding to customer issues easy.

e-Commerce (eBay, Amazon, etc)

Online and offline businesses can benefit from selling products and services through an online storefront. Amazon and eBay are the premier online marketplaces. When you can’t find it in the store or want to find it cheaper, you turn to an online store. Amazon and eBay offer a lot of resources for sellers. Selling on e-commerce sites is another method for test marketing new products. Customers can provide feedback on your performance, and you can use the forums to get tips on selling and meet other business owners.

If you don’t know how to run a store from your website, use Amazon or eBay. Amazon offers different ways to sell products including their FBA program. EBay offers members the options of three levels for eBay store ownership. Their tool package lets you set up your virtual store, manage inventory and conduct customer service easily. Use your website for content, ads (if you want more revenue) and showcasing new products available in your e-commerce store. Each can link to the other for ease of navigation.

Niche Marketing

In the world of business there are always new ideas just waiting to be discovered. Thirty years ago no one would have imagined that business could move into a virtual arena but it did. Niche marketing is one way to find those new ideas that could mean increased sales through targeted marketing.

Let’s say that you are into landscaping. Well, landscapers do a lot of stuff. They plant gardens, design your yard, add water features, rock gardens, gazebos, pergolas and other things for a total aesthetic appearance. Maybe you want to narrow your focus by concentrating on one area of landscaping.

Niche marketing dictates that you perform research to see if the market you are looking to exploit is a viable market. Maybe you want to make designer rock gardens or walkways. Your strategies will concentrate on people who want those features on their properties and hopefully a new market will emerge.

Niche marketing is a caveat to starting a business using other marketing strategies. After running your business for awhile you’ll notice other possible products or services that weren’t part of your original business plan that you want to pursue. Niche marketing can be used to grow a successful business in another direction.

Affiliate Programs

Begin your own affiliate program. If you run a successful business, an affiliate program is one way to drum up more business. Create ads that others will use on their sites to drive traffic to your business. Affiliate programs take a lot of time to set up and administer so hiring an affiliate manager is a good idea.

It will be the job of the affiliate manager to run the day-to-day operation of the affiliate program. Choose someone with a background in affiliate marketing who knows how to find new affiliates, keep current affiliates happy, and implement an affiliate reward program.

COMBINE AND CONQUER

Marketing is a part of any business plan. For marketing to work, it has to exemplify your business description and statement of purpose. Everything is geared towards making that business idea a reality.

Each of the marketing tools described in the above two sections can be implemented for both offline and online businesses. Your product or service will dictate how much tweaking has to be done to fit your business plan but you’ll never know if you don’t try it. With your business, an online website combined with a magazine column could start the influx of business from customers you weren’t reaching before.

What keeps customers coming back? It’s the customer service and the relationship you build with your customers to know, like and trust you. For any business, offline and online marketing strategies can help you provide better customer service to your current and new customers.

CONCLUSION

Use these marketing tools to increase your business success. Some or most you have heard of before but maybe never thought of using. Each tool can be expanded upon to meet your needs. Who knows, you might come up with the next hot marketing strategy.

Imagine the opportunities you will find by adding other marketing strategies to your arsenal? The first rule of business marketing is that there are no hard and fast rules beyond being ethical. Don’t limit yourself or your business.