Marketing is indispensable for any business, especially if you are a startup. It enables you to increase your brand visibility, build a customer base, attract potential customers, gain market insights, identify your target audience, and plan a strategy accordingly. Even though marketing is of different types, the two main categories you can divide it into are online and offline marketing. Each of these undoubtedly has its benefits, objectives, and methods. For instance, while offline marketing is suitable for building personal relationships with clients, the online process is cost-effective, quick, easy to track, and automated. However, you must integrate both types of marketing to receive the best results for your company. You can create a unique personality for your brand and simultaneously enhance the customer journey. Here are some more details you ought to be aware of regarding an online and offline marketing integration.
A brief introduction to online and offline marketing
As mentioned earlier, these marketing methods have specific advantages, goals, and differences. Offline or traditional advertising does not involve internet use, and brands mainly used them before the advent of the digital age. Direct mail, radio ads, TV ads, brochures, direct mail, telemarketing, and billboards are various types of offline marketing. In contrast, the internet plays a vital role in online marketing. It has multiple types like email, SEO, PPC, content, affiliate, podcast, online forums, display, PR, and media sharing networks.
Some statistics on online and offline advertising
According to statistics, almost 82% of marketers use online advertising, while most small businesses and startups prefer email advertising for building brand awareness. However, statistics also show that about 39% of global direct brand marketers believe in the effectiveness of offline campaigns, while 37% believe in offline advertising while utilizing the benefits of e-commerce.
Is online and offline integration popular among businesses?
Most small businesses and startups believe that combining the two methods into their campaign provides the maximum benefits. Some owners prefer advertising their brands on billboards while using social media platforms to promote their products, thus effectively reaching out to customers. According to a survey, about 68% of small business owners use online and offline methods to advertise their company. At the same time, the majority prefer social media to expand their presence in the digital space. Almost all of them were unanimous on achieving the right balance between the two advertising methods to enjoy the optimum results. However, merely relying on one strategy while excluding the other will impede your company’s progress in the future.
Benefits of online and offline marketing integration
You will receive plenty of benefits from integrating your marketing strategies, which include:
Expanding your company’s reach
One of the significant advantages of advertising your business online and offline is expanding its reach in the market and attracting a higher number of potential customers. While the offline method will help you connect with the local customers, or those restricted to a specific area, city, or town, digital advertising will enable you to reach an audience on a global scale. You can use traditional marketing methods like direct mail advertising to inform your audience about your startup company’s website, social media presence, and ways to connect digitally. You could also consider mailing coupons from your e-commerce website to enhance the customer experience and engagement rate.
Create a unique personality for your brand
Combining the digital and non-digital marketing mediums creates a unique personality for your brand and gives you the results you want. But while doing that, you must ensure consistency between the two approaches. For example, your printed brochure should have the same design, content, and layout as your online newsletter, or your promotional campaigns have the same style as your online campaign. You could do this by including all the information on your website in your printed materials and vice versa.
Tracking your marketing campaigns
You can use ad network conversion, website tracking, Google Analytics, CRM, and KPI dashboard tracking to track your online marketing campaigns. They are also beneficial for monitoring your offline campaigns and whether they are delivering the results you want. Combining the two methods enables you to track the responsiveness of your campaigns by incorporating a unique call to action or CTAs (like persuading the customer to visit your website on your printed materials), mentioning your website’s address on all your brochures, or even asking them to join you on social media.
Integrating online and offline marketing methods carries many advantages, especially for small businesses and startups, from a customer reach to tracking your marketing campaigns. It is a guaranteed way of building a solid presence in the market.