For many entrepreneurs, their marketing campaigns lean heavily towards the digital and online. To cater to the millennial market and to future proof your venture, you need to have a strong online presence. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are the go to channels for online businesses to market their services and products. To create an online buzz, you need to understand your market and produce content that is engaging, readable and informative. To hone that company voice takes time, but get it right and you could secure a superior presence on the Internet.
However, this doesn’t mean that you should shun the tried and tested traditional marketing methods entirely. If your demographic is slightly more mature or you know that your audience isn’t au fait with the online world, you need to go offline with your marketing campaigns. Consider the joys of radio jingles, TV advertisements, flyer or leaflet drops, trade shows, and local networking in an effort to market your business in the most appropriate way for your audience.
Radio
The old wireless is seen as very antique nowadays and old hat. However, with the emergence of podcast popularity and streaming music services such as Spotify and Audible, you could tap into both the older and more youthful market. Consider formulating an advert that taps into the psyche of your audience. As you launch your business, you should understand the motivations and desires of your customer base. To be successful as an entrepreneur, you should be putting your customer at the center of everything you do and your marketing strategy should be no different.
A great radio advert requires some gimmicky rhymes, so wordplay, some fun, and some memorable music. Consider employing a jungle writer to formulate a short piece of music with words that will stay in someone’s head all day. You want your customer to be driving to work only to hear your jingle and be singing it for the rest of the day much to the annoyance of their work colleagues. It is this almost subliminal marketing that will keep your business name, brand and ethos fresh in people’s minds.
Networking
If you are a local business such as a bakery, a specialist accountant for small regional firms, or a local graphic designer, consider networking at local corporate events. These might be trade shows, wedding fairs, or regional business meetings. Get involved and take with you some marketing materials. Rather than going for the normal matte business cards, choose some foil business cards that add a touch of uniqueness and flair to your contact details. There’s nothing worse than handing out a business card or flyer only to see it be deposited in a bin one minute later. A more creative business card or leaflet will encourage the recipient to read it. This means your message is getting conveyed to a maximum number of people.
Billboards
If you are eager to go big or go home in the local market, a billboard can’t get much larger. These large posters adorn many a highway, suburb and multiplex mall. They are ideal if you want to get a simple message or promotion across and are ideal for those businesses that already have a local presence as you won’t have to explain what you are all about on one poster. Consider a promotion that revolves around a discount, a service or an event. If you are a caterer, publicize your attendance at a street food festival. If you design custom tee shirts, show off some of your skills on the billboard and let people know that you have a huge discount on offer.
A billboard is one of those marketing platforms that you can allow to linger so not much effort is involved. However, this also has its downsides. You can’t adapt a billboard once it is up and it can be very difficult to analyze its impact. With online marketing, you can use an analytics tool to work out where your sales and traffic streams originated. This is not possible with more traditional marketing methods and you have to rely on instinct and gut – not ideal for entrepreneurial success.
Marketing strategies need to combine offline and online elements to be more well rounded and comprehensive. Utilize only one marketing stream and you may lose out on a possible demographic that is ripe for tapping for interest and sales. Follow this guide and you can discover some of the joys of offline marketing for your startup.
