Which one is tougher - Online or Offline marketing?

14 replies
I would like to know that which one is tougher - online or offline marketing.
#marketing #offline #online #tougher
  • Profile picture of the author Joan Altz
    This will be different per individual. Some people do better at online, and some do better at offline. Maybe a small percentage are good at both, and a very large percentage are bad at both.
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    • Profile picture of the author SteveSki
      Making money both online or offline is simple but not always easy. Of the two… I find that it’s far easier to make quick profits offline.

      I then use a potion of my offline profits to market online.

      I’m in the photography and IM/MMO niches.

      I make a few thousand per month online from just a couple of the 37 domains I own. But if you put a gun to my head and told me I had 30 days to make a $20,000 profit or else… I’d grab my camera and laptop and would immediately start running as quickly as possible from house to house knocking on doors of any homes where I spotted children or toys indicating the household had kids living there.

      I’d talk to the parents and hand them a sample portrait explaining I create fantasy portraits and that I had an irresistible offer for them… I’ll photograph the children and give them a 8x10 print of the image they liked best absolutely free. The catch is they would most likely fall in love with all of the images and end up ordering from $500 to $1000 in extra prints.

      Of course I don’t tell them that most people spend over $500 on extra images. When they ask how much will it cost if I decided to order any extras I just tell them… The worst that could happen is you get your favourite image for free… extra prints are optional and you can purchase additional 8x10’s for as little as $50.00 Depending on how many they order.

      This neutralizes the I can’t afford them price objection and doing this for 30 days straight I’d end up making way over $20,000 in profits. Then I’d take a month or two off so I could go back to creating long term passive income online.

      I wouldn't try to sell IM services to brick and mortar businesses because that takes to much work and sales ability. I’d rather offer to create fantasy portraits of them and their children because I know my numbers. Selling fantasy portraits to parents is like shooting fish in a barrel.

      I’m really lucky that I have something I can sell both online and offline. If they see it, they want it, but only if it's their loved ones in the picture so that's why for me, it's so much easier offline.

      Unfortunately, most people don’t have an advantage like that and they think that Internet Marketing is a business. It’s not a business… it’s just another means to market a real product or service and most people don’t have a hungry crowd to sell to or a product people actually want to buy so they end up trying to market and sell to non-buyers instead of quickly running through the numbers to find the ones who already want what they are selling.

      Cheers,
      Steve Ski
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        For me? Offline is easier, because I know how to sell.

        But if you're like most people, and the idea of actually talking to another person sends you into convulsions...then online is better.
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        • Profile picture of the author Biz Max
          It really depends on what you are selling and who you are selling it to. If it is
          your local marketplace I prefer offline.

          In either case one needs to be relatively savvy and it's always good to use
          both if possible (at least for lead gen).
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      • Profile picture of the author ronr
        As others have said, I think it mainly depends on personality.

        If you are a people person or enjoy sales you'll probably find offline easier.

        If you aren't, you'll probably find online easier.

        I think it's important to really think about this because if your personality doesn't fit what you are doing you are probably going to fail. (unless you are willing to change or outsource.)

        If you don't like working with people or selling, no matter how much money you can possibily make offline, you probably aren't going to do the prospecting to get clients

        On the other hand if you don't like creating products, affiliate marketing, driving traffic, etc. or have trouble completing projects you aren't going to succeed in online marketing.

        Ron
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  • Profile picture of the author powerofschool
    It really depends on individual . One person do good with online.
    One will do better with Offline.
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  • Profile picture of the author Peter Lessard
    The major problem with online sales is that it is very easy for people to convince themselves they are working and very easy to make excuses for not getting results.

    If you work offline things happen faster. For example if you were doing real sales calls how long would it take to realize something was wrong with your approach? 2 days? 5 days?
    but
    in online I see people posting all the time saying I have been at this for a year or two years hoping I will finally make money next month. No sane individual would do sales calls in offline for a year with no cash to show for it but online it happens all the time.

    Even after 14 years full time of handling marketing for every type of business online it amazes me how much cash I can bring in during a one week period if all I do is make it the top priority to get paid by someone for something today. I have development weeks, study weeks, marketing weeks and all kinds of payments coming in on schedules or random affiliate sales but when I wake up and say today somebody is going to pay me for something because I am specifically going to do nothing today but ask for money, I just make it happen.

    Basically that is a long winded way to say it is personality based and a warning to not fall into the online trap.
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  • Profile picture of the author abruzzi
    Personally, I find offline more difficult simply because of my personality and the logistics. Offline basically has bosses called clients. Then there are the meeting, possible travel, miscommunication, managed or unmanaged expectations, and so forth. Tried it, didn't like it...
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  • Profile picture of the author deborahright
    Thanks a lot John for your kind visit. Although I think that, your reply is quite worthwhile but it would be great for me if you can elaborate much. Thank you very much Steve, I find a sensible and honest reply here. I really enjoyed a lot. Claude, thanks for your visit, I got your point. And thank you powerofschool, WhiteRhino for your kind visit. Hello plessard, maybe you are right but when you are doing worldwide business then "internet" is the speediest media through which you can instantly reach anyone. Hello abruzzi thanks a lot for your kind visit, you have raised some great points.
    HAVE A GREAT DAY
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  • Profile picture of the author Andrew S
    Offline is more difficult to move a lot of product simple because of scale.

    Because online is open 24/7 and you can pull in visitors from everywhere it has a distinct advantage over offline.
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  • Profile picture of the author Austin357
    Both have their own unique challenges in getting up and running successfully. Online is easier to scale once you fine a winning formula and you can outsource many elements. Offline has produced quicker results for me because you an interact with your clients and have a more personal sales approach. Everyone will come to their own conclusion based on their own style and preferences.
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    • Profile picture of the author MichaelWinicki
      If this were 2005 I would say offline were more difficult.

      Back then SEO was much easier. And what I paid for clicks in 2005? It makes me cry.

      You also had a lot fewer people trying to carve out their own "empire" on the Internet using things like article marketing.

      In addition you didn't have as many of the offline "big-boys" on the net and the ones that were on the net... well many of those didn't know what they were doing.

      Offline back then was still filled with many stalwarts of offline marketing. Catalogers. Mail order folks. Infomercial experts. It was tougher to compete with them.

      But nearly a decade later things have reversed.

      Not that you can't make money... good money on the net, because obviously you still can. But the margin for error is much smaller IMO. Many of the advantages smart Internet marketers had in 2005 have gone sour- to one extent or another. Just look at email response rates now as compared to what we got back then.

      And offline?

      My gosh, just start with your mailbox. We all receive much less mail than we did back then. And that itself is a magnificent opportunity, because those that use direct mail are finding much less competition for attention.

      Radio... print... Television. All are still very effective and the rates especially for radio and print are stagnant or even falling. When was the last time your PPC costs fell?

      Offline isn't just about getting clients and using offline that way. There are still lots of folks out there selling products, be it physical products or even digital products through offline channels.

      The one advantage offline still has (as it did in 2005) is the ability to scale it upwards once you have developed a winning sales message. Take it from newspapers to magazines to free-standing inserts to direct response radio to direct mail to direct response TV to direct selling period. I think it's much easier to scale up big offline.
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  • Profile picture of the author TrumpiaTim
    I would say offline at this point since many business owners even if they aren't online savvy, they have this innate nature telling them... hey let's move into the next trend. Let's connect with people on social media etc.

    So in my humble opinion I would definitely say offline is becoming more difficult.
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  • Profile picture of the author MRomeo09
    Perhaps a better question would be which path leads me more directly towards my financial goals. What I will tell you is that everything in life has a price, EVERYTHING. It's up to you to resolve that price and pay it. Neither online nor offline is necessarily "easy", it all takes work and personal growth. No one can pay that price for you, you're going to have to do it.

    I personally like to go where the money is. I like big deals. I want to make 5-6 figure deals every time I talk to someone otherwise, why bother. The only way to approach that with online is to do a lot of smaller deals that lead up to some sort of launch. Again none of it is "easy", but all of it has a price, and it's up to you whether you pay it.
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