March 1, 2010

Mixing Offline and Online Marketing Strategies

Many companies ask themselves, "Which is better, online or offline marketing?" In today's marketplace, this is the wrong question to be asking. The better question to be asking is, "How can I integrate my online and offline marketing efforts to work synergistically?" When businesses address this question properly, the result is more customers.

There are also groups of consumers that are partial to either online or offline messages. For example, many people still feel more comfortable reading off of paper vs reading on a screen. The opposite is true for other people. Since this is the case, in order to capture the largest possible audience both strategies should be pursued.

Another point to be aware of is that offline strategies are great at finding people, while online strategies are great at being found by people. While a television ad can be great at getting attention and creating interest in viewers that weren't previously interested, a blog about your company or product can be found online by already interested individuals and create a desire to purchase. In that example, the television ad and blog are both effective. To take it one step further, the television ad can create interest then drive viewers to the blog to further their interest in hopes of a sale.

More and more companies are using offline ads to drive people to their social networks. You might be asking, "Why not send them to the company's website? Isn't the point of having a website to be a place to sent prospects to get more information?" While websites can be very effective sales tools, visitors usually only need to visit a site once to get all the information they want. When a person becomes a fan of a Facebook page or follows a Twitter page, they receive notifications when content is updated. Those notifications can drive the person back to the site. So what is better, 1 impression (standard website) or many impressions (social media page)?