It does not matter if you are engaged in an online or an offline business, marketing is important in both aspects. Concentrating your effort in a single medium would not be wise. For example, promoting exclusively online can make you miss the chance to establish your site as credible and trustworthy over the long run. But online marketers are actually missing this incredible chance.

A lot of people have the misconception that promoting offline is a difficult and expensive undertaking. It is true that offline promotion and marketing may take more effort on your part compared to online marketing but the benefits of offline marketing are undeniable. The lost opportunities will end up costing you more money than you would have believed possible. Online businesses can really benefit a lot from traditional marketing channels such as Yellow Pages ad, direct mail, and display ads. It will enable them to get more business because of this relentless promotion.

But while you are using offline media to get attention for your business, you should not forget about your online promotions as well. The two components should work together to produce the desired results which is more sales and more revenue. A good marketing campaign can also give your business the brand equity it needs to be able to be successful over the long term.

Traditional/Offline Marketing

So far, traditional marketing is still the predominant marketing method being used. In 2004, it was estimated that 100 billion was spend on this kind of endeavor and it would not be surprising if this estimate has only grown through the years. However, since 2004, no one can deny that online marketing has increased by leaps and bounds. So while traditional marketing still reigns supreme, the importance of online marketing is apparent.

There are many ways for you to conduct offline marketing methods; aside from expensive promotions such as television, radio, and magazine advertising, a marketer can also look into networking, direct mail, and trade shows. These simple marketing methods have the potential to dramatically increase the number of customers you are currently catering to.

Online Marketing

Customers still buy offline when they want to see what a product really looks like; they want to touch and product and feel it. It is a notable fact that around 65% of customers actually do their research on a product through the internet but they end up buying the product in traditional stores despite the fact that online purchase is incredibly easy and convenient from the sites they visited.

Because of this, it is not surprising to see that while they spend an astounding $93 billion on online sales every year, they spend even more (around $137 billion) for internet-influenced sales. It is predicted that in a few years, the combine advertising revenue of Google and Yahoo will surpass that of traditional advertising media such as CBS, ABC, and NBC. What does this tell us? There should be an integration of your online and offline marketing efforts. But it is actually easier said than done.

Except for large corporations, most businessmen don’t have the necessary resources to conduct an extensive campaign wherein they can advertise online and then make these products available in the store nearest their target customers. So what can a small business owner do? Because of the limited amount of capital you have for marketing, your immediate goal should be to increase your return on investments or ROI.

There are a lot of benefits when you combine traditional advertising with online advertising. For example, the momentum you will gain from this endeavor will enable the customers to construct the whole picture in as little time as possible. Your business will also reach customers in a lot of different ways at different times of their buying cycle. And if you are consistent with the message you send in both online and offline advertising, you can expect to build a good image in the minds of your customers.

It would be a good idea for you to conduct marketing events and send the invitation to your customers through e-mails. You will also get the benefit of having a good relationship with the customer as they become more and more familiar with your products and services.

By: Nathalie Fiset

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