A combined marketing strategy that involves online and offline marketing can do wonders for any business. Living in the digital age, many people are overlooking the advantages of combined marketing strategy. At the same time, many businesses that are stuck on the print media find it difficult to realize the potential of online marketing and don’t know where to start. On the other hand, businesses that rely on online marketing often encounter problems trying to market offline.

Marketing is rapidly evolving with the advent of the internet and latest technologies. Online marketing has made advertising more accessible and affordable to small businesses. Many people think that offline marketing is on the road to obsolescence – it is now 2017 but we still see a lot of offline marketing.

Offline marketing declined but it is still there because it is still very effective and always will be.  Just like anything else, offline marketing is going through an evolutionary period. It will remain as one of a very effective medium for many years to come.

One of the reason is that people respond to physical things that they can touch and feel. It appeals to some of our senses in a way that a digital marketing never can. For example, there is no as effective digital substitute for a business card. Business cards come in different types of card stocks that have different look and feel. Some look fancy and grand to look and touch, and some look tacky and low-quality; An impression created just by a simple piece of card. The other reason is simply demographics. A significant number of older people still prefer and engage to print ads. Also, many online ads are not viewed by their intended audience. Even Google admits that around 50% of ads are not seen by people. Many people have come to dislike online ads, evidenced by the fact that Facebook execs openly admitting users hate their ads and widespread use of ad-blocking software in recent years. Lastly, online marketing only works if there is internet.

That being said, it is a mistake putting all marketing efforts exclusively online. You miss out a lot of opportunities doing so. Do not forget that online marketing is difficult and ever-changing. You have to keep on top of the changes made by the social media platforms on regular basis. You also face a serious peril every time Google make changes to their algorithms. Such changes are often done unannounced (remember the Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird?).

The problem is that most people have no idea how to bring offline and digital marketing together. To help, we will share some actionable strategies. We expect that sharing these concrete ideas will help you formulate your own marketing strategy that is tailored to your needs.

  1. Different Media, Same Advertising Objective

Online and offline marketing should reinforce each other and drive interaction within the advertisement campaign and get people talking about the company and/or the product.

In an age of digital technology with ever-increasing capacities and possibilities for marketing, the printed media, tv and radio advertisements still cannot be replaced entirely for the purpose of marketing because they help tell people that your business really exists, and is not just a bogus online entity you created to milk money from people. Billboards, business cards, flyers, TV ads and other forms of offline marketing still stands strong today because these mediums help create a perception that you are a legitimate business with an actual brick and mortar location that can be found should the need arise. Remember, people do business with people; Not with online entities. Offline marketing also reinforces that you are a local business with a presence in the community, which is a very important factor for majority of the people.

  1. Mix and Match

A car can’t be all made of steel and aluminum because it’s gonna be way too heavy. Or carbon fiber and rubber because while it may go freakishly fast, it will be unsafe for the driver and crush everyone inside when it crashes. In the same way, your online marketing shouldn’t be purely facebook ads and flyers or tv ads and retweets. An effective marketing campaign will consist of a combination of different online and offline marketing tools that can maximize the potential of your objective.

Your choice of marketing media also has to be able to help capture leads. If you’re a fan of concerts and similar big events, you’ll notice advertisement campaigns for the tours of your favorite musicians will include tarpaulin advertisements that include a call to action to purchase tickets from an online website like Ticketmaster.com. Similarly, when dentists have new services to offer or promotions like complimentary teeth whitening let out into the public through flyers and posters, they usually would have a call to action to visit their website, their facebook page where a link posted to register for the promotion where the patient could put in their information. That information can help the dental clinic follow up on the people who registered for the promo.

  1. Nudge your customers to engage in your online activity

Over one-third of the entire global population is online at any given time, so it’s a no-brainer to tell your customers to check you out online, where people can potentially bring other people to like your page or tag others in your posts.

As mentioned before, offline marketing, other than help your product sell, should help drive online interaction with something as simple as a call to check their website or social media pages, or with the use of a hashtag, or help capture user information to help generate leads.

A good example of this is how a popular movie series will have posters hung up on movie theaters with a very brief sentence describing what the next sequel might be like an when they will be out in theatres. Some posters will have a webpage, a facebook page, a hashtag or other means of getting the customer connected with talk about the series online. Especially among avid fans of any series, this will most certainly drive conversation and anticipation.

  1. Spark Curiosity in the Audience

This is why a lot of companies use teaser trailers and posters that hint at something significant in the product, or anything that will spark hype, speculation and questioning among the audience.

When Yamaha announced their 2015 YZF-R1, their flagship superbike, one of the first things they did was launch an ad campaign leading up to the final release date with the series pictures below:

And as you would’ve guessed by now, this got gas heads talking about what the bike would possibly look like, what features would be included, and how well the bike would do in the track. Some even went as far as visiting japanese forums scouring the net for any information they could find on the bike.

The power of curiosity is undeniable and if used right, can drive a lot of online conversation and huge chances to sell your product. It’s not all that uncommon to see these types of advertisements, that’s why you see movie producers make a lot of teaser trailers to drive online conversation. It works very well at what it does.

Another way you can spark curiosity is by starting your campaign by challenging a preconceived notion or presenting a question that makes people think twice about what they thought they knew about your product. In the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, you’d hear the line “...you have no idea what you’re dealing with. This is beyond you.” Whoever said that, would no doubt be talking to the Avengers, or a member of the Avengers. Anyone who doesn’t follow the series as closely as to start reading the comics would ask, what force could be so powerful that even the avengers are deemed incapable of overcoming something like it?

Just as some of the greatest speeches you’ve heard in your life start with questions, so can advertisements. Questions get people on the edge of their seats, can start trends and cause firestorms of discussions among fans until it’s answered by the company. Just like how a lot of boxing promo posters have the “Who Will Win” line right at the bottom part.

One last way to spark curiosity is to hint at a conclusion that should only be a few words long, like how Fast and Furious 7’s “One Last Ride” posters got people hashtagging the same line and talking about how the movie would be like without Paul Walker for the last several minutes.

Marketing has never been a more focused aspect of business as it is today, so much so that entire divisions within companies are dedicated to each aspect of the whole marketing plan. And all the more planning and knowledge is ever needed to make a cohesive marketing campaign. The key takeaway is to get the audience talking about your product or service because the conversations they have can drive referrals and give you free advertisement and as well as provide a coherent identity for you and your company.