6 Ways to Combine Online and Offline Marketing for Greater Impact

For the greatest impact, you can’t put all your eggs in one basket — you will need to combine online and offline marketing tactics to grow your business.

Combine Online and Offline Marketing

People often have a black and white outlook when it comes to advertising: it’s either online or offline.

But it should really be a combination of online AND offline if you want to make the greatest impact.

Some people just don’t spend a lot of time online or are completely blind to online advertising. And those who spend most of their marketing dollars on offline advertising can always benefit from using some of the online tools that offer them better reporting, flexibility, and accuracy, often at a fraction of the price.

Let’s take a look at a few ways that you can combine online and offline marketing for greater effect.

1. Hold an Event

Events are a great way to attract people in the real world and are also very easy to advertise online. Everyone likes free food and rides, and if you can give them an event that gets them to go out, then it’s a win.

You don’t have to go crazy with the theme either. A nice western theme with a few rides and a mechanical bull could be a great way to attract people from all age groups. Of course, you want to have as much promotional gear and material out there for people to find out more about your brand.

One thing you should consider is hosting an event at a local family fun center. This can be a powerful way to invite families and potential customers for a day of indoor entertainment which puts your brand front and center. An inflatable concept park , like the ones designed & built by Galaxy Multi Rides, are the perfect venue to entertain guests of all ages and allows for your logo, company colors and branded giveaways to be seen in a large space. By providing free, family friendly fun, you’re sure to attract a large crowd that won’t get rained out!

The great thing about events like these are that they basically sell themselves on social media before, and well after they were held. If the event is a success, you will get great comments for days and could turn it into an annual event people will look forward to. And hopefully, you’ll have given visitors many incentives to buy from you and check out your products. This could be a great way to establish yourself in the community and could have much more branding power than you might imagine.

2. Use Your Print Material to Promote Your Online Properties

All of your printed marketing materials should offer people a way to reach you online. And sometimes, you should use print material principally for people to do so. For instance, you could use print ads with QR codes or a special offer code for people who shop online in your store.

Not enough eCommerce businesses do this. Few realize how many customers they could reach with mailers if they target the right group and their products are the right fit.

Another thing you could do is create a contest and have a social media element to it. You can then send mailers or give out flyers, but the contest has to be interesting and something people will want to actually join. Also, make sure that there is some type of sharing component so you can benefit from the extra visibility during the contest. You need to make sure that you find a way to capture contact information and get subscribers to enroll for special offers.

Never underestimate the power of user-generated content. One example of how to use offline marketing to boost response is Indiana University and their #IUsaidYes campaign. What they did was simply put this hashtag on all letters they sent to students who were accepted. This pushed people to post pictures online with their letter, which spread the hashtag and boosted admissions to the university.

3. Use Corporate Event to Boost Subscriptions

Corporate events can be a very powerful tool to help you get more subscribers. If you’re hosting a promotional or corporate event, you want to offer something that will be of value to your attendees in exchange for their information. This could be something as simple as a checklist or a cheat sheet.

You also have to make sure that your emails are sequenced automatically so you can upsell them and move them along your sales funnel. But make sure that you don’t spend the bulk of your time selling. Actually, the minority of your texts should be promotional in nature. You want to become a resource first and foremost and use your list for marketing only when you have something to announce or a great deal they might actually be interested in.

4. Track Online Engagement and Follow Through Offline

You could also use your online efforts to gauge what material works and use these pointers to craft your offline marketing. For instance, if a particular image seems to translate to better click-through rates with your audience, then it obviously means that there is something in it that they like and is catching their attention. Use this data to your advantage and try to use the same images in your offline marketing and you might get better responses.

5. Use Adwords Phone Extensions

You should also use a phone extension option on PPC networks like Adwords. This will allow people to quickly contact you by phone without visiting your site. This is especially great if you’re offering quotes. This gives you a chance to talk to them before they could get possibly turned off by an element on your site or the quote process. You should also consider adding a phone number to the ad when possible.

6. Track Results with Different URLs

One of the greatest things about online marketing is how much you can track results. You can use unique URLs to track the success rate of offline marketing as well. Just use these only for certain print advertising campaigns and mailers, and see which ones get the best results. You can also use personalized URLs or pURLs for people on your mailing list, send personalized mailers to them, and use them to track their activity.

Conclusion

All of these tips will allow you to integrate all of your marketing efforts better. It will also allow you to cast the widest net possible and get the attention of people who may have no other way to interact with your brand.