Nowadays, every modern business focuses their attention on the digital world. Many people are active online and spend most of their time browsing the Internet. In order to reach their customers effectively, marketers create and develop innovative digital marketing campaigns. However, not every audience member is online constantly. Marketers are so concentrated on digital efforts, that they completely neglect offline marketing in most cases. So much in fact, that they claim that traditional marketing methods are dead.
Traditional marketing, otherwise known as offline marketing, is far from being dead. As beneficial and convenient as the online world may be, not every person is active online. For businesses, one of their primary goals is to attract as many audience members as possible and convert them into customers. But, if you solely focus on digital marketing, there’s no efficient way to reach out to your offline consumers. That being said, no matter how small your offline audience may be, a customer is still a customer. Here are the top 3 ideas to promote your brand offline.
Use direct mail
In the age where businesses can efficiently leverage email to send out promotions, newsletters and personalized offers to their customers, most marketers forget about direct mail. Direct mail may sound like an outdated technique to many, but it’s still one of the most effective offline promotions for your brand. As a matter of fact, printed materials sent through direct mail have one of the highest returns on investment, a whopping 125%. What’s more, 56% of U.S. consumers stated that direct mail promotions help them make a purchasing decision and only 37% stated that they prefer email promotions.
However, as effective as direct mail can be in gaining interest in your brand, there’s another benefit that makes this strategy that much efficient. The fact of the matter is that every online business focuses on digital approach most of the time. That leaves little to no competition in the direct mail campaigns. Moreover, an average person receives more than 120 emails on a daily basis, without including the promotional emails and spam mail that takes up another 49% of their inboxes. In addition, U.S. citizens discard 80% of their emails, while they in fact open 80% of their direct mail. Therefore, direct mail may be quite effective in prompting your brand offline.
Hand out some branded merchandise
In the world of offline promotions, branded merchandise is definitely one of the most efficient approaches. In fact, U.S. businesses spend over $20 billion each year on branded items. The main reason is that branded items have the highest potential in capturing offline leads, as well as in helping you build brand awareness. That being said, 84% of consumers claim that promotional branded items help them become more aware about a brand. What’s more, 94% of consumers will remember the brand they received a promotional item from.
Therefore, whether your brand is engaged in community work or you’re sponsoring some kind of an event, make sure you have branded merchandise ready for handing out. However, if you want to maximize the efficiency of branded merchandise, your should consider handing out useful and practical gifts that customers can enjoy. The main reason is that 89% of people will keep a branded gift if it’s useful to them. In light of those facts, consider handing out branded merchandise, such as custom t-shirts, flash drives, coffee mugs and so on. That way, your audience will keep the gift and remember your brand.
Sponsoring an event
Effective networking is still one of the best ways to build your brand’s awareness. This is especially true if you either host or sponsor an event of some sorts. The more creative the event, the more buzz you’ll be able to generate around your brand. That being said, 80% of marketers believe that live events are crucial for business success. Furthermore, make sure you invite influential people in your industry, as well as develop a way to attract your target audience. The media and the press will also spread the word about your brand over various channels.
Sponsoring an event is a good way to not just build brand awareness, but also build authority and good reputation as well. Moreover, it’s quite beneficial in building your brand equity. Event sponsorships help you be at the right place at the right time. You can hand out gifts, business cards, print outs and other materials to maximize your exposure. For consumers, live events are a good way to familiarize themselves with a brand or their products and services. In fact, 65% of consumers claim that community and live events help them better understand products and services.
Offline marketing is still effective and efficient in capturing leads and building awareness about your company or brand. If your audience has offline members, it would be a waste of potential to skip out on traditional marketing and fail to reach out to your offline customers.
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