As an internet marketer, it probably makes sense to devote all of your advertising and marketing funds to online marketing techniques. You’ve probably spent quite a lot of money on things like sidebar advertising, PPC, article creation outsourcing, blogging and paid advertising on other websites. Has it ever crossed your mind that you might be able to do effective marketing offline as well? Not all of your potential customers are online! The key point is that if you only use one type of marketing, you are going to be bypassing lots of people who get their information elsewhere! So what’s the best way to start marketing offline? Marketing offline is not hard, so let’s look at some good methods that will help you begin.
All newspapers have a page or section devoted to classified advertising. Internet marketers often place ads on well known sites such as Craigslist or another free online classifieds site. Many internet marketers simply don’t think of placing an ad in their own local paper. A well placed three line classified ad can bring in more potential buyers than twelve ads in online classified sites. It’s true that you can’t advertise in a newspaper for free like you can on Craigslist, but if it turns out to be a lot more effective, wouldn’t you be willing to pay the small fee? Offline classifieds will reach the people without computers, who always have the option of visiting an internet cafe or library if they decide to buy your product!
Another great option not often used by internet marketers is display advertising in newspapers. Have you thought about taking out a small ad in one of the regular sections of your newspaper? You can experiment with a smaller display ad, which will probably not be too expensive. Make sure your ad is placed in the best section of the paper for what you are offering; in this way you can be found by droves of people who would never have seen an online ad. To find out how effective your ad is you might create a special coupon for your newspaper readers. The nice thing about a regular ad is that you can have graphics as well as text!
The use of bulletin boards that you see in public places is often overlooked by most marketers. The best part is that it is completely free. Fliers are effective because people it is there for people to write your site’s URL down or take the flier itself home with them. Most the people that enter a library or store stops and takes a look at the bulletin board; your ad can be one of the ones they see. This is by far one of the free methods that requires almost no time and work on your part.
The methods that I listed above don’t even scratch the surface of offline marketing. Once you open your mind and start thinking as a marketer then ideas will flow to you. All it takes is some creativity to reach anyone in your market. Most people don’t like to do business online but perhaps you can advertise a product or service that is in demand but not easy to come by in the local area. There are so many potential clients out there that the market for your products and services is almost unlimited. You are only hurting your revenue when you decide to focus strictly on the internet for advertising. Do you think that the million dollar marketer use only online methods?