Newstricky| With the rise of digital marketing, people have heavily forgotten the effectiveness of traditional marketing. The fact that you are reading this article right now proves that you are aware of how effective it can still be. So, let’s go over some notable offline strategies that will help your local business out.
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Packaging
Packaging is the first thing your consumers will see (provided you are selling physical products). With this in mind, it is vital to land a good first impression by having a package that will stand out. People care about aesthetics, this is plain fact.
The packaging of your products doesn’t need to be glamorous or expensive-looking, it just needs to grab their attention. There is no such thing as an irrelevant detail on the packaging. Everything that is located on the package is important, from the brand and logo to the color of the bag/box and the used font. You need to find synergy in the overall style of the product, this way it will stand out from everything else, regardless if it doesn’t have the flashiest color.
Remember, another way of increasing your outreach is by offering convenience products that have your brand attached to them. This can be in things like bags, pens, letterheads, etc.
Printed Materials
Digital materials and promotions definitely have their merit, it’s undeniable. However, there is something special about having the physical print in your hands. Physical advertising allows you to promote your own business on a more personal level. Well-designed pamphlets are much more appealing and will stick around in your memory more often than digitally-designed ads will. This can also be used with coupons. You can pair coupons with pamphlets and the rest of your advertising material. Whatever gets the crowd interested will only benefit you.
Attract People With Guerrilla Marketing
Adam Hayes defines guerrilla marketing as: “a marketing tactic in which a company uses surprise and/or unconventional interactions in order to promote a product or service.”
Guerrilla marketing achieves its goals through personal interactions with smaller groups of people or by making visually striking ads. Those smaller groups are to spread the word about the product through personal interactions to as many people as possible. Its uniqueness makes it so it stays with the people who are exposed to it, and it’s more economically practical than other physical marketing strategies. For example, BBC’s Dracula billboard was a genius move that really caught the public’s eye.
Remember, it is not about how elaborate it has to be, or how simple. The average consumer is smarter than you might think, so you can give them credit sometimes and start off thinking that they will understand your message. This, however, cannot be applicable for hard-core niche jargon so do be careful with what you are trying to sell.
Engage in Networking
Whether it’s online or offline, networking is key. Every successful business needs to network in order to survive and come out on top. No matter how good your product/service is, you will need to cooperate with other businesses in order to reach your full potential. Whether it’s by cooperating, mutually advertising each other, or something else, building strong business relationships will need to be on your to-do list. Talk to your neighbors or other local business owners to see whether an opportunity could arise. Hell, even some of your clients could be potential partners down the line. You never know until you try.
Hand Out Business Cards
Business cards remain a classy strategy whatever the age is. They are cheap to make and they provide you with direct contact with the person in charge. Not to mention, they are also a blank template for what style you want to go with. So, the design of the business cards should be made so that it reflects you as a person or business and what feeling you want to achieve with the person analyzing it. It’s a great way of networking as you don’t need to go through any needlessly long searches for a profile or see whether there is even WiFi in the first place, nor do you need to manually say your number for the other person to write it down. It’s all done with 1 move of the hand. You can also leave them around relevant places where people would look if they wanted to reach out to you or contact you.
Customer Feedback
We have gotten used to customer feedback being only in the digital form nowadays that we have completely forgotten that asking the person in real life can be equally (if not even more) as effective. Whenever you (and the customer) have the time, engage in a conversation. Ask them what do they dislike about your business, see what they would like to see changed. If you aren’t doing well with getting constructive answers to change your approach. Offer something to stimulate the customers to speak their minds. It can be anything from free goodies (a great opportunity to give out your branded convenience items) to coupons.
Rent a Billboard
One of the most traditional ways of offline marketing is by renting a good old billboard for all of the passers-by to see. Ideally, you want to rent one that is at an intersection or where traffic lights are, this way they can get the most attention out of the largest amount of people. You do not even have to settle for only billboards, opting for fence banners can have the same results if used correctly.
Billboards, however, aren’t cheap. There is a big price to pay for the amount of exposure you get from them, especially if they are located in a prime location. Since you bought the billboard make sure that the material that you want to display shows your marketing expertise, after all, you are making a large investment so be sure in the product that you are investing into.
Live Presentations
Live presentations are not utilized often in marketing. They require a degree of charisma, fluency in speaking, and guts. This means that there is a lot of room for error so people tend to skip over this out of fear of screwing up. However, a successfully held presentation can significantly make you stand out and catch people’s attention. A first impression is what can make or break your business, hence why it’s important to be land the presentation.
Interesting locations for your presentation can be (depending on the product/services you are offering) libraries, clubs, business events, community centers, and so on.
A successful presentation will, ideally, be educational to the audience and teach them something interesting while also finding that perfect spot where you can introduce your own brand and correlate how your goods/services are tied to something beneficial and tell them exactly not why they want the thing you are offering, but why they need it. Don’t be frightened by the number of things you need to do, this is all in theory. In practice, of course, there will be slip-ups and things won’t go your way. It’s important to keep going at it. You will be able to find things that you can talk about no matter what line of business you’re in. Just be creative about it and do it with confidence.
You may also check: Digital Marketing Strategies To Boost Your Business
