Combining Online and Offline Marketing. Combining Online and Offline Marketing for Greater Success - Special Report

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1 Combining Online and Offline Marketing Combining Online and Offline Marketing for Greater Success - Special Report

2 Combining Online and Offline Marketing for Greater Success Special Report INTRODUCTION A business is like a child: It has to be nurtured in order to grow. There are several methods to get things going and those will be highlighted in your marketing plan. You are going to develop a marketing plan aren t you? Marketing is part of the backbone of your business. Unless you own a larger than life brick and mortar business with neon signs that can be seen from space, no one will know that your business exists and, more importantly, that your products or services can help them. Even those neon signs constitute advertising which is what you set out to do with a marketing plan. Don t be too hard on yourself. Some small business owners or home business owners don t think that they need a marketing plan. Even a small business is a business and needs to be treated as such. The size at the beginning is not as important as the size at the end. And, every business needs strategies for bringing in business. There s a saying: There s more than one way to skin a cat. It sounds horrible if you try to picture it but the meaning is dead on. A marketing plan is made up of several different strategies for business growth not just one. To that end, many businesses with a physical building think that their marketing plan can only include offline advertising strategies. The rationale is that the only people your business can reach are those in the local vicinity or the state at the most. The same goes for virtual businesses run from a website. If that is where the business is situated then that is where the customers are that you need to cater to. With the online community, you have to conduct your marketing strategy differently than with local customers and a real building, right? Absolutely not. What many businesses miss is that offline and online marketing strategies are not mutually exclusive. Using one or the other to promote your business is like only using half of your body at any one time. You can get things done, but you can accomplish more if both halves worked together. Do you want to get your business noticed in every nook and cranny? If so, consider combining both online and offline marketing to build your business. In this report you will get an overview of offline and online marketing methods. Knowing your business like you do, how each can be utilized, if indeed each can, is going to be up to you. The only advice here is to read carefully and start small. It s easier to carry a lighter basket with one or two eggs and add more as you have need of them. You ll definitely travel farther with fewer mishaps. Give it a try. You have nothing to lose and lots of business to gain.

3 OFFLINE MARKETING STRATEGIES Offline marketing strategies deal directly with the public. You will be out with the people, finding out from them what they need and explaining how you can provide it. People are busy and so are you. Finding catchy ways to make the best use of their attention span will be to your benefit. Viral Marketing Another name for this marketing strategy is word-of-mouth advertising. You tell someone about your business and encourage them to pass the word. In the beginning, offering free services to family and friends turns them into walking billboards for you. When you hook them, you have built a potential connection to each person within their circle of influence. Whether they offer or are asked, their recommendation is an important marketing tool. Viral marketing is particularly advantageous for you if your business is being launched from a location where you have lived for a long time. Everyone knows you and will at least give you a try. Radio and Television In the world of greater and greater technology, people still turn on their radios when driving and flip on the television when they come home. Even if they are not actively watching or listening, hearing familiar names and places catch their attention. Television advertising can get expensive, but you might be able to cut the expense by using the public access channel or broadcasting your spots in the evening and late at night. You can t watch television in the car, so you listen to the radio. Write up a spot and buy advertising time on your local station. That 15 seconds of air time reaches everyone in the listening audience. If your particular service or product falls within a category covered by a radio show, contact the show s host. Make an interesting proposal and you could be the next in studio guest with the aim of expounding on your new business. Print Ads This tried-and-true method has brought shopper and product together for years. Contrary to the economy, people still read newspapers and ads. There s nothing like getting up early on Saturday morning and reading the paper with your coffee. Don t neglect the Yellow Pages or magazines. Local business owners have found new business through the big yellow book. When you don t know of a physician, plumber, landscaper or hair salon, you leaf through the pages to find one. If your ad is in there, people will find you. The same goes for magazines. It is more expensive, but advertising in trade and other pop magazines that cater to your area widens your audience. Direct Mail Yes, people still use this method. Postcards, flyers and coupons in the mailbox are put directly into people s hands. You can buy mailing lists from online and offline companies. Specify your parameters to get a list that is composed of people within your target market. For postcards, bulk mail rate is cheaper if you have a list of hundreds of names.

4 For businesses with a physical building, consider designing a coupon ad to attract clients. Companies send out a book of coupons advertising several businesses to local residents. The coupons advertise everything from dry cleaning services to sunroom sales. For a price, they can even use your information to design the coupon. A coupon gives people a money-saving reason to come in and try your product. Business Cards The beauty of these little cards is that they can be carried any and everywhere. If you love to network, get a business card case and keep it full. Hand out business cards to friends, family and people you meet. Attending a function downtown? Mingle with the other guests and hand out business cards. Business cards go well with flyers, brochures and purchase receipts. Staple them to flyers and other direct mailing materials. When you ship items, attach one to your catalog to encourage repeat business. Drop one into the bag with the receipt when ringing up purchases. It is a small but effective way to get the word out. Trade Shows and Flea Markets Depending on your product, having a venue other than your building is a great opportunity. You get a chance to meet fresh faces and pitch the value of your product to them. At these places, you have the time and space to do demonstrations if you can (cleaning products, beauty supplies, artwork, designs). People can ask you questions if they want. It also gives you a chance to test market new product ideas. Magazine articles and Columns We mentioned ads in magazines because people still read them. If you are a writer, they could also be reading your work. Making use of your expertise in a certain area lends credibility to your business. Let s say that you are selling gardening tools in your business. A series of articles on gardening in an appropriate magazine will include your picture and resource box with your address information. The same goes for a column. People who are interested in what you have to say can visit your store. ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGIES Online marketing strategies have taken off in cyberspace. The Internet connects you with the rest of the world. At any given time, your information could be viewed by someone halfway around the world. With billions of people from all walks of life making up the audience here, you have a lot of room to move and market. It can be daunting but never fear. Keep to the goal of your business and use online strategies to reach your target just like you would use offline strategies. One advantage of online marketing is because the audience is so large; they are designed to narrow down the focus for you so there is more hitting than missing with your marketing dollars.

5 Website This is the first thing an Internet marketer might ask you. Do you have an online presence? It is hard for people to find you if you do not have a stable location. A website provides that for you. Even if you have a physical building where you do business, people in other places will interact with you via your website. A rule of thumb for websites is, MAKE THEM EASY TO NAVIGATE. A website that turns you in circles won t be visited very often. A website designer can guide you through this if you are not computer savvy. It is their business to know how to design a website for optimum performance and visibility. Submit your website to search engines. Everyone uses search engines to find things online. It s like virtual Yellow Pages. When you register with the major search engines, there bots will crawl your website pages. If there is something searchable there, you will be found. Blogs A blog is an online journal or at least it began that way. Blogs are interactive. For every post you upload, readers can comment on it. This makes blogs a useful tool for businesses. Posting useful content and information about your business gives customers a chance to weigh in. you can use blogs for opinion polls, getting feedback on new product or service ideas and general feedback on how well you are running your business on and/or offline. Blogs can be started for free. Sites like Blogspot, Blogger and WordPress let you set up a blog with them and offer step-by-step instructions to get underway quick. Blogs are also crawled by search engines so register your blog and provide quality content that can be ranked. Social Networking This is the newest tool in the online marketing arsenal. When there isn t enough time to meet in real life or you ve lost touch with people, you can find them through social networking. Take your pick from Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace to name a few. Each has its own pros and cons along with resources to help you connect with the right people for business. Social networking sites don t like spammers so take the time to get to know people here. The point is to build a following of people who know and trust you. That will lead them to your website and your business. Marketing marketing is like the direct marketing of online strategies. You can again buy lists but the information you need can be gathered yourself with a few opt-ins on your website (there again, the website is useful). Visitors can get free newsletters full of useful information or a free catalog for signing up on your website. Make sure that you add a disclaimer that lets them know that the information they provide (name and address) will not be sold. People don t like their information sold to spammers. That is how you begin to build your list. As more and more people buy from you, your list will grow. If this is an offline business, ask customers for their address at the time of checkout for coupons and newsletters.

6 Article Writing It works for magazines and newspapers and also for online article directories. The difference with online article writing is the use of keywords, what we call search engine optimization (SEO). Through keyword research, you can find the words most commonly entered into search boxes to find a business like yours. Using those keywords in your articles helps them to get listed early (hopefully on the first page) in search results. Most people never look past the first or second page of results so this is a great way to advertise when done right. Articles can also be rewritten several times yourself or by using software to create even more articles easily to be uploaded to directories. Each article gets a resource box where you place your information including business name, website address, physical address (for offline business) and something about you. EBay EBay is the premier online marketplace. When you can t find it in the store or want to find it cheaper, you turn to ebay. It has a great reputation and can work wonders for your business. EBay offers a lot of resources for sellers. Selling on ebay is another method for test marketing new products before offering them in your store. Customers provide feedback on your performance and you can use the forums to get tips on selling and meet other business owners. If you don t know how to run a store from your website, use ebay. EBay offers members the options of three levels for ebay store ownership. Their tool package lets you set up your virtual store, manage inventory and conduct customer service easily. Use your website for content, ads (if you want more revenue) and showcasing new products available in your ebay store. Each can link to the other for ease of navigation. Niche Marketing In the world of business there are always new ideas just waiting to be exploited. Thirty years ago no one would have imagined that business could move into a virtual arena but it did. Niche marketing is one way to find those new ideas that could mean increased sales through targeted marketing. Let s say that you are into landscaping. Well, landscapers do a lot of stuff. They plant gardens, design your yard, add water features, rock gardens, gazebos, pergolas and other things for a total aesthetic appearance. Maybe you want to narrow your focus by concentrating on one are of landscaping. Niche marketing dictates that you perform research to see if the market you are looking to exploit is a viable market. Maybe you want to make designer rock gardens or walkways. Your strategies will concentrate on people who want those features on their properties and hopefully a new market will emerge. Niche marketing is a caveat to starting a business using other marketing strategies. After running your business for awhile you ll notice other possible products or services that weren t part of your original business plan that you want to pursue. Niche marketing can be used to grow a successful business in another direction.

7 Affiliate Programs Begin your own affiliate program. If you run a successful offline business, an affiliate program is one way to drum up more business online. Create ads that others will use on their sites to drive traffic to your business. Affiliate programs take a lot of time to set up and administer so hiring an affiliate manager is not a bad idea. It will be the job of the affiliate manager to run the day-to-day operation of the affiliate program. Choose someone with a background in affiliate marketing who knows how to find new affiliates, keep current affiliates happy and implement an affiliate reward program. COMBINE AND CONQUER Marketing is a part of any business plan. For marketing to work, it has to exemplify your business description and statement of purpose. Everything is geared towards making that business idea a reality. Each of the marketing tools described in the above two sections can be implemented for both offline and online businesses. Your product or service will dictate how much tweaking has to be done to fit your business plan but you ll never know if you don t try it. With your business, an online website combined with a magazine column could start the influx of business from customers you weren t reaching before. What keeps customers coming back? It s the customer service. For a physical business, online marketing strategies can help you provide better customer service as you find new customers. Corresponding through may make responding to customer issues easier than an answering service. CONCLUSION Use the marketing tools in this report to increase your business success. Some or most you have heard of before but maybe never thought of using. Each tool can be expanded upon to meet your needs. Who knows, you might come up with the next hot marketing strategy. Image the opportunities you will find by adding other marketing strategies to your arsenal? The first rule of business marketing is that there are no hard and fast rules beyond being ethical. Don t limit yourself.