Guest Blog

Another Amazing Guest Blogger is Featured for you today.  It has been so much fun to be able to share these talented writers and their articles with you.  This particular one, by Michael Deane, is especially important for those of us who have Online Businesses, as he discusses Offline Marketing and why we should still consider it in today’s digital world.

I would like to introduce you to our Guest Blogger for this week:  Michael Deane of  Qeedle.com  – Thank you, Michael!

Michael Deane     site: www.qeedle.com email: michel.j.deanne@gmail.com

One of the biggest marketing mistakes that online business owners make is also one of the most understandable. Namely, a relatively large number of people who run online businesses decide (sometimes not even consciously) to forego any and all offline marketing and divert all of their attention and money exclusively into online marketing.

[bctt tweet=”The reason why this is one of the biggest mistakes online business owners can make is that offline marketing still holds great potential, even for companies and entrepreneurs that do most or all of their business online.” username=”@tammysoffices”]

Today, we will be exploring why offline marketing has its place in the world of online business and provide a few ideas for entrepreneurs who wish to mix things up a bit and do some “traditional” marketing.

Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Offline Marketing

First of all, we should probably say a thing or two about what makes offline marketing still relevant for today’s businesses, despite the fact that some digital marketers have been pronouncing traditional marketing dead for the better part of the decade.

For one, some people simply do not spend that much time online. There are quite a few people who have still not made the internet an integral part of their lives and who mostly use it for email and work. This is especially true for people over the age of 60.

Now, let’s say that you run an eCommerce store that sells products aimed at seniors, exclusively or not. [bctt tweet=”By limiting yourself to just online promotion, you would be missing out on a huge portion of your target market.” username=”@tammysoffices”]

Another thing to keep in mind is that most people still see “traditional” types of advertising as more trustworthy than online advertising”. It would probably require a book (or a series of books) to try and find all the reasons why online advertising is still less trusted than traditional one, but the fact is it is; just look at the research quoted in this article on eMarketer. Take a look at the first five places – all traditional marketing channels.

[bctt tweet=”Finally, offline marketing often feels much more personal than online marketing. ” username=”@tammysoffices”]

Finally, offline marketing often feels much more personal than online marketing.  This is not saying that online marketing cannot be fantastically personal and elicit great emotional responses; it is just saying that often it does not. Some people want a more immediate and tactile interaction with the brand. They want to put voices and faces to the brand.

A Few Things to Try Out

Now that you are interested (hopefully), here are a few offline marketing ideas you can try out to find new customers and strengthen your brand.

Networking and Events

Regardless of what industry you are in and what kind of services or products you are selling, you will easily find events when people from the industry meet and exchange their experiences. Ranging from strictly local events to major, national ones, these events are a perfect opportunity to promote your brand and let others meet the people behind the brand. [bctt tweet=”If you can find a way to become a speaker at one of these events, you should take the opportunity to share your expertise and show everyone that you know what you are talking about.” username=”@tammysoffices”]

You can also organize your own events where you can be more aggressive with your brand promotion. This will require a bit more on your end – finding the venue, inviting speakers, taking care of the promotional material (like having pop-ups made, banners, flyers, etc.), and making sure that people attend. However, the amount of exposure for your brand will be worth it, especially nowadays when everyone shares their lives on social media. Who knows, maybe you can even pique the interest of local media for some extra promotion.

Local Media

National media exposure is expensive and it is usually out of the reach of smaller, online businesses. That being said, local media is still strong in most parts of the United States (and worldwide, for that matter). Simply put, Of course, for online businesses that aim at a global audience, this will probably not work.

Besides outright paying for local media exposure, you can also find free ways to get some attention.  For example, if your local newspaper is doing a piece on online shopping and you run an e-commerce store (to use our hypothetical online store again), you can offer your insights into the industry. Journalists are always happy to get some inside info and they appreciate insights from people who have the know-how.

A Pop-up Store

Before we get into details about our final idea, we should probably point out that this is something that only works out for online businesses that sell products and not services, like for instance our hypothetical eCommerce store that we’ve been using for examples.

A pop-up store is a temporary physical store that you set up in a carefully selected place and where you sell your products and get in touch with your customers and your future customers.

Pop-up stores have been around for a while, often done by some of the world’s largest brands, but as of recently, they have become the eCommerce business owners’ favorite.”

[bctt tweet=”A pop-up store is an affordable and non-committal way for eCommerce business owners to test the traditional retail waters and get their brand in front of people who might otherwise stay completely oblivious of it. ” username=”@tammysoffices”]

A pop-up store is an affordable and non-committal way for eCommerce business owners to test the traditional retail waters and get their brand in front of people who might otherwise stay completely oblivious of it.

With a temporary physical location, eCommerce businesses can push their visual and experiential brand more aggressively and allow their customers and potential customers a way to interact with it more personally. It is also a great way to find out how people feel about an eCommerce brand as their reactions and interactions are more obvious in person.

Closing Word

[bctt tweet=”The most important thing for online business owners is to remember not to discard offline marketing without giving it any thought.” username=”@tammysoffices”] There is a chance offline marketing will not do much for some brands, but there are also plenty of online businesses which can benefit greatly from some offline exposure.

As I said – a great article by a great writer and I so appreciate it.  Thank you, again, Michael for a wonderful article reminding us of the value of Offline Marketing.

Thank you also, to YOU, our audience, for reading – we greatly appreciate it.

PLEASE leave a comment and PLEASE SHARE if you found this interesting to read – we would genuinely appreciate it!

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