With more than 50% percent of the world’s population being active internet users, many businesses have shifted their marketing efforts online. Marketers are now spending more money and time on websites and social media with minimal attention going to offline marketing. While digital marketing is effective and has numerous benefits to businesses, companies should not ignore offline marketing. The latter is still beneficial and there are a couple of reasons why it still does work. If your business is not printing flyers, sending direct mails, holding events, and doing other forms of offline marketing, below are some of the key reasons you should get started today.
Not All Customers Are Digital
The first reason why offline marketing still works is that there are non-digital customers in almost every market. These are the consumers who have no access to the internet, those who don’t know how to use it, or those who have no interest in using it. Digital marketing efforts do not reach such consumers and this creates the need for offline marketing. Such individuals will appreciate the direct mail you send every month and be enticed to buy your products by the newspaper Ads and flyers. Without offline marketing, your company will miss out on sales from such individuals. In short, offline marketing still works because there is an audience that needs it.
Customers Appreciate Face to Face Interactions
Customers love to feel that they are interacting with real people. Some offline marketing approaches give you the opportunity to meet with your audiences face to face. Such interactions build trust, consumer confidence and loyalty to your brand. As a business, you get first-hand information about your brand. Offline interactions with your customers don’t have to be big events. It could be a few hours of leaflet distribution at a geographical area you are targeting.
Must Read: Marketing Strategy – How To Increase Audience Engagement
Customers Aren’t Always Online
Even the digital consumers don’t spend all their time on the internet. There are times when they will be watching TV, reading the paper, driving, or just hanging out at the mall. Also, some customers do take long terms breaks from the internet. Thus, offline marketing becomes an effective tool for gaining the attention of your audience when they are not online. Your digital customers or prospects can see your billboard when driving and look up the offer online when they get home. Also, they could hear about your sale on TV or radio and go online to make a purchase. This is the key reason why you should use both offline and online marketing.
While some marketers argue that offline marketing is dead, it is clearly still an effective tool for businesses. When done right, offline marketing can boost your customer base and increase sales for your business. Additionally, it boosts customer loyalty and helps you to stand out amongst your competitors.
You could use offline marketing strategies to boost the effectiveness of your digital marketing. Online channels can also be used to promote offline campaigns. For instance, you could send out emails notifying customers about an offline event. So, for maximum productivity, work with both online and offline marketing instead of focusing on one of them.
