Marketing Your Offline Business... Addressing A Common Misconception

I want to remove some misunderstandings about marketing your offline business.

I've read numerous articles on offline business marketing that give a very inaccurate explanation of what it is. Many of these articles consider marketing for the offline business solely being offline marketing strategies like billboards, television, radio and print advertising in newspapers and the like. 

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Who are these people? Wrong!

Yes, these are marketing options, but marketing for the offline business in today's economy and environment is so much more than just these offline marketing strategies.

Marketing for an offline business is based upon who their clients are, how their clients make a buying decision for products like the business offers, the type of business you own and a few other key variables.

For example, when a consumer needs to travel to the business like a dentist or auto repair shop distance plays a role. Right or wrong, consumers are always in a hurry so they'd prefer to do business with a company like these which are closer to them so they don't have to drive very far. This is especially important in larger cities.

This is just one factor that has to be considered.

But having shared this with you, you also need to know there are factors which would cause a consumer to drive further and choose not to do business with businesses closer to them. These factors need to be addressed.

Then we look at businesses who travel to the consumer like HVAC and plumbers. Since they are doing the driving distance doesn't play that big of a role to the consumer. With businesses like this there are other key factors that play a bigger role like, "How soon can you get here to fix my problem?"

Generally, but not always, when people call these types of business they have an emergency which needs an immediate fix.

The point is, there are numerous variables that MUST be factored in when selecting the marketing strategies for the offline business and implementing those strategies into the offline business.

From just the examples given here you can see why marketing is a very personal thing. It's not a one size fits all approach. Some strategies work amazingly well with some businesses and don't work worth a darn with other businesses.

There's a lot to know when selecting the right strategies for your offline business and when implementing the strategy into your business. There are even times when you need to combine two or three strategies together to create the results you're after.

Potential Marketing Strategies For Offline Businesses

So what kind of marketing strategies are offline businesses using?

Before I list them, again, I want to emphasize, the strategies you use for your business is based upon numerous factors to include the type of business you are, demographics of clients, sales process and more.

Here's a list of different marketing strategies an offline business could use (this is just to give you an idea and does not cover every strategy available):

Online Internet Based Marketing Strategies:

  • Google Places/Maps, Bing Local 
  • Facebook Marketing (offers numerous marketing strategies)
  • Linked In Marketing (offers numerous marketing strategies)
  • Instagram Marketing
  • Google Adword 
  • Google Adsense
  • YouTube Marketing
  • Webinar Marketing
  • Email Marketing
  • Contests (Can be done offline also, but technology makes it a lot easier to be done online)
  • Mobile Marketing

Offline Marketing Strategies:

  • TV
  • Publications (Newspaper, Classified newspapers, etc.)
  • Radio
  • Billboards
  • Creative advertisements: On pizza boxes, in bowling alleys, etc.
  • Sponsoring sports team or league: Ads on baseball or football field, name on uniforms
  • Direct Mail
  • Postcards

These are just some of the marketing strategies an offline business could use.

My point in listing them was to show you both online and offline marketing strategies an offline business can use. Many businesses already do.

Marketing for an offline business was so much easier pre-internet. The internet has created so many more moving parts that have to be considered based upon the type of business and the businesses clients.

With an online business it's just a matter of driving the right people to the website (this is the tricky and hardest part), having a compelling sales page and then having an order-entry process which is easy to navigate.

Oh sure, I know I simplified an online business here but I'm just trying to make an important point... there are very significant differences between an online business and an offline business. You have to take these differences into consideration when selecting and implementing an online strategy into an offline business. 

Done right and the results are incredible!

Done wrong and you waste a lot of time and money.

I strongly encourage you to get our "Foundation To Marketing" course...