Offline Marketing

8.1 Introduction

In this module, we will look at offline marketing, in other words, marketing techniques and methods that do not involve a computer or the Internet or, as some may prefer to call it, the traditional out of home advertising or outdoor advertising methods, that were used before technology became involved in marketing. This is a large subject with many different facets to take into consideration, so we have broken it down into the different methods and explained how and why they will work for your business.

8.2 What We Mean by Offline Marketing

We will begin by describing what we mean by offline marketing and, as we said at the outset, it refers to any form of marketing that does not involve the use of a computer or the Internet. For some, this may sound as if you are going back in time but, however, even if you believe that the Internet is the way forward, it often pays to look at what you can do offline, although it does depend on the type of business in which you are involved. Also, you do not have to move entirely away from technology as it certainly still has a role to be play, since it is connected to the way in which this form of marketing is designed prior to it being put out into the market.

In short, offline marketing is generally regarded as including marketing methods and strategies that date back 20 or so years, i.e. before the Internet. Despite that, you certainly should not perceive these methods as being somehow inferior as that is not the case. Instead, offline marketing still has its place in the world today and even companies that are primarily classed as being Internet based will often turn their attention to offline marketing, to further increase awareness of their business.

However, it is also fair to say that offline marketing has a reputation for being far more hit and miss and with a lower conversion rate, even if that is not actually the case. You will often read of a conversion rate between 5% and 10% or lower in some instances and that is something that can put people off. The important thing to remember is that offline marketing can be quite targeted, although granted it can be less targeted than online methods, and yet you must accept that it is necessary to invest some time and effort into these methods for the sake of your business.

But who uses offline marketing?

The answer is any business that you can think of, i.e. small sole trader businesses up to national companies. Also, as we will explain later on in the module, there is a trend for both offline and online marketing methods to be used in conjunction with each other, and this is one avenue that should be explored by any individual that is involved in the marketing of a business.

8.3 The Importance of Including it in Any Marketing Strategy

When it comes to your marketing strategy, it would be very unusual for a business to ignore the possibility of using some offline marketing strategy or indeed strategies, in order to fully promote their business directly to their desired market. To understand why it is so important to include offline marketing in your strategy, we have to look at some statistics that will help to stress why it can still play a key role in the potential success of your business. We may very well live in what is known as the digital age but that is not to say that we can dismiss the traditional forms of marketing - that is not an option if you wish to be a well-rounded company or to have a well-rounded marketing strategy.

However, there is something else regarding offline marketing that is extremely important but overlooked by a number of companies: linking offline and online marketing, in order to try and corner your own particular market. If you thought that offline and online marketing were two individual things that never crossed paths, then think again and we will demonstrate why. Prior to this, we need to mention several other key points regarding offline marketing and why it is so important.

Getting your name into the local market.

It is very important that any new small or medium-sized business does everything in its power and budget to get its name into the desired market right from the outset. Offline marketing via flyers through doors and local newspaper adverts, in which you try to get as prominent a position as possible, are great ways of simply increasing awareness of your existence.

It is less expensive than you think.

People believe offline marketing
to be more expensive than online marketing and also generally believe it is
easier to make an impact and choose the correct market online, therefore giving
you a better return on your investment. However, this is not always the case.
Instead, you can make offline marketing work for you by finding printing
companies that produce flyers or business cards at low cost, that you can
distribute in order to make the desired impact. You can now get large numbers
of business cards printed for next to nothing and, if you are careful with
regards to whom you hand flyers or cards out, you can get a fantastic return on
the money spent on getting them printed.

You can really pick and choose your markets.

If your product is best aimed at people that earn a certain amount of money, you can put leaflets through doors of homes where it is obvious that the owners are in that income bracket. If you are selling double glazing or gardening services, for example, then you can advertise to those homes whereby it is clear that standards have slipped somewhat. This may be something that takes time for you to assess and thus ascertain where you need to market yourself but overall there is no doubt that it can increase the return on your initial investment. In other words, offline marketing allows you to be very particular in terms of to whom you market although it is accepted that this is time consuming. Although not as easy as online marketing it is important to remember that not everybody uses the Internet and therefore ignoring offline marketing as a possible option is a bad idea and would omit an entire part of the world of marketing.

8.4 The Key Offline Marketing Concepts to Consider

There are a number of different
offline marketing concepts that you may wish to use for the sake of building
your business. However, do not try to use every single one because you are not
going to be successful with every concept. Offline marketing can be rather hit
and miss, with much relying on your ability to mold your approach to not only
your individual market but also the marketing concepts to which you are looking
at implementing.

Business cards

This is a great way for a variety of companies to market themselves although it is important that you get the design of the business card correct from the outset. Ensure your key information is included, but do not overcrowd the business card by trying to get too much information within the space. Instead, it is better to provide the basic information and make it easy for the potential customer to be able to take the correct action in order to contact you.

Flyers

The use of flyers, or leaflets if you want to use another term, has a relatively low success rate but still plays an important role in making people aware of your business. In a way, flyers are a larger scale business card that can hold a lot more information, which may well prove useful. However, some people perceive flyers as being a rather cheap way of marketing your business - by this, we do not mean inexpensive but rather that it may potentially give people a different impression of your business.

A flyer must convey the key information that you wish to give to your potential market as well as some kind of call to action that will push potential customers into taking a step that will hopefully result in them spending money with your business. Do not fill your flyer with too much writing as that will put people off - instead, keep it brief and pay attention to the overall design; if it is too garish and over-powering it will have a negative impact.

Newspapers

The humble newspaper advert is still a good way of presenting the name of your business to your desired market. This is especially true with regards to the local market as the local newspaper is going to be read by the exact people that you are looking for. However, there are several important points that must be discussed when it comes to placing your advert in a newspaper and they can all have an impact on your ability to get the necessary return on the cost of placing the advert.

The first thing to consider is that certain pages within the newspaper will cost you more money, as will a larger size advert. The pages that are viewed by the most people are the front page, back page, and middle pages therefore they always command higher prices than other pages. Next, you must decide what content to put in your advert because, once again, you have to consider how much space is available and, at the same time ensure your advert is attractive and eye-catching - especially important when there is so much competition.

Radio

If you thought that radio advertising was dead, then think again. It may not be as effective as it once was but that is not necessarily a negative; thanks to the boom in online marketing and advertising opportunities, the cost of radio advertising has not increased much and you can still reach a large target audience. It is important to consider the length of the advert and the time of day you will be advertising as certain times are more expensive than others. You also need to factor in the cost of producing the advert.

Posters

Although less popular you may consider using posters. You will have to think about where the posters will be located and be aware of where your market will be active. Posters are not always successful as you need to make sure that you have the necessary information on them, without being too over the top.

Using offline marketing to go online

The final point to mention is how offline marketing can be combined with online marketing, and it is certainly something that you should consider when trying to create your marketing strategy. We refer to offline adverts containing links to e-mails, websites, social media and even the use of a QR code on your advertising whereby people can scan the code with their smartphones to obtain more information.

This is where technology can really help and it has been shown that combining both methods is an effective way of increasing interaction and improving responses towards your products and services. There are several other offline marketing methods that you may like to use, including handing out postcards or putting vouchers through doors, rather than flyers. However, regardless of the option you use, there is no doubt that you have to think carefully about what is involved in the method before you proceed.

FACT

Almost 40% of online searchers make a purchase after being influenced by an offline channel.

Source: bewonderful.co.uk

8.5 Local or National Offline Marketing

The next point to to discuss is whether or not you become involved in either local or national offline marketing - the answer to which is slightly more complex than you would perhaps imagine. The first thing that will have an effect on your decision is what your business is all about. If you are marketing a small shop with focus on a certain town or city, then obviously it makes sense that you concentrate your attention on local marketing via flyers, direct mail, advertisements in your local newspaper or even local radio. In doing so, you give yourself the best possible opportunity of getting your name in front of the people that matter the most: the local market.

This all comes down to your aims and goals and it is your market research that will provide you with the answer as to what you need to do regarding the local market. Is the market big enough for you or do you have to go further afield? If so, what is the best way to get your name into the desired areas? The beauty of local marketing is that you are able to have targeted and focused campaigns whereby you are able to pick and choose where you are placing your adverts or handing out your flyers and business cards.

This level of control over local marketing campaigns is often quite attractive to a number of businesses as it means that you can use your budget wisely and, as we will see in a later module, dealing with the budget is something with which any marketing expert has to contend. However, it is entirely possible that you market a product/service which requires you to cover a larger area. With this, you need to look at stretching your offline marketing budget and it makes sense to look at larger types of offline marketing.

However, we would still recommend that you be selective with the forms of marketing in which you become involved. The problem with national marketing is of course the scale of the campaign that you have to create and the associated costs. This requires more planning, a more detailed strategy and a team dedicated to observing the campaign and ascertaining if it is producing the kind of desired results. This is something about which you need to be very sure, especially in the case of offline marketing, as it is much easier and also cheaper to have a national campaign online. This may be worth considering when you are looking at the potential size and scale of a marketing campaign for your products or services. So, when trying to work out whether you should adopt a local or national offline marketing strategy, you have to take the following points into consideration:

What are your aims?

You should never begin any marketing campaign without having an idea of your aims but this is even more important when you are working out if you require a national or local campaign. Remember that national campaigns are expensive so it may be best to lower your aims initially, until you have at least tested the local market. 

Any marketing strategy has to focus on your ability to reach your market because, without this, it is pointless to even take action. This becomes even more important when thinking about the sheer size and scale of the campaign because the chances of something going wrong will only increase. Do you know your market? Do you know how you are going to access it? Will the channels you have selected be good enough and able to give you the kind of desired return? How sustainable is it?

It is all well and good looking at the short-term gain of a marketing campaign but you also need to look at the long-term future, as that is how your products or services will get a foothold in your desired market. Is it best to focus a national campaign in the short-term or look at select local markets to focus on over a longer period of time? This is where your plans and strategies really do come into their own. Do you actually need a national campaign?

This is where honesty comes into play because you need to think about whether or not you actually need a national campaign as it is very rare for this to be the case. Is the cost worth it? Are you actually targeting people that are not interested? Do you just want to use a national campaign as it sounds impressive? What we are saying here is to think beyond the sentiment of your business attaining that nationwide exposure and consider things logically. It is essential to keep sight of your end goals at all times and remain grounded - it is all too easy to get caught up in the excitement of a business going nationwide.

8.6 Implementing the Methods into your Strategy

We now move on to something that is extremely important: how to implement these different methods into your strategy. The most important part of all is to plan ahead to ensure the design of the advert is perfect and this may involve a considerable amount of your time. The conversion rate with offline marketing is lower than you are perhaps aware of and that percentage rate fluctuates depending on the type of marketing that you are doing. This means that you need to make every conversion count and, if your advert, business card or poster is not up to scratch, then you are making the process more difficult yourself. So, to implement the methods, you have to consider the following: Which methods are you going to use?

The first step is to work out the methods that you plan on using. This can vary depending on the market you are aiming for, its size, your location and a number of other determining factors, including your product and even your price.

For example

Business cards work well for tradespeople, simply because they can be put into a purse or wallet and used for those emergencies that can suddenly crop up. In this kind of industry, you want to be in a position whereby an individual knows where to find your contact details in an instant and, if you are able to get your card put into their purse, then you are going to be in a prime position to be called upon as and when required.

Design an all-encompassing plan before you take action.

Due to the way in which offline marketing costs can suddenly increase, it is important to create a plan that encompasses all of your offline marketing methods before put things into action. This will help you with your budget and, if you have a number of different things being printed, you may be able to negotiate a better deal.

Build in an incentive.

You will need to build into your marketing some form of incentive to attract people and tempt them into taking some kind of action, as a result of your advert. People will often simply move on if there is not a clear message being conveyed to them. You have to try your best to open up some kind of avenue of conversation with those individuals that see your offline marketing exploits or you will struggle to succeed Can you do anything differently?

If you use marketing strategies that are exactly the same as everybody else's, then how are you planning to stand out from the crowd? You may be aware of the need to do this when you are trying to create a buzz online, but the exact same principles have to be applied to offline marketing as well. Do your adverts just look like everybody else's in your industry? Can you change the designs? Can you be clever with regards to your approach? What is it about you that will make you stand out from everybody else?

Keep thinking it over before taking action.

The final point regarding how to include offline marketing within your marketing strategy is to ensure that you have taken care of everything before you launch your marketing campaigns. You must remember how this type of marketing is going to influence your business and how you can influence your market so it is never something to rush without thinking it over.

*Does the particular strategy fit in with the bigger picture?

*Is the method or technique on which you plan to use capable of helping you to reach your targets and aims?

If not, stop and think things over as that is the only way in which you will be able to succeed. The key to incorporating the methods into any marketing strategy is to have a firm understanding of the direction in which you want your strategy to go and a firm understanding of the methods that you wish to use. You should have spent considerable time thinking about the strategy aspect so there is no need to just throw together some ideas and methods without giving them proper consideration. Investigate things, think them over, even test out some methods in a small way, just to see what the general reaction is as you will often discover that you have to change your entire approach, simply because the market either loves it or hates it.

8.7 The Dangers of Getting Things Wrong

As with any form of marketing there is still a danger of getting things wrong although you can take steps to minimise those chances. You cannot completely eliminate the chances of making mistakes but there are several important points to mention that you need to be aware of.

It can be expensive.

We have mentioned cost on a number of occasions within this module and that is because this is one area where it is all too easy to allow things to spiral out of control if you are not careful. Offline marketing can end up being costly and, of course, that could be disastrous for the rest of your business. Pay attention to the budget, make sure that you understand your strategy and know what you have to do in order to fulfil your aims or there is a very real chance that you will overspend and get no return in the process.

People get annoyed by you.

This point relates more to flyers and direct mail marketing because it irritates some people, who find it somewhat intrusive (re unwanted advertising through their doors or into their hands). There is less chance of these individuals becoming customers. However, by having a clear message and a call to action within your marketing, it reduces the chances of that happening. Think clearly about what you want to say and then compare your marketing campaign to what is going on elsewhere, to see how you would feel if you were handed that flyer or advert.

It is difficult to change things when mistakes are made.

If you make some kind of mistake with your online marketing, there is every chance that you can rectify the situation, especially if it is on social media as you can simply publish a different message. However, with offline marketing, you cannot do so as once the adverts are out there it is not easy to recall them. Therefore you have to be absolutely sure about the message that you are trying to convey as it will be far too difficult to change it once it is already in the public domain.

There are also other dangers associated with certain offline marketing methods and techniques. However, the dangers will often be linked to your own individual goals and aims for a certain campaign and the main point to stress is the need for you to check and double check your market research, advertising and aims prior to taking action. Just remember that mistakes made by offline marketing campaigns can be disastrous and you do not know what impact they will have on your entire business.

MODULE SUMMARY

In this module, we have focused on something that is more important in this digital age than you perhaps realised: the idea of offline marketing. Unless you are a purely online business, this is something that you still have to investigate as being a real possibility to increase the chances of your business or marketing strategy becoming a success. However, it is fair to say that it does involve a substantial amount of planning on your part and you do need to be fully aware of what your market is and where it is located, in order to make the impact you are hoping for.

Offline marketing is certainly not dead by any stretch of the imagination but, at the same time, it is still strongly advised that you look at combining both offline and online methods, to get the best possible return on your investment. In the next module, we will look at the specifics of online marketing and how you can use the Internet to your advantage, to greatly increase the exposure to your business.