Are you investigating ways to market your new business? You might have heard a lot of talk about how marketing your business offline is a dead method of promotion.
But is this right? The argument is that online marketing is considerably cheaper compared to offline promotion. As well as this, it’s easier, and you can reach a larger audience.
Finally, they introduce the clincher. Online, you don’t need to hire any marketing experts or services. You can do it all yourself. However, to really drive growth it’s smart to us a reputable agency like Citypeak Marketing to get the results you’re looking for.
You know what they say about things that sound too good to be true. They probably are, and that warning holds true here because this argument line isn’t presenting all the facts.
In fact, our view is that you should be using both forms of marketing to put your business in the best competitive position. They both have their uses as we are about to demonstrate.
Then, once you have both forms set up, you can begin connecting the two, creating the most effective marketing campaign. Big businesses do this all the time, and you should be too.
But, let’s start by examining the different forms of offline marketing, before moving to online techniques.
Offline Marketing
Fliers And Billboards
The biggest argument for not using offline marketing is that it’s expensive. But, you’ll find the cost of printing out professional looking flyers is quite competitive.
As well as this handing out fliers can be very effective. If you hand them out yourself, you’ll get your chance to engage with target customers on a personal level, meeting and greeting them.
As well as this, you’ll find your target customers easily and know that you have the interest of local consumers. This is a definite advantage for a new business on the high street.
The high street, despite what you may believe, isn’t dead. It’s in recovery. If you want proof, head out on to the high street on Black Friday. Then, try telling us retail stores are dead.
Similarly, billboards are effective for grabbing the attention of anyone. You will often see them up around airports when a trade show is in town.
Before they even get to the show, investors are bombarded with the latest ideas and concepts that they will be considering. There is no escape, and it’s a great way to make an astounding first impression if organised correctly.
TV and Radio
Is television and radio advertising dead? No, of course not. Otherwise, you would be able to get through an entire episode of Downton Abbey without advertisements.
The latest The Walking Dead episode was heavily criticised for the amount ads displayed in a ninety-minute time zone.
Television and radio advertisements are alive and kicking while being very effective. They are expensive.
A television advertisement could cost you as much as twenty thousand, and there is no escaping that’s hard for a small business to come by.
However, if you do have the money, there are benefits. These advertisements are seen, again usually by local customers. As well as this, you can choose when and where they air to find your target consumers.
Publicity Stunts
How many publicity stunts have been effective and how much did they cost? One of the most recent publicity stunts was for Jurassic World.
That film is now the third highest grossing movie of all time. The stunt involved crates appearing at random locations across the world such as London Waterloo train station.
What was in the crate? Absolutely nothing. It was a crate with the mark of the fictitious evil corporation present in the film. You can check out what it looked like on http://www.techtimes.com.
While we’re sure this took a lot of effort, we can’t imagine it cost that much to do, and it was effective. The movie was immediately trending on Twitter before a trailer had even appeared.
Online Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Now let’s look at some forms of internet marketing and the myths attached to them. As we said, a lot of people claim that online marketing can be DIY and that it can be free.
Yes, it can be both these things but should it? If you opt for a free online marketing campaign, you’ll get pretty poor results. There is simply too much competition online for this to work anymore.
Take SEO as an example. SEO is the method of making sure your business is found on a search results page.
If you try to complete SEO on your website without any help, you’ll be lucky if it appears on page ten. You want it on page 1.
So, you will have to invest in an SEO service from a marketing agency. This agency should also be aware of the changes in search engine optimization that have occurred recently.
Google are constantly trying to perfect the internet. This means shuffling sites that they don’t believe benefits consumers out of the limelight.
If your SEO is not professional, this could be your site very soon. For more information have a look at https://CentralIowaSeo.com.
Social Profiles
You can use any social network to build interest in your business and market your company. But, if you thought this would be free, think again.
For a successful marketing campaign involving social media, you need to be updating your profiles. We imagine as a business owner you don’t have time for this.
But, you don’t want to waste money on hiring employees in your company to do it for you. Instead, outsource the issue to a market company.
They’ll stay on top of your profiles, keeping your business trending.
Connect The Two
Now, you need to think about how to connect the two types of marketing together. In some cases, it’s easy. For instance, you can add your website link or Twitter to any fliers you’re handing out.
You can make sure a hashtag appears on a TV ad that you’re airing. In other instances, you can be a little bit more creative.
But only by using both online and offline marketing will your business be as strong as it can be. Goodluck.