Offline Marketing Tactics Add to Site Brand
Traditional small business find that offline marketing tactics are useful in boosting audience and revenue for their websites. And websites are helpful in return for the traditional small business.
Businesses have many priorities and distractions. Marketing is of course a priority. But businesses often think of major promotional channels such as online, radio, TV, cable and print. They often have many minor but still useful channels as well.
Many retail businesses have newsletters, business cards, invoices, direct mail operations, signage, event sponsorships, etc. They often have the ability to put a website address on them to increase the site’s visibility and business brand.
It’s a worthwhile effort for the business to audit all of its customer interactions to see which ones have the website address, which ones do not and make the appropriate changes.
Sometimes it takes only one potential client or current client to see the address, go to the site and make a purchase to make the audit profitable.
Low Cost Billboards
Some businesses now include their website address in their retail signs for drive by visibility as well as on company-owned vehicles. Some also have signs inside their stores. Think of it as a low-cost outdoor billboard. Some retail businesses even put their site addresses on customer receipts.
They use these secondary offline promotional channels to market their websites, and they use their websites to promote their brick-and-mortar locations.
Unlike the major tactics, these secondary tactics are often a one-time effort, such as adding the site address to business cards, invoices or customer receipts.
For any business that is short on time, the best approach is a focus on tactics that are permanent, inexpensive and easy to implement.
Online and Offline Partnerships
A traditional business can partner with another website if the agreement allows both partners to meet each other halfway.
A standalone site can help a brick-and-mortar business understand how the website can offer effective promotion in return. It is becoming easy to prove. A partnership doesn’t stop the traditional business from doing its own offline marketing.
A dated and documented plan goes a long way toward building trust, credibility and follow through. It should have have a beginning, end point and renewal date to manage risk and reward.
The first half of the plan can explain how the website will help the media partner. The second half will explain how the partner will help build site readership.
Some businesses and organizations have a natural partnership with local media properties. These media properties are looking for mutually beneficial sponsorships.
Local newspapers are a good example of how the print product contributes to a website and vice versa.
The most common and effective tactics are easy for newspapers to implement. In many cases, they don’t cost either partner a cent. House ads in the print edition is the most common tactic for a partnership with a newspaper. Likewise, TV stations use promotional commercials.
May 13th, 2020 at 3:12 am
Businesses have many priorities and distractions. Marketing is of course a priority, but businesses often think of major promotional channels such as online, radio, TV, cable and print. They often have many minor but still useful channels as well.