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Time and time again, you will hear that everyone is running their business online and traditional marketing techniques are a thing of the past. But there are still people out there who prefer a more traditional approach, and reaching out to them is crucial for your campaign. The truth is that even though marketing has moved online, people still live in the “real” world. Call it sentimental and a little bit nostalgic, but you often need to find a perfect middle ground. Incorporating a more traditional marketing approach means you can make the best of both new and old marketing worlds to achieve the maximum effect. Here’s how to do it.
Billboards
Digital campaigns may seem like a great way to reach out to a large audience, but just how effective is this strategy? Numbers mean nothing if you can’t connect with your intended users, so limiting your reach to a more local level may provide a more lasting impression.
It cannot be stressed enough just how effective billboards still are. First of all, coming across a billboard is inevitable, and guess what? The bigger the number of the people who see your brand, the bigger the chances of them connecting with it. Another advantage of billboards is the space they leave for creativity.
If you manage to create an eye-catching and yet down-to-the-point billboard, your potential customers are sure to be intrigued. The results of a detailed in-car study show that “seventy-one percent of travellers often look at the messages on roadside billboards and more than one-third (37%) report looking at an outdoor ad each or most of the time they pass one.”
Giveaways
Giveaways are a perfect opportunity to utilise social media for achieving maximum results while mixing digital and traditional marketing strategies. Not only will you be able to grow your email list, but you will also have more subscribers and followers on your social media accounts. Depending on whether you want to give away promotional products or you simply want to launch a new product, defining your goals properly is crucial in this instance. Even better if you can motivate your customers to start using a prepaid visa card because you can offer gift vouchers and other rewards and transfer them straight to the customers’ card. There are many useful giveaway tools out here and using one can save you a great deal of time and nerves.
Direct mail
Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that direct mail is a thing of the past. In fact, as you can see in this infographic, direct mail still packs quite a punch. Mixing a direct approach with email marketing can help you to target a broader spectre of customers and create relevant, long-term relationships with them.
Just think about how much trust a personalised letter in your customer’s mailbox can produce. The same goes for personalised emails you can create with email client tools like AWeber, Cakemail, and ConvertKit. On top of that, you can send coupons or vouchers to your loyal or brand-new customers right to their doorstep. In order to implement this strategy the right way, you need to perform a demographic analysis. Better yet, study the data you already have on your clients and personalise their mail.
Contests
Contests are a very popular form of traditional marketing and can be easily translated into the modern digital sphere. If you transfer the concept of contests to a digital environment, the results they yield can be amazing. To begin with, online contests incite people to make the first move and this aspect is vital. Additionally, you can inspire your fans or followers to share the contest and potentially make it go viral.
Flyers
Although the first thing that comes to mind is trash bins full of unread flyers, you can still achieve a lot of success with them. Offering flyers to cold prospects without previously targeting any particular customer base is pointless. It is for this reason that you should select a neighbourhood and blanket the areas which prove to be the locations of your potential or existing customers. There are a great many online tools for mapping out homes and neighbourhoods so make sure you use those, too.
Brochures
Printed materials still hold value for modern customers and there are several reasons for that. The first one is that your brand will seem more credible and trustworthy if it has printed sales literature. The second one is that people simply like to have the basic information about your services or products at their disposal at any given moment. So, if they happen to acquire a brochure and have no time to take a look at it, they can save it for later and study its contents. What’s more, brochures can be a useful propeller of your website’s traffic as many of the readers will want to see your online presentation as well. In case you decide to use them in your campaigns, make sure to follow the guidelines.
Events
Event marketing goes a long way towards bringing you closer to potential partners, customers or clients. Not only does it offer a whole spectrum of possibilities organisation-wise, but it also lets you plan the events according to your specific goals. For example, you can participate as an exhibitor at a large-scale event and promote your brand. Likewise, you may host your own event and invite possible partners and associates in order to strengthen and expand the network. As events may be costly, the companies on a tight budget may even organise virtual events, which have started to gain momentum in the past few years. From choosing a host to marketing your event and defining the format, there are certain guidelines to follow in order to pull off a great virtual event.
Obviously, traditional marketing methods are still working their magic. You just need to know just the right balance of traditional and modern to spice things up a bit. Your target audience will appreciate a more personalised approach. We do live in a digital era, but If you successfully combine these techniques to suit your business’s needs, you are guaranteed to achieve outstanding results in your next campaign.
“The opinions expressed by BizWitty Contributors are their own, not those of BizCover and should not be relied upon in place of appropriate professional advice. Please read our full disclaimer."
