Teamwork is the recurring theme at the moment with the London 2012 Olympics. The world’s athletes, especially our TEAM GB, are revelling in great sporting moments and excellent teamwork leading to Olympic success, especially those gold medals.
This momentous occasion and the success of teams got me thinking about two players in our industry that work well together to make websites a success.
Many question whether offline marketing still works or is online marketing the stronger contender? Me personally, I don’t think there needs to be competition between the two. Both elements make a great team and make your website known and successful.
As offline marketing can be seen as more traditional method of marketing your website, we could make the mistake of saying it’s not needed anymore as we do everything online. Don’t forget though, how do people still get to know where things are online?
In this post, I want to talk about how it’s not really offline marketing versus online marketing, but more how offline marketing works with online marketing,
What Is Offline Marketing?
Offline marketing, what is it? Offline Marketing is marketing that doesn’t make use of the internet. Methods such as advertising in magazines, newspapers, on bill boards, flyers etc.
Although many people use the internet the use of offline marketing will help you reach a wider audience and gives your organisation a greater coverage making sure those without online access don’t get missed.
What Is Online Marketing?
Online marketing is marketing that makes use of the internet such as e-newsletters, social media tools, blogs, QR codes, search engine optimisation (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns and so on.
Online marketing pushes your website on the internet; helps create a community around your website and gives you instant analytics in terms of knowing who your audience is, where they are from and what they are interested in on your website.
The Teamwork!
As with any team member, each one has its own role to play. Your website is the central portal of your marketing tools. Nearly everyone who wants to know more about your charity, your cause, fundraising event and more will at some point visit your website for information, contact details and so on.
The principle theme between the two marketing methods is how to make your charity’s website better known.
If you are having a fundraising event, the bottom line is to raise funds and attract the attention of donors. If you limit yourselves to only showcasing this information on your website and no other methods to publicise your event, you are limiting your chances of the amount of money you can raise. This is where it comes in useful to combine your online and offline marketing strategies.
Consistency Counts!
Make sure your offline and online marketing match. One thing to consider is keeping things that are offline similar or identical to things that are online. Consistency is key to getting your audience to register what is going on. Consistency helps repeat information which helps stick in our minds more.
- Keep the brand alive, online and offline.
- If you have straplines or key messages make sure they appear both online and offline.
- The look, feel and tone should all relate to each other.
- The use of keywords in your messages should be apparent in your offline messages to your online SEO campaigns etc.
Promote Those URL’s
Your website URL needs to be pushed around and visible to as many eyes as possible. Not just your website URL’s, if you have social media pages or a blog, then include those URL’s too – not just the logo’s. You are not marketing the social media tools; you are using them to market you.
Imagine you are at a trade show and are handing out business cards, flyers and booklets for potential donors to take away. How are they going to find out more about you? Where can they go to keep in constant contact with you? All of these URL’s help – give your audience the option to follow you, subscribe to you or simply to just find out more about you.
If you have a particular event, why not use tracking URL’s, landing pages or QR codes and have them printed on your offline marketing collateral. By using particular these options you can analyse where your audience is coming from, who they are and how many have responded to your call to you action for a particular campaign.
If budget allows, look at advertising opportunities to where your audience will see your cause and another arena to post your website address such as bill boards, magazines, newspapers, TV, radio.
Conclusion
With the uptake of all things online it’s still not time to rule out all that is offline. Use the power of offline marketing to empower your online marketing to give you a greater presence with a greater audience.
Many of our clients ask how can we drive more traffic to our website, how can we make our website more well-known? A website isn’t successful just because you have created one. Someone has to know that it is there.
What you need is to promote your brand, your cause, your work. You need to promote your website. Stay true to yourselves and be realistic. Stay within your means and use the online and offline marketing methods that suit your organisation.
Don’t get left at the starting line when it comes to promoting your website – go for gold and use all avenues suitable for you.
Further Reading
Here is an article on integrating your offline & online marketing strategies:
Hello There,
Really it’s a good article. I got so much of information about offline marketing.
Good Job Keep Posting:)
Regrads,
Avinash Reddy Addi
Internet Marketing Analyst
Pingback: 2012: The Year in Digital Tips - Helpfulhints for Charities 52/52
Good analysis, yes it is true that for better market holding both offline and online marketing strategies are need. Good job.