Everywhere you look, people want to talk about digital marketing. In fact, if you don’t have a digital marketing strategy in today’s business world, you’re not going to last long. But just because digital marketing is popular, don’t assume that offline marketing no longer yields value.
When used together, these strategies can produce significant returns.
“Some people will argue that traditional marketing is dead, but there are several benefits to including offline advertising in your overall marketing campaign,” sales expert Larry Myler admits. “Combining both offline and online campaigns can help boost your brand’s visibility, and help it stand out amongst competitors who may be busy flooding the digital space.”
How do you use offline marketing in a manner that’s both cost-effective and high in exposure? While your business will dictate how you should proceed, here are a few offline marketing methods that still return considerable value in today’s marketplace.
1. Yard signs
When most people think about yard signs, their minds immediately go to political signs that you see posted everywhere during campaign season. However, yard signs have a lot more utility and value beyond campaigning. They’re actually an extremely cost-effective form of offline advertising.
The great thing about yard signs is that you can print your own custom designs for just dollars and, when properly stored, they last for years. They’re also free to place, assuming you have access to property where it’s legal to advertise. This makes them a practical addition to a low-budget marketing campaign.
2. Billboards
The fact that you notice billboards when driving down an interstate or highway is a testament to the reality that other people are also being exposed to these valuable advertisements. If you’ve never considered implementing billboards into your marketing strategy, now’s a good time to think about it.
With billboard advertising, you have to be really careful with design, structure, and execution. “Considering we’re on the move when we read billboards, we don’t have a lot of time to take them in. Six seconds has been touted as the industry average for reading a billboard,” copywriter Paul Suggett explains. “So, around six words is all you should use to get the message across.”
3. Promotional giveaways
It’s the tangible nature of physical marketing that makes it so valuable. Yard signs and billboards are great, but make sure you’re also taking advantage of promotional giveaways as a way of getting something into the hands of your customers.
Promotional giveaways, no matter how simple, generally produce a healthy return on investment. They increase brand awareness and recall, while giving customers positive associations with your brand. (Who doesn’t love getting something for free?)
4. Local event sponsorships
One aspect of offline marketing businesses frequently forget about is local event sponsorships. These sponsorships are usually cost-effective and tend to offer great returns in terms of audience engagement.
Local event sponsorships can usually be found simply by checking the calendar of events in your city. Any time there’s a public event, farmer’s market, parade, sporting event, concert, or fundraiser, there’s an opportunity for you to get your name out there. Look for events where you feel like your target audience is most likely to attend.
Offline marketing is anything but dead.
If your goal is to stand out in a crowded marketplace where all your competitors are investing heavily in social media, SEO, PPC advertising, and blogging, then it’s certainly worth supplementing your existing digital strategy with traditional offline marketing methods that reach your audience at multiple touchpoints.
Matt Stigliano
March 25, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Marty – Welcome to AgentGenius. First post out of the gate and it’s a winner. I wasn’t aware of the service area part. I’ll have to try and get over there tonight and get this done!
Erion Shehaj
March 25, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Welcome Marty! I have been using Google LBC for about 3 years now and I love it. But didn’t know about the service area option – thanks for sharing.
Something tells me this was a great addition…
RealEstate_Mktg
March 25, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Welcome aboard, Marty! This is a great tool. I’m planning on passing your post on to all of our agents so they can cash in on this great tip.
Heather Jacobson
March 25, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Great article Marty! And of course I tweeted it! 😀
Marty Martin
March 26, 2010 at 11:37 am
Thanks #homie!
Michael Bertoldi
March 26, 2010 at 12:10 am
Welcome Marty! Nice post. About to dive into this topic. Thanks for dropping knowledge.
Karen Goodman
March 26, 2010 at 2:05 am
I’ve gotten a lot of website traffic in the last year from my Local Business Directory listing,but I didn’t have any idea about the service area or that I could upload videos. I just tweaked my listing, uploading pictures and videos, and changing my old address location to a service area.
I also think it would make a big difference to have some positive reviews on the listing, so I shot over to Facebook and sent a message to about 15 former clients, asking them to go leave a review on my services. If they actually do, then I’ll also link to the reviews on my website Client Reviews page.
Thanks for pointing out how I could ramp this up!
Joe Loomer
March 26, 2010 at 5:57 am
Welcome to the party Marty!
The Local Business Center increased our business over the last year – mainly by targetting the long tail folks who searched for our city and “real estate agents” or “companies.”
The merging issue you pointed out is true, and if more than one agent at your firm is doing this, you’ll want to play around with the wording and the keywords to make sure Google doesn’t bundle you all up and mix website names and links.
Navy Chief, Navy Pride
Benjamin Bach
March 26, 2010 at 6:57 am
Great stuff Marty, Thanks!
Welcome to AG 🙂
Marty Martin
March 26, 2010 at 7:51 am
Hello folks,
Thanks for the welcome and the positive comments; I plan to bring you more great gems like this in the coming weeks so stay tuned! Sometimes even the things we know can surprise us with new features!
Kelley
March 26, 2010 at 9:42 am
Thank you for this very informative post. I’m going to give it a “retweet”!
Jeremy Hart
March 26, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Good to have you here, Marty, and particularly nice to have someone from the RNR on AgentGenius!
Marty Martin
March 26, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Thanks Jeremy (or should I call you #2?)! It’s a great crowd to be associated with for sure.
I love what you-all are doing on CB’s website with video, etc. Met your broker and relocation director at #rkeunwind last week, nice folks!
Abbotsford Real estate
March 26, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Thanks for the information, I wasn’t aware that you could do this.
rob | atlanta homes
March 27, 2010 at 8:17 am
Nice post. Good info. Well written and useful.
Roscoe Property Management
April 2, 2010 at 2:47 pm
This is my first read on Agent Genius, and I will be back. I found out about this little Google gem last week by accident. This is very helpful for us as we are a property management company that in some areas have multiple properties on one the same road. 🙂
Another bonus is that you (Agent Genius) are from Austin also! Keep up the good work!
anthonys indianapolis homes for sale
April 18, 2010 at 1:55 pm
I wasn’t aware of the option for video uploads. This sounds like a service that should be taken advantage of before way too many people start using it and it loses its value for any one user.
ohalloran
May 18, 2010 at 11:06 am
Marty–This is awesome. Absolutely love the radius part and have updated all of my info. Thanks so much!
Marty Martin
May 18, 2010 at 5:06 pm
You’re welcome; happy you found it helpful!
Abbotsford Houses
November 16, 2020 at 3:26 am
Thanks for this great information!