Last week, Holly Horsman talked about maximizing your online presence by incorporating traditional marketing techniques into your digital marketing strategy. There is definitely still a place for offline marketing, and in this post Leila Dorari shares six strategies for you to consider.

In today’s digital era, your website is your storefront and the main tool for creating a strong presence on the market. However, it doesn’t mean that offline marketing strategies don’t play an essential role. The best way to formulate your marketing strategy is to have your online and offline efforts work hand in hand.

Some people prefer offline marketing tactics due to them being more tangible than their counterparts. So, in order to cover all your bases, and draw traffic to your website in every way you can, you should make use of these offline marketing strategies.

Direct mail campaigns

Even in the times of email campaigns, direct mail advertising still remains a strong marketing strategy. The important part is to target your campaign properly, so that the costs of printing and mailing all the marketing pieces pan out. The way to do this is to create a subscriber list, and gather addresses from customers that buy from you.

If you have the budget, you can purchase targeted mailing lists of prospects. You can also make use of social events, such as fundraisers, in order to get your customers’ addresses. The trick is to be creative and use both direct mail and email in order to advertise to your customers and draw their interest.

Print publications

If you truly want to make your brand visible, you should get a relevant placement in a magazine or journal that writes about your industry. This is the perfect opportunity to show yourself off as an expert in the field. It’s a great idea to make use of opportunities to get published in both printed and online versions of publications. Or, you could make use of print publications as part of a blog outreach strategy. It is, however, important that you are selective about where you get published. The publications need to be relevant and valuable to your audience, and it needs to be a source that has a solid reputation.

Networking

Face-to-face networking is a powerful tool for building brand loyalty, as it puts a face to a name and creates a personal connection. There aren’t many things that beat the weight of a good handshake with a prospect. You should look for opportunities to join local organizations or association branches, where you are able to reach your target audience. This is a very effective way to make new connections and get people interested in looking you up online and getting to know more about what you have to offer. In time, such opportunities will enable you to attend national conferences held by these organizations and associations, which will only further your reach.

Visual assets

People are visual beings, so make sure that you invest in visual assets such as posters, advertising banners and fence signs. By placing them at appropriate locations in your area (outdoors or indoors), you will attract attention of people who are passing by, and get them interested in learning more about your products or services. You need to place your promotional product up front so it catches their eye, and place your website address below so they know where they to get it.

Speaking engagements

Similar to face-to-face networking, speaking engagements are a perfect way to get personal with your customers. The great thing about this marketing tactic is that it places you right in front of a targeted and primed audience that is eager to listen to all that you are going to say.

It may be a challenge to find such opportunities if you are a new business that has yet to establish itself as a thought leader. Look for local associations as the first step, and make use of every opportunity, even if it means that you aren’t going to get paid for it.

Guerrilla marketing

If you want to truly get creative, you should go for guerrilla marketing. It is the kind of marketing that is defined by the tactic that you should surprise people with a gimmick before you let them know that you are advertising something. You could organize a street festival, or hire someone to do a stunt, so that you grab people’s attention before presenting them with what you have to offer.

Even graffiti and chalk art fall under the definition of guerrilla marketing. It’s a great way to attract attention and make people want to look you up online to learn more about what you are about. Just make sure that what you do remains within legal boundaries.

In summation

Offline marketing strategies have the advantage of being more tangible than your online efforts. So, make sure that you have a cohesive marketing strategy that combines both your offline and online tactics. Make use of the 6 strategies discussed in this article in order to get great results.

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