Does Offline Marketing Still Matter in an Online Dominant World?

Many would argue that given our increasing reliance on the internet that offline marketing is no longer necessary. Why spend a fortune on flyers, business cards and magazine adverts, when you can reach a wider audience much faster – and more cheaply – online?

The truth is – despite these preconceptions, offline marketing does still matter. And when done in tandem with online marketing, it can bring incredible results to a business.

Why do businesses still invest in offline marketing?

From poster campaigns to vouchers in magazines, all of these techniques can bring value to your overall marketing campaign if done correctly. The key, is achieving the best of both worlds.

Take the following points. Each prove why offline marketing is still popular in the business world:

1. ROI – (otherwise known as ‘return on investment’) – ROI is important in every marketing campaign, as all businesses want to achieve a return on what they have spent.Now, you might not think it, but offline marketing has the potential to bring in strong ROIs. For instance, direct mail is reputed to bring in the third highest ROI behind email and social media (according to the Direct Marketing Association). True, it is only 27% compared 122% (for emails), yet the fact still remains that it ranks third. Meaning, that when combined with other online marketing tools they can make a lethal combination.
2. Offline marketing can be used to reach EVERYONE – whilst offline marketing is useful for engaging those who don’t normally use social media (or venture online); it can be used to achieve a lot more than that.The truth is, the online world is extremely crazy and crowded, and can often leave users feeling overwhelmed and bombarded (thanks to the breadth of marketing emails and pop up adverts that try to sell them products). For many, the urge to disconnect or even deliberately overlook adverts (because they are so sick of seeing them) can actually cause them to reach for the paper that has just been pushed through their door.Magazines, newspapers, flyers… they all still get seen. They all still get read. They all still get noticed, making them a valuable marketing tool.
3. Can be tracked and monitored – all marketing courses discus the importance of ROI and knowing where your customers are coming from; which is why learning how to use tracking tools is essential when trying to monitor your campaigns. These tools allow you to assess your conversion rates.Now before you automatically think – how can you track offline marketing? It is actually possible. Yes, it may be harder, but by using a combination of offline and online marketing, you can easily create campaigns where customers can take printed coupons from a magazine/newspaper and use them online to access your products. By doing so, you can track their unique code and monitor the reach of your campaign.And this is only one example of how you can use offline marketing to produce results…
4. Offline and online marketing easily work together – not only can you easily incorporate these into your marketing campaigns, but blending offline and online marketing tactics has been proven to be a powerful combination.For instance, offline can be used to encourage potential customers to go online and seek more information, or even speak to you in person. It can be used to place that seed of thought that entices them to want to know more. Similarly, printing vouchers in leaflets and magazines can act as a great incentive for your customers to choose you, as no matter their shopping preferences, they can use your vouchers both in store or online.

Both can be used simultaneously to bring you more business…

Why should you make time to understand offline marketing?

Many might assume offline marketing is old fashioned; however, it has changed a lot since the creation of the web.

Yet, despite evolving and growing to accommodate the evolution of the internet, one thing is still clear – it is often offline marketing that first helps a business to stand out from the crowd.

That is why, if you are genuinely interested in making your mark, you should consider registering onto a marketing course. With the support of online marketing courses, you can quickly learn the ins and outs of offline and online marketing, and use these skills to make a massive difference to your earnings.

For more information, take a look at our range of online marketing courses.