What are you doing for offline marketing?

**Lemman** · 08-04-2010 02:49 PM

Online marketing is kinda hit or miss isn't it??? So it's best to go offline, specifically if you have a business that serves the local market or a small part of the market.

How do you go about your offline marketing?

**DayTrader** · 08-06-2010 10:16 PM

Promotional materials, advertising in local newspaper, networking, phone marketing are some of the offline marketing strategies that works. It depends on what product or service you are offering.

**genevie** · 08-11-2010 04:23 AM

Hi,,

Yes, i agree with you guys.....that off line marketing is not good and advice sable...

**thebizkidd** · 08-11-2010 06:51 PM

Any business can generate a good amount of business with WELL WRITTEN classified ads in newspapers and/or niche relevant magazines and publications. A good headline and a call to action can make ads get noticed and acted on. You can even buy up bigger ad spots, use part of them for your offers, and sell of the other ad spots. This is a good way to get free offline advertising and even turn a profit.

**genevie** · 08-11-2010 10:52 PM

Hi,
If you start off with a modest sized ad that is only an inch or two, the cost won’t be very high. Make sure your ad is placed in the best section of the paper for what you are offering, in this way you can be found by droves of people who would never have seen an online ad.

You might even try offering a coupon code to newspaper readers so that you can track how well your ad performs. You want your ads to be noticed, so you should have attractive and catchy graphics in your ads!

**DayTrader** · 08-13-2010 12:24 AM

Originally Posted by genevie

Hi,,

Yes, i agree with you guys.....that off line marketing is not good and advice sable...

Before we have the internet, which we use for online marketing, we only have the conventional marketing methods (offline marketing). These conventional marketing methods are already proven and tested. We will not have the big brands we have right now if offline marketing did not work. For a start up business that is generally unknown to public, offline marketing should be your first choice. Then, work your way into online marketing to get a broader market.

**beninbrown** · 08-14-2010 08:58 AM

There is nothing, at all wrong, with offline marketing. In fact, I would encourage marketers to integrate offline techniques with their online marketing strategy. Please understand that there are two broad categories of offline marketing. I get the sense from some of the responses that many of you are referring to only one category of offline marketing.

There is above the line marketing (ATL) which refers to marketing tactics aimed at reaching the masses, such as:
Radio advertising
TV Advertising
Print Advertising
Etc.

Then there is below the line marketing(BTL) which is much more targeted. This would include:

Networking
Tradeshows
Direct Mail
Events/Conferences
Etc.

I like below the line marketing, because it is often very easy to measure results. I also find that below the line marketing goes hand in hand with online marketing. For example if your company was participating in a major industry conference, why not build online PR around the event?

One final note...some texts include online marketing tactics in both the ATL and BTL categories.

**Trillian** · 08-29-2010 05:52 PM

I think they are both valuable.... why leave any marketing opportunities out? Every business is different and different strategies work better for some than others. But use everything to your advantage!

**MasterBlaster1** · 08-29-2010 10:44 PM

Post you articles on newspapers, or banner advertising on rush places for big business.

**adwin** · 09-24-2010 02:16 PM

best quality product at as low as possible price

.

**Unix** · 09-28-2010 06:03 PM

I use vistaprint.co.uk about twice a month they will have a promotion of free/cheap business cards and things. When they do i get a load of them printed up like and use them like flyers and post them door to door.

**Lemman** · 11-03-2010 04:26 PM

Originally Posted by dslackman

I don't agree that offline mkting is best, but it is another way to get business. I use networking. I visit with other business owners f2f.

IT can take too much time. And not worth the investment too.

**TerjeSannarnes** · 11-09-2010 05:32 AM

Together with online advertizing, offline marketing is also considered to be effective marketing technique.

**onthego1** · 01-14-2011 01:43 AM

I don't think you can always concentrate on just one type of marketing. Offline strategies can sometimes be further helped by online marketing. Same goes for the other way around.

For instance, I rather think that brick-and-mortar shops, retail and dining establishments can well with brochures and flyers. But pushing the products and services through social networking sites is definitely going to be useful.

**StaffordMarketing** · 01-20-2011 09:29 AM

Surprised to not hear many of you talking about direct mail.

We do an absolute ton of direct mail, sending targeted offers to targeted lists.

We have a product, for example, that shows small business owners how to build their own website.

The product is free… But of course, has a couple optional (PAID) upgrades.

It's quite easy (and affordable) for us to get lists of newly registered LLC and S-Corp businesses in different states…

We hit them with a free mailing, offering them free access to our system so they can build their website.

Then we measure our ROI based on the upsell conversions.

I agree with thebizkidd: Classified ads work great if they are well-written and contain a good strong call to action.

And beninbrown: I have found it very easy to measure the results of my above the line marketing too: You can track which markets and time slots are the best with television spots, for example, simply by pointing people to different 800 numbers or web pages in your call to action.

For example, Atlanta spots might point folks to one website link, Miami spots to another…

Erik