With a growing number of ways to market your business, there seems to be a bit of a debate over using traditional marketing for your business (offline marketing) or going down the online route as you could capture a new audience. So to know which may be better for your business, it is a good idea to have a greater understanding of each of them. So this article is aiming to give you a clearer understanding of each type of marketing, and the pros and cons. Then you can weigh up what will work better for you and your business.
Offline Marketing
Marketing your business offline is a way to market your business and attract new customers using only methods like radio, print, magazines, television, and posters. If you have been in business for a while, or are only used to offline marketing, then it can be easy to see the positives of it.
Take print advertising, for example. This is one of the most traditional forms of advertising and marketing your business and getting new customers. You can use your budget to target newspapers and magazines on a national scale if needed, as well as sticking to things like posters and flyers if your business is one that is more aimed at people locally. It can be expensive to advertise in print, and you can’t be too specific with who will read your ad, but with the right publications, it can be a way to see a return on your investment.
As a result of getting a few customers, you can then target them through direct mail if you have their information. This allows you to send out something specific to them, such as a birthday discount or the latest offers on the products similar to what they have already bought. While this can be a good thing and uptake is often high, it can be seen as a little bit spammy, and it won’t work for all business types.
Traditional networking is something that you can’t go too far wrong with, and it is another form of offline marketing. Talking to people, those in the industry at trade show exhibits or to potential customers on the streets, can be a good way for people to see the face behind the brand and learn more about what you offer. You can make yourself memorable in the right way, and then it could lead to other opportunities and collaborations. Having business cards to give away is a great idea too. Things that will get your name out there is key.
So as you can see, there are good things about all of these. You just need to see how effective it could be for the type of business that you have and what you need to do to see your business grow.
Online Marketing
Because of the way that the world has shifted online, it is only natural that the way we do business and market our business has shifted as well. But what specifically is online marketing?
It can be anything from simply having a website, to blogging and working with bloggers, to using paid search engine ads, as well as looking to build your SEO and using social media. So to start with, getting yourself a website is a good way to go, along with some social media channels. If they are used regularly, then it can be a good way to market and grow your business, as you could be reaching a whole new group of people.
One of the benefits of online marketing is the specificity of the people that you will be marketing to. With a newspaper or magazine ad, you can have a rough idea about who the ad will go to. Certain demographics will read certain things; but you can’t be sure. The thing is, when you work with bloggers on campaigns, they can let you know the specifics of who reads their articles as they will have the data from their web host or Google Analytics.
Likewise, if you want to use social media for advertising, then you can also be pretty specific about who your ads get targeted to. If your business is related to weddings, you can aim your ads at engaged females, that are aged between 25 and 45 and who live in a certain state; it can be that specific! So if you want to know what you’re getting more bang for your buck, then that could be a good way for you to go.
Though it can take some legwork, in many ways, you can do your online marketing yourself. You log into your social media accounts and create the ads, or you write a blog as part of your website, making sure to link back to previous posts. So if you’re on a tight budget or a pretty small startup, then online is a way to get marketing your business cheaply, at least at first. If you’re stuck for time, though, then it can be easier to pass it over to a marketing agency to run it for you, or to use offline methods. But again, this isn’t going to be great if you’re on a budget.
While offline marketing allows you to target nationwide, it doesn’t really allow for a global reach. However, with online marketing, you can quite easily reach a global audience through the blog articles that you post or the social media accounts that you have. So have a think about what you want to do with your business and go from there. For many businesses, a bit of both is what is going to work well for you. Because although getting new customers is great, you will also want to keep old customers or get more local ones. Some businesses can thrive doing just one form of marketing. So decide on your aims and then allow your marketing to do its thing.
Good luck as you decide what direction your marketing journey will take you.
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