Contributed post
For the vast majority of modern businesses, promotional efforts these days will almost entirely be focused online. As a business owner, you will almost certainly have worked through the various techniques for promoting your business online, and perhaps even dabbled in more niche areas such as social media promotion or email marketing.
There is no denying that these online promotional options are important to the success of a modern business. The 21st century is a time in which an online presence is essential, and your promotional work in this field can help you draw customers to your business in a simple, cost-effective manner.
However… businesses thrived before the age of the internet. Businesses were once promoted offline, using techniques that may seem out-of-date and tired in the modern world – but these are techniques that have been proven to work. If you want to ensure that your business’ promotional activities are as rounded as possible, then introducing offline promotional elements is vital to your business – here are a few ideas you might want to consider…
#1 – Cold calling
Cold calling in general is incredibly unpopular, and has widely been dismissed as a poor promotional method that alienates customers. However, the statistics are clear: cold calling, when done well, can be an effective promotional tool.
As cold calling isn’t particularly welcomed by the general public, it is advisable to only use this tactic occasionally. If you reserve cold calling for specific promotional periods, you should be able to strike a balance between benefitting from the practice and ensuring you do not cause upset to a potential customer.
#2 – Trade shows
We live in a digital world, which has led many businesses to assume that trade shows are largely outdated concepts that have little place in the world. This, however, is simply not the case. First and foremost, trade shows allow you to access a wide variety of customers who you may otherwise struggle to target with modern online techniques. Secondly, trade shows are also networking opportunities, which can greatly help to improve your business-to-business connections.
The key to any trade show is to construct your booth correctly, so that your business can stand out from the crowd. The short video below is a great starting point for creating a booth that is sure to draw attention:
#3 – Gifting promotional items
It is natural to be dubious about the benefits of gifting promotional items. After all, you are spending money to give something away – a move that doesn’t seem like the best investment.
However, it is worth noting that the gifting of promotional items is an extremely common business tactic; and it is something that the biggest brands in the world continue to do. The reason for this is simple: it works. If you gift genuinely useful promotional items to your customers and business-to-business contacts, you not only solidify your relationship with that customer – you are also effectively placing a permanent advert for your company in their home or office. Imagine a scenario where one of your clients is considering outsourcing a project; they may have thousands of companies to choose from, but which are they most likely to remember – the company they haven’t thought about in months, or the company that gifted them the USB drive they currently have plugged into their laptop?
Talking of USB drives, this is a great example of a genuinely useful promotional gift – and promotional gifts do need to be useful, or you run the risk of them being disposed of by the recipient. You can find out more info about USB drives as promotional gifts here, and you may also want to consider similarly useful options such as trolley coins, key rings, tote bags.
#4 – Networking
We touched on networking above, but it is worthy of its own focus thanks to how effective it can be. Online professional networking is a thriving sector that allows you to form connections with fellow business owners from across the globe, but there is still a genuine benefit to networking with local business people too. Local networking tends to be more personal; you will spend longer interacting with each person and connecting on a human level than you would if you ‘met’ online; this tends to mean that though you might make fewer connections with offline networking, the ones you do make can be more valuable – essentially, you may make quality connections over quantity.
The one downside of offline networking is that many people find the process rather daunting. If this is an issue you struggle with, then the video below provides valuable insights into making the most of any networking opportunity.
#5 – Leafleting and direct mail
Of all the offline promotional tactics, leafleting and direct mail campaigns seem like the most obsolete of all. There is some truth to this thought also; statistics show that the average response rate for direct mail and leafleting campaigns hovers around 1%.
However, there’s good news for leafleting too: 89% of consumers will remember a direct mail, even if they don’t immediately respond to it. This can be hugely beneficial if you are looking to create brand awareness, which can lead to a sales conversion in the future.
If you do decide to try this promotional tactic, then it is advisable to use recycled paper – and to expressly mention this choice in the text. Many consumers are incredibly aware of environmental issues, and a third of all consumers actively prefer sustainable brands. As a result of this preference, opting for recycled paper when conducting leaflet and direct mail campaigns is by far the best choice and eliminates the risk of alienating environmentally-conscious prospective customers.
In conclusion
While online promotion may seem like the be-all and end-all for a modern business, there are undoubtedly offline promotional techniques that can produce results in the digital age. By incorporating the ideas above into your overall strategy, your business should be able to enjoy draw the right kind of attention from the best of both worlds.