Traditional Marketing is Still Alive in the Digital Age
By Stu Leventhal - Guru Marketing Tips Editor
Yes; many claimed TV, Radio, News Papers would all be extinct fast, now that the internet was here. Not so! Traditional Advertising is still going strong. Many of those same skeptics and pessimists now have been forced to agree that traditional forms of advertising are more powerful and important than ever in the age of cyberspace.
If you’ve gone to a local festival and given out Frisbees with your company name and logo printed on them then you’ve participated in offline marketing. If you’ve had your sales team make phone call to a list of potential new customers you are doing an offline marketing activity (cold calling). When you lease a restaurant and invite the news media and prominent members of your industry and community to a party to launch your new and improved model of your bestselling product, you are conducting an offline marketing promotion.
Offline Marketing and Online Marketing are not two divided entities or separate activities that work on their own in different universes that never meet. What a company does offline affects their Online Personality and vise-versa. Yes, whatever is practiced online influences your Offline Identity and how much commerce you do on your website and in your physical brick and mortar store or office.
Beware of marketers who claim to specialize in one or the other. Why? Because you need to know and understand what all marketing, sales, promotions and advertising efforts are trying to accomplish for a company plus know how they are trying to accomplish their individual goals in order for any one marketing activity to be useful. If your marketing campaign online for example does not aide your offline marketing’s goals then it usually is counterproductive or hindering and getting in the way of the other marketing activity’s success.
The overall company brand image you are trying to project to the world may be suffering due to multiple messages you are sending out on different media platforms to address various kinds of audiences and fans. Your message gets confusing and is weakened if it alters from stage to stage.
Offline marketing is anything you do that is not on the internet or shared digitally to market your company and promote what you sell. Give away t-shirts with your company name and/or your slogan on it and hats with your logo or coffee mugs and pens with your name, address and phone number and you are participating in offline marketing. Buy a billboard along the side of the road or appear on a radio show to talk about breaking news in your industry or to promote a new product; yep, that is offline marketing too.
All marketing wherever it done must be coordinated efforts to build your brand's reputation and image consistently.
Bear in mind that you entrepreneurs and startups could easily generate a flood of traffic, business prospects and leads to your website when you are offline just like your online activities can send customers to your brick and mortar stores, showrooms and offices. How you craft the campaign determines where the traffic, customers, clients and inquires that are generated are sent. Still, keep in mind that you are running one company online and offline.
Online Guru's do market offline! There are many, many on-land conventions where most online products and new digital services are launched.
If you hosted a seminar, for example, and gave a great speech on your favorite topic, wouldn’t that bring a lot of awareness to new people informing them about you and what you are an expert at? Giving a speech in this case is an offline activity.
Now envision folks attending your seminar taking photos at the event and posting them online in their social media accounts. You would get even more PR, this time via the internet promoting (online marketing) and IM (internet marketing).
That’s how online and offline marketing works together. The goals are the same wherever you promote or do business and most of the world's best companies conduct commerce electronically and offline; in a store front or retail location or with an office too. The object is to get customers to remember your brand, products and services when it comes time to buy and to make people aware of what the company is up to currently.
So we’ve learned that website traffic is not just generated online. Events and activities meant to create a buzz for your brand may start offline or online. You want people talking about your company while they are standing in a line at the checkout counter or riding the bus as they text, email and post to one another. Offline and Online Marketing working in-sync is a smooth and beautiful thing and profitable too!
When you are one of the main hosts or supporters of a charity event you are promoting offline but you still want to tell as many people as possible about that marathon race you are hosting to raise money for the local animal shelter. You decide to create a news release to announce the details of your charity race. Press releases used to be consider offline marketing but now they can be distributed farther and to more influencing media pros using the internet.
So the press release is sent digitally to assist with promoting the offline event. Do you see how many photos and film clips will be taken digitally and then shared online? Also photos will appear offline in newspapers. Film clips will be shown on TV news too. The local radio show DJs will talk about the marathon race to promote it and after the race is run they’ll tell their audience how successful the charity event was and how fun it was to watch and participate in.
Now-a-days offline and online marketing must be in allegiance with one another. The boost comes from all your marketing being in sync!
Let’s consider your offline seminar again as an example; if you wanted to give your website traffic a nudge you could post online, on your website, a video recorded version of the offline event. Now people can visit your website and watch your speech for the next few years. Your video allows you to get much more mileage out of that one speech. You could even edit the slow parts out of your speech to make it even more concise and dynamite.
There are almost no limits to all the places online that you could load a teaser clip of your video promoting the re-play of your speech. In the video clip, you supply a short snip of your great speech then recommend that for further info on this topic or to view the entire speech, go visit my website or my blog and you leave your website and/or blog addresses as clickable links.
Now you are getting a lot more traffic from the same activity of putting on your original offline seminar speech because you took the time to create a digital copy that can be enjoyed and shared on video sharing sites like YouTube and posted about on all the popular social media sites especially Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Once online your video can be linked to by local or global bloggers.
The bloggers and social posters are recommending to their own audiences that their fans go check out your speech video. Their linking leads their fans directly to your full video on your web-page. You website has more stuff for these visitors to see as well as special offers that are designed for them to give you their email address so you can send them some coupons or perhaps a how-to-guide.
Will your video go viral? Let’s hope so.
Can you see how other types of offline activities can be empowered for longer lengths of time once turned into online marketing campaigns? Think of an appearance on a radio show or getting interviewed on a cable TV show. The replays can be posted as videos online where they remain for years and years and years gaining you notoriety and publicity.
So the magic really happens when you merge offline activity with online capabilities. Online marketing can boost the success of your offline promoting. Offline events or campaigns bring credibility to the activity. An e-webinar does not have the clout of an actual offline seminar or workshop but the digitally delivered webinar has long and far reach. One does not have to fly across the globe to attend the webinar. A webinar can also be re-played. Still, actual on land events gain media news coverage that webinars rarely can gain.
So my advice is simple, do some of both plus combine all your marketing efforts to work side by side, in conjunction whenever possible!
Not tying your marketing up in one arena, stage of type of promoting is obviously wise. When one thing does not produce for you there are still plenty of other business sources bringing in orders and new clients. Sure it requires more work to design different types of marketing campaigns and it takes researching different media outlets and searching for unique stages upon which to advertise and promote but your results can be powerful. It should be noted that using lots of marketing methods has long been referred to as Multi-Channel Marketing. The word takes on more meaning now that we have great and varied digital marketing opportunities inexpensively available to any promoter or sales pro.
IMPORTANT: The buzz you create delivers more weight if it originates offline and then is empowered via new digital communication techniques. You can tell the world what is going on in your little corner of the woods.
That is the basics of generating traffic, buzz and far reaching PR.
Once you learn traditional offline marketing concepts, you will be able to transfer the use of the skills you have honed offline to the digital stage in a much more easy and meaningful way.
So yes, print biz cards, catalogues and pamphlets. On holidays send a real card via the post office because it is much more endearing than getting an email no matter how clever or entertaining the digital holiday email is.
Have you considered running for political office in the local town where you conduct business? You cannot get more FREE PR than as a politician. Just running for office, even if you lose, can be a means of getting yourself well-known in your community. Local Baker runs for City Council shows that you are more than just a Baker, you really do care about your fellow citizens and your community.
Do attend trade-shows even if you do not rent a booth because you can bond with other pros and meet new clients face to face, which is very powerful. That’s called networking at its finest and the connection you make in person cannot be matched in quality online …even with Skype.
More business is started with a handshake and a smile than in any other way!
The challenge online is can you duplicate the intimacy of an offline meeting digitally?
I say learn and master Offline Marketing first and then you’ll know what you have to do on social media and on your website and when you blog and also with buying paid for internet marketing. Get the basics down of what works when marketing and any type or method or strategy you use will perform better for you!
If you’ve gone to a local festival and given out Frisbees with your company name and logo printed on them then you’ve participated in offline marketing. If you’ve had your sales team make phone call to a list of potential new customers you are doing an offline marketing activity (cold calling). When you lease a restaurant and invite the news media and prominent members of your industry and community to a party to launch your new and improved model of your bestselling product, you are conducting an offline marketing promotion.
Offline Marketing and Online Marketing are not two divided entities or separate activities that work on their own in different universes that never meet. What a company does offline affects their Online Personality and vise-versa. Yes, whatever is practiced online influences your Offline Identity and how much commerce you do on your website and in your physical brick and mortar store or office.
Beware of marketers who claim to specialize in one or the other. Why? Because you need to know and understand what all marketing, sales, promotions and advertising efforts are trying to accomplish for a company plus know how they are trying to accomplish their individual goals in order for any one marketing activity to be useful. If your marketing campaign online for example does not aide your offline marketing’s goals then it usually is counterproductive or hindering and getting in the way of the other marketing activity’s success.
The overall company brand image you are trying to project to the world may be suffering due to multiple messages you are sending out on different media platforms to address various kinds of audiences and fans. Your message gets confusing and is weakened if it alters from stage to stage.
Offline marketing is anything you do that is not on the internet or shared digitally to market your company and promote what you sell. Give away t-shirts with your company name and/or your slogan on it and hats with your logo or coffee mugs and pens with your name, address and phone number and you are participating in offline marketing. Buy a billboard along the side of the road or appear on a radio show to talk about breaking news in your industry or to promote a new product; yep, that is offline marketing too.
All marketing wherever it done must be coordinated efforts to build your brand's reputation and image consistently.
Bear in mind that you entrepreneurs and startups could easily generate a flood of traffic, business prospects and leads to your website when you are offline just like your online activities can send customers to your brick and mortar stores, showrooms and offices. How you craft the campaign determines where the traffic, customers, clients and inquires that are generated are sent. Still, keep in mind that you are running one company online and offline.
Online Guru's do market offline! There are many, many on-land conventions where most online products and new digital services are launched.
If you hosted a seminar, for example, and gave a great speech on your favorite topic, wouldn’t that bring a lot of awareness to new people informing them about you and what you are an expert at? Giving a speech in this case is an offline activity.
Now envision folks attending your seminar taking photos at the event and posting them online in their social media accounts. You would get even more PR, this time via the internet promoting (online marketing) and IM (internet marketing).
That’s how online and offline marketing works together. The goals are the same wherever you promote or do business and most of the world's best companies conduct commerce electronically and offline; in a store front or retail location or with an office too. The object is to get customers to remember your brand, products and services when it comes time to buy and to make people aware of what the company is up to currently.
So we’ve learned that website traffic is not just generated online. Events and activities meant to create a buzz for your brand may start offline or online. You want people talking about your company while they are standing in a line at the checkout counter or riding the bus as they text, email and post to one another. Offline and Online Marketing working in-sync is a smooth and beautiful thing and profitable too!
When you are one of the main hosts or supporters of a charity event you are promoting offline but you still want to tell as many people as possible about that marathon race you are hosting to raise money for the local animal shelter. You decide to create a news release to announce the details of your charity race. Press releases used to be consider offline marketing but now they can be distributed farther and to more influencing media pros using the internet.
So the press release is sent digitally to assist with promoting the offline event. Do you see how many photos and film clips will be taken digitally and then shared online? Also photos will appear offline in newspapers. Film clips will be shown on TV news too. The local radio show DJs will talk about the marathon race to promote it and after the race is run they’ll tell their audience how successful the charity event was and how fun it was to watch and participate in.
Now-a-days offline and online marketing must be in allegiance with one another. The boost comes from all your marketing being in sync!
Let’s consider your offline seminar again as an example; if you wanted to give your website traffic a nudge you could post online, on your website, a video recorded version of the offline event. Now people can visit your website and watch your speech for the next few years. Your video allows you to get much more mileage out of that one speech. You could even edit the slow parts out of your speech to make it even more concise and dynamite.
There are almost no limits to all the places online that you could load a teaser clip of your video promoting the re-play of your speech. In the video clip, you supply a short snip of your great speech then recommend that for further info on this topic or to view the entire speech, go visit my website or my blog and you leave your website and/or blog addresses as clickable links.
Now you are getting a lot more traffic from the same activity of putting on your original offline seminar speech because you took the time to create a digital copy that can be enjoyed and shared on video sharing sites like YouTube and posted about on all the popular social media sites especially Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Once online your video can be linked to by local or global bloggers.
The bloggers and social posters are recommending to their own audiences that their fans go check out your speech video. Their linking leads their fans directly to your full video on your web-page. You website has more stuff for these visitors to see as well as special offers that are designed for them to give you their email address so you can send them some coupons or perhaps a how-to-guide.
Will your video go viral? Let’s hope so.
Can you see how other types of offline activities can be empowered for longer lengths of time once turned into online marketing campaigns? Think of an appearance on a radio show or getting interviewed on a cable TV show. The replays can be posted as videos online where they remain for years and years and years gaining you notoriety and publicity.
So the magic really happens when you merge offline activity with online capabilities. Online marketing can boost the success of your offline promoting. Offline events or campaigns bring credibility to the activity. An e-webinar does not have the clout of an actual offline seminar or workshop but the digitally delivered webinar has long and far reach. One does not have to fly across the globe to attend the webinar. A webinar can also be re-played. Still, actual on land events gain media news coverage that webinars rarely can gain.
So my advice is simple, do some of both plus combine all your marketing efforts to work side by side, in conjunction whenever possible!
Not tying your marketing up in one arena, stage of type of promoting is obviously wise. When one thing does not produce for you there are still plenty of other business sources bringing in orders and new clients. Sure it requires more work to design different types of marketing campaigns and it takes researching different media outlets and searching for unique stages upon which to advertise and promote but your results can be powerful. It should be noted that using lots of marketing methods has long been referred to as Multi-Channel Marketing. The word takes on more meaning now that we have great and varied digital marketing opportunities inexpensively available to any promoter or sales pro.
IMPORTANT: The buzz you create delivers more weight if it originates offline and then is empowered via new digital communication techniques. You can tell the world what is going on in your little corner of the woods.
That is the basics of generating traffic, buzz and far reaching PR.
Once you learn traditional offline marketing concepts, you will be able to transfer the use of the skills you have honed offline to the digital stage in a much more easy and meaningful way.
So yes, print biz cards, catalogues and pamphlets. On holidays send a real card via the post office because it is much more endearing than getting an email no matter how clever or entertaining the digital holiday email is.
Have you considered running for political office in the local town where you conduct business? You cannot get more FREE PR than as a politician. Just running for office, even if you lose, can be a means of getting yourself well-known in your community. Local Baker runs for City Council shows that you are more than just a Baker, you really do care about your fellow citizens and your community.
Do attend trade-shows even if you do not rent a booth because you can bond with other pros and meet new clients face to face, which is very powerful. That’s called networking at its finest and the connection you make in person cannot be matched in quality online …even with Skype.
More business is started with a handshake and a smile than in any other way!
The challenge online is can you duplicate the intimacy of an offline meeting digitally?
I say learn and master Offline Marketing first and then you’ll know what you have to do on social media and on your website and when you blog and also with buying paid for internet marketing. Get the basics down of what works when marketing and any type or method or strategy you use will perform better for you!
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