In case you’re wondering how marketing campaigns and methods actually looked like in the previous century when there was hardly even a notion or indication of the thing we rely on so much today – the internet – you’re not alone. Although the idea of running a successful marketing campaign offline seems almost unfathomable these days, there are still many reasons why you’d want to consider this strategy as well.
We’ll be the first ones to tell you that offline marketing is very much alive in the 21st century and that it’s going to continue to be around for quite some time. As a matter of fact, we’d argue that as long as there’s marketing as such, there’ll be room for offline marketing strategies and methods. The reasons for this are multiple, and in this article, we’ll present to you why exactly offline marketing is still pretty much relevant and important.
You Can Reach a bigger Audience
This is something many people will wince and frown at, but it’s pretty safe to say that using some of the old-school marketing methods can actually help your reach even more audience than with the online strategies. How come? Well, the reason for this is quite simple: there are still more people offline than online.
Although it’s very true that there’s a growing trend and that people spend so much time (maybe even too much) on the internet, but they’re still very much engaged in many activities throughout the day that don’t include being online. We’re still commuting to and from work every day, going grocery shopping, meeting friends, going to the movies, walking our dog around the block, etc.
This means that we simply have to – at least from time to time – turn away our looks from smartphones, tablets, or other gadgets. And this also means that there’s a huge opportunity to advertise our products or brands to the billions of people who still go outside every day. Ipso facto, you can reach more audience by turning to an offline marketing campaign than focusing solely on advertising a brand, service or a product online.
Offer Proof of Authenticity
A second reason why offline marketing is still important involves a chance of offering proof of authenticity to potential customers. How many times have you searched the web for something and were highly sceptical or suspicious of someone’s ad? This doesn’t have to mean that the thing actually was unworthy of purchasing, but you just had to go with the instincts and listen to the inner voice that told you not to buy the product.
This rarely happens with offline marketing. Once you lay your eyes on something you can usually tell if the company or a brand is trustworthy enough. It’s easier to tell apart between scams and authentic products when you have a chance to see something in person. And this offers a great opportunity to marketers – if your brand or services are authentic, people will be able to tell pretty easily. You won’t have to convince them that you have a quality product and ’make’ them buy something – they can touch and feel the thing or rely on their senses in other ways to correctly assess the situation and what your company is all about.
Get a Faster Feedback With Face-to-Face Interactions
Another great thing about offline marketing campaign is that you can get faster feedback with face-to-face interactions with the potential customers. Try talking to them openly about the brand or services that you are offering and see for yourself what they have to tell you about it.
Some people will be highly critical and others will stay rather reserved, but what you need to do is try reading their reactions and make conclusions based on their responses. It doesn’t matter what they’re telling you as far as you can tell if the things they’re saying are said in a truthful manner or not.
When you try to get feedback from customers online, you don’t have the privilege of knowing whether the people mean what they’re saying. Someone might be having a rough day and they can leave a bad comment online as a result of that, and others might be too polite or not interested enough to truthfully tell you what they think. When you have a chance to see the customer’s reactions in person, you can be more certain about the comments people make about your company.
How to Actually Utilize Offline Marketing?
Thus far we’ve given you some reasons why we think offline marketing is still a great strategy to pursue, but what about the ways to actually utilize it? Online marketing has become so widespread that people often time have difficulties remembering what exactly they should do when they’re told to think of some offline marketing methods.
With online marketing things are fairly easy: you use social media like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. and you get engaged with the customers or you advertise your brand or services. But with offline marketing, you need to be somewhat more creative, and that’s why the effects of this method are sometimes much stronger and more visible.
Things like billboards, brochures, TV/ radio ads, leaflets, banners, posters, booklets, business cards, stationery items, and so on represent awesome ways to advertise your brand, product, or services even now. For instance, you can still hire professional designers like All Star Graphics to make billboards or T-Shirts for your company or a brand. The aforementioned marketing strategies are the ones that never get old, no matter how far we get with the technological advancements. When people see these old-school ads they’re more likely to think about them and talk about them if they see them in person.
Enforce Word-of-Mouth
Seeing ads, brands, or products in person also leads to the next reason why offline marketing is paramount. This enforces word-of-mouth. There’s a much higher chance people will talk about something if they had an opportunity to experience that directly, immediately, and head-on.
Marketers often time talk about creating that much sought-out buzz, or the importance of the ad going viral. This only means that it’s paramount that the customers talk about your company or a brand. Even though this can be achieved with online marketing as well, offline marketing arguably creates even more space for this talk. Not to mention that you’ll probably trust more someone who tells you in person that they think the world of your company then some complete stranger online.
If you get to the point where customers talk to each other in person about how good your product is, you know you did something good marketing-wise. And this is arguably more easily accomplished with offline marketing strategies than online methods.
Further Strengthen Your Brand or a Product (By Showing You Truly Care)
Many people don’t realize that a good mixture of online and offline marketing is currently the best approach there is. You’ll be able to generate more revenue if you focus on both of these methods, without favouring either one of them. In this article, we’ve mainly talked about the importance of offline marketing, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t highly value online marketing campaigns as well. No one in their right mind would claim that. We’re just trying to give you a different perspective and show you that you can’t expect to maximize your profits by turning to just one of these strategies alone.
That being said, offline marketing is extremely important for further strengthening your brand or a product. You’ll establish a relationship of loyalty and trust with your customers if you show them that you truly care about them and their opinion. By opting for offline marketing you’ll be able to ask them about the improvements you can make. That way they’ll feel they’re truly part of something big, and that their opinion matters. You need to remember that you’re there because of them and not the other way around. Further strengthening your brand, company, or a product can be achieved only if you show just how important customers really are to you.
For example, you can organize quizzes and giveaways for the most loyal customers. This way you’ll also get to interact with them personally, get to know them better, and learn about their needs.
The Bottom Line
If you’re one of many people who think that offline marketing should stay in the 20th century, we’d strongly advise you to think about this again. Even though online marketing campaigns are more present than ever before, we’d still argue that offline marketing is just as equally important.
Reasons, why we think this is true, are the following: you can reach more audience, offer proof of authenticity, get faster feedback with face-to-face interactions, enforce word-of-mouth, further strengthen your brand or a product (by showing you truly care). All of this is easily accomplished by utilizing some of the most common offline strategies and methods. Make sure to incorporate all of them, and your business is most certainly bound for great success.
Article written by Stella.Ryne.
