Digital marketing is undoubtedly the number one marketing strategy for most businesses currently. While online marketing strategies are effective, they aren’t always an answer to creating connections for local businesses looking to leverage sales and increase brand awareness.
Offline marketing remains effective in driving foot traffic and sales and has become an outside-the-box method for businesses to boost brand awareness in a world where online marketing has been normalized. Below are a few offline marketing methods with proven effectiveness in the current digital world.
1. Take Advantage of Direct Door Mail
Most businesses, including local startups, scoff at direct mail marketing, calling it outdated and ineffective. However, Every Direct Door Mail, or EDDM, is an effective way of using direct mail marketing to benefit your business. Here, businesses deliver mail directly to every home in the neighborhood without using names or specific addresses.
Unknown to most businesses, target customers are more inundated with email subscriptions, online banner displays, and pop ads than physical ads, which makes physical ads overly effective. EDDM works perfectly because it targets local customers. However, you should create an eye-catching postcard and choose a reliable carrier route.
2. Partner with Local Businesses
Working with local businesses in your locality is another effective offline marketing strategy. Here, you should focus on businesses that target the same customer base but offer complementary services that aren’t in direct competition with your business. Forming an alliance with such businesses is beneficial in many ways. It helps strengthen both brands and improve marketing goals and sales. Perfect examples of complementary businesses include:
Home cleaning, lawn care, and gardening businesses. A horse barn builder will certainly benefit from working alongside lawn care service providers.
Auto Body repair and auto detailing businesses
Legal offices and accounting firms
Bakery and flower shops
The key to success in this marketing strategy is finding the right business to partner with. Working together means you’ll pool resources and reach a wide audience for a win-win opportunity.
3. Networking and Community Engagement
Face-to-face interactions continue to play an important role in offline communication, even in the current virtual world. In-person engagements offer an opportunity for businesses to establish relationships that digital interactions can’t. Though not surprising, a section of target customers doesn’t spend much time on their computers and smartphones.
This demographic still believes in human touch and personal contact in building relationships. Ignoring this population means losing a good percentage of target customers for your local business. Even as the online business world continues expanding, there’s an opportunity for businesses to involve themselves in local community settings.
Be it volunteering in community activities, supporting a food drive, or sponsoring a local football team, community engagements are a perfect opportunity to raise brand visibility and awareness. Sponsoring activities and projects that align with your brand also elevates brand value.
Endnote
Most businesses overlook the importance of offline marketing, especially due to the rise in online marketing. While the Internet is an efficient way of reaching target customers in real-time, offline marketing offers a distinct and unique value. Offline marketing strategies are highly effective in supporting, building, and complementing your online brand.