7 Offline Promotion Strategies to Boost Your Online Brand

Updated on February 23rd, 2018 by Quertime Writer in Business

Digital marketing has become the core of a marketing plan for many businesses as it can be easily measured and is often less expensive than traditional offline marketing. But it doesn’t mean that the age of traditional offline marketing is coming to an end. There are still plenty of offline advertising strategies that you can take advantage of. Here are seven of the best offline marketing strategies for getting your online brand back at the top of search results.

1. Networking

Networking face-to-face is still an invaluable form of promoting your online brand and increasing traffic to your business’s website. Also, putting an actual face to your brand’s name helps with brand loyalty. Meeting person-to-person is also a better way to reach your target audience in situations you may not be able to online. Networking is an integral part of all the best offline marketing strategies for online businesses.

2. Print Publications

Just because most magazines and other publications have a digital form, doesn’t mean their physical entity is gone. Although you won’t be able to take advantage of SEO, you can still advertise your website on print publications as a form of offline marketing. Plus, buying ad space in relevant industry magazines can help improve your brand visibility. However, make sure you’re selective about what you put your ads on, you don’t want your brand advertising strategy to aim for spamming readers. Instead, make sure the publications you advertise on are reputable and are targeting towards your target audience.

3. Sidewalk Signs

Instead of online formats, you can advertise using advertising signs, aluminium signs, and even printed banners. Just make sure you place them in a good location for everyone to see, such as a sidewalk. You can even incorporate a QR code in your banner for your audience to interact with that leads them to website or social media pages.

If you want to get creative, you can set up events in your business’s name for your local community to attract your target audience. One of the easiest ways to do this is to set up a stand at a local fair or concert, displaying your signage. This is an excellent way for you to promote your services or products, and offer free samples.

4. Vehicles and Billboards

Vehicle and billboards are popular offline marketing approaches because most people see them on the road, rather than at home or work. Billboards on one end are a great way to market your business and are prone to get the most attention, compared to vehicle signs. Plus, you can even buy ad space in a location that’s closest to your target audience. For example, if you want to target people ages 20 to 35, you can rent a billboard near a local college.

However, even though billboards tend to be one of the oldest and most popular ways to promote your brand offline, advertising on vehicles is also effective. It can also help you advertise your brand to a number of different people all around your community since it doesn’t have to stay in one place, like a billboard. Not to mention, advertising through signs on vehicles can help reach out to people outside of your target audience, which can generate even more leads.

5. Public Speaking and Trade Shows

Another great way to market your online business without using online marketing techniques is to host public speaking events or attend trade shows. Public speaking is a perfect way to reach your target audience since everyone that attends your speaking event is there to hear what you’re talking about. However, public speaking events are also an ideal way to build your brand’s credibility and show yourself as a leader in your industry.

In fact, speaking events are the second most popular way to obtain leads, according to the Visible Experts. However, actually finding speaking events to take part in can be a challenge, especially if you live in a small community. If you can, you should try speaking at unpaid events with small, local associations. Although you won’t make money from these events, you will gain leads, and they’ll pay off in the future.

Trade shows are another great way to showcase your brand to potential customers and industry leaders. Trade shows are known to be one of the most effective offline marketing tactics that a company can take advantage of. This is because, besides person-to-person marketing, you can also be a speaker at the event, and hand out printed advertisements, such as leaflets that advertise your product or service.

6. Cold Calls

Cold calls may seem old school, but they add a personal touch that emails just don’t have. Phone calls tend to feel more personal and demand a quick response, which has its pros and cons. But, a big advantage is that you’ll have an answer immediately, rather than waiting endlessly for someone to get back to your email.

However, before you start cold calling people, make sure that you have a script written beforehand. You should have a concrete selling reason for people to buy your product or service, with answers to a few general questions your potential clients might have. Cold calls are also a good method to market yourself to collaboration partners, such as podcasters and youtubers.

7. Direct Mail

Although direct mailers are usually more expensive and work than online marketing, they’re just as effective when it comes to lead generation. This is because direct mail is often perceived as more personal than online marketing. Even if direct mail seems too old school for your business to do, some of your target audience may prefer it to your online marketing techniques.

Even though online marketing strategies seem to be the most popular and effective ones in this modern age, there’s still plenty of offline promotion strategies that you can use to boost your online brand. It’s important to take full advantage of online and offline marketing strategies and gain more insight on your leads and how they relate to the many methods you use to advertise your business. Hopefully, with the help of this guide, you can try out a few offline strategies for your business and get the boost you need to help your brand succeed.

Author: Victoria Hill
Victoria Hill studied communication arts and worked with the magazine editorial team in Sydney before joining an art team at another ad agency. This time she writes for SiteSmART. Her favorite topics covered human development, business communication, online and offline marketing, modern and pop art, minimalism, and self-development.