As you look to grow your business, you’ll likely strive to implement marketing efforts to reach new customers, raise visibility and awareness for your brand, and reinforce or expand your relationship with existing clients. The goal is to make the most impact and return on investment (ROI) for your marketing efforts. With that in mind, you will want to ensure you have a strong marketing strategy in place that includes both online and offline efforts.
Online marketing includes tactics such as email marketing, advertisements, social media marketing, website content, blogs and other digital efforts. Compared to offline marketing, these tactics are typically lower cost and can help provide essential data on performance throughout the lifecycle of a campaign.
Meanwhile, offline marketing includes more traditional marketing techniques to raise awareness for a company’s brand. This encompasses physical mail, billboards and poster advertisements, events, sponsorships and other similar items. Offline marketing also includes shoe-leather sales and marketing techniques, such as handing out business information door-to-door or having an in-person conversation.
You may think, “Do I need to implement all of these techniques and strategies to have a successful marketing engine?” The answer is no. My advice is to start small and choose a few online and offline strategies that you believe will positively impact your business. Continue with the ones that work for you and eliminate others. It’s important to marry your online and offline marketing efforts to ensure you are reaching a larger audience of prospects through multiple mediums.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- Is the message you’re delivering consistent across all the channels you’re leveraging?
- Can you tell a story that starts with digital marketing and then crosses over to offline efforts or vice versa?
As you invest in online and offline marketing, you should also consider how you track success. Which tactics drive the most ROI to your target industry or customer base? For example, are you adding tracking URLs to your marketing materials or promoting a QR code with a unique landing page at a trade show? After seeing the results, you can invest more in the items that are proving to be successful.
While there is no silver bullet to marketing, there are things you can do to increase its likelihood of success. By diversifying your marketing approach across online and offline channels, you can significantly increase the possibility of reaching and reinforcing your messaging with potential clients. This will give you the best chance of turning those prospects into paying customers and setting your business up for long-term success.