While there are many advantages to using offline marketing – not least in conjunction with online to create a message that can reach people wherever they are or whatever they are doing – it does have some drawbacks.
Read On:
Integrating online and offline marketing
A wealth of offline marketing tricks
Offline marketing for schmucks
Before the advent of the internet, offline marketing as all you had, but it is testament to its drawbacks just how quickly online marketing took off. But it still has a place, these pitfalls are just a warning to watch out for, rather than reasons not to do it.
Limited reach
The web can give you global coverage very cheaply, offline marketing can really only reach small areas or communities unless you have a multi-billion dollar marketing budget.
To counter this, be sure that you create a good impression among the people that will see or hear your ads, and the people you will encounter as you promote your marketing offline.
This is important to spread a good reputation through word or mouth, an often understated but a very powerful means of attracting customers.
High costs
Advertising in print or on local radio and TV is expensive. These are big things to undertake and you need a plan. Even getting the artwork made and, in the case of billboards, printed, is very expensive. Similarly, leaflets and flyers are expensive to design and print as are catalogues.
Anything that is to be delivered through the post is also going to incur postage costs, which can soon mount up.
To counter this, you can look at forms of guerrilla marketing which can be super-effective and very cheap and controllable.
Limited access
Online, contacting you is usually just a click away. In the offline world this is substantially more difficult. You can plaster your offline marketing with phone numbers, email addresses URLs, hash-tags and so on, but you are relying on the user actually keeping the media or standing in front of a poster and keying in the details – and getting it right. This is a long shot in today’s fast paced world.
This can be countered using QR codes that can immediately link a piece of offline marketing to the web via a smartphone or tablet. You can also incentivise people to type it in such as a discount or special deal.
Time limitations
We live in a 24×7 world thanks to online, but relying on offline marketing means that you need to be able to take calls and answer emails as they come in. This can happen at any time of the day or night.
To counter this, it’s important that you remain available as much as possible, even in the wee hours of the night. The least you can do is to have a phone number in which customers with inquiry can leave a message. You can get back to those who called the next morning, and the customers will surely appreciate you for accommodating them.
Speak Your Mind