What offline marketing strategies have you tried?

Which business are you in?
For B2B & B2C there are different ways of advertising!
What is your business into?
Manufacturer? Service provider?

Telemarketing, voice broadcasting, classified advertising, email marketing, paid advertising on relevant sites...

All of that has worked well... All of it you have to work at and tweak.

Every now and then you get lucky, and accidentally (perhaps) create a perfect storm, and something works like a charm on the first try... Most of it takes a little tweaking and becoming familiar through hands on action...over maybe a little time, not much.

Everything that you see working out there "works". Its just about picking a strategy and mastering it.

A weight lifter once told me that the best thing to do is get a basic routine down and spend six months "Mastering it".

In marketing it may not have to take six months... but there are clearly tons of things that work. You have to decide to master a couple of them. and accept the fact that you may (outside of luck) fumble a bit with a concept before it "clicks" for you. Once it does, no matter what proven strategy it is, then you can fly with it.

In any event, those (above) are some things that have worked for me. Yes , some of them literally BLEW UP from the first try, and others took some work.

Hope this helps.

JD

Referrals, networking, JVs

There was a TV series called Mr Selfridge, holywoodised story of Harry Selfridge coming to England to open Selfridge's. In the first episodes his financier drops out leaving Selfridge with a half built store. His newspaper friend tells Selfridge that he needs to talk to Lady May. She knows everyone who is anyone. Selfridge charms Lady May and gets the appropriate introductions and subsequent financing to finish the store.

Another one. Back in the 1920s I think it was. Young chap approaches Rockefeller for a loan. Rockefeller says no, but I'll do something better. Just walk with me across the stock market floor. Of course, everyone sees this young chap walking with Rockefeller and they all want to know who he is...

Of course, Lady May was fictional and the Rockefeller story has been told with other names as the influencer, however the principle is the same. Get to know and be known by people of influence in your niche. Get them to introduce you. It's the fastest way to become famous within your niche... Beats cold calling, advertising, tweeting, blogging, pretty much anything...

Here's a simple technique. Take someone new out to lunch every week. Focus on people who know people. Don't try to sell them, just take an interest in them. Then keep in touch. Do them favours, like referring people to them or highlighting stuff that would be of interest to them. They'll notice...

Hi DG,

Thank you for inviting me to share. That would be a long post, and I'm about to take my wife out to dinner. I will revisit this thread over the weekend, and oblige, with more specifics.

Understandably that would more helpful.



Animal44,

That may have been one of the most insightful posts ever, and I must say " Thank you."

I've done literally everything. Cold calling, direct mail, local networking events, you name it. When it comes to internet marketing, the best part is the scalability of working methods. Once something works for you, then you can do it again and again. So when I provided good service to my first few clients, I started contacting companies in other cities in the same industry. Using the past experience as a case study for them to look at.

Fastest:

If you want to do pay per lead or rank & rent, then a simple cold call will give you clients the FASTEST. "hey want to try these leads?" Other methods will work, but cold calling works the fastest. You will have to deliver value before receiving any checks if you are going to do cold calling.

Highest paying:

Highest paying clients are going to come from referrals and INCOMING leads. And relationship building... Someone who doesn't trust you isn't going to agree to pay you $3,000 a month no matter what your guarantee is.

Biggest waste:

Personally I have found that networking events and chamber meetings have been a waste of time. I think it's because most of the people in these groups are clients that I do not want. IE insurance, real estate, bankers. Plus, it is too cliquey for me. I am a solo operation and it was always awkward for me to show up at networking events by myself and try to intermingle with the different 'circles' that were already established.

If you can get invited by someone and/or go with them, it will work out better. It all depends if your target audience is going to be at the meeting, and if they are going to be 'accepting' to your message/sales pitch.

My personal favorite is to pick up the phone. I'm COMPLETELY done with in-person meetings. They were my biggest waste of time. IF you are going to pick up the phone, you better be prepared. Set up your agency site, social media, get some reviews for your agency. And sell something of value. PPL deals can be formed over the phone, rank and rent deals, and other consulting deals. You have to make sure you have the proper presentation prepared and SHOW them what you are selling them.

Also, you can rank your agency website for "yourcity SEO" and keywords like that. I get a couple inbound leads per month from this. I recently recorded one of the leads that came in and posted it on my Youtube Channel. This inbound lead wanted SEO/PPC consulting services for his business.

PR is always a good way to go but it does take time and commitment and some sort of hook that will float around out there waiting for the next big thing.

"Most successful" is a bit subjective to the outcome generated.

I'll give you a few examples of what *crazy* outcomes I've encountered personally through PR.

I'll preface what I say with I've held a few world records in my time but some of the results come through putting yourself out there for mundane things also.

One big one was a FAX - yep an ugly fax sent to the major media outlets.

The headline read " No Aussies at the Boomerang World Championships"

subhead...despite Fosters (aussie beer) sponsoring the USA team to the tune of $250K and Qantas sponsoring the Swiss team.

Result $25,000 sponsorship deal in under 24 hours.

Went to St Louis and both my son and I set world records on the same day. That night we got publicity at a Cardinal's game.

Next day did an Interview with Sports Illustrated and got published in section "Faces in the Crowd"

A week later I was closing the Today Show with matt Lauer and Katy Couric throwing a boomerang around Rockefeller Plaza

Another was a phone conversation with a TV station about doing a world record on air.

Said record was achieved - "Longest distance any object thrown by human"

Five years later. CCTV - Chinese TV took me to China and on to Inner Mongolia to film a TV special throwing boomerangs with the Mongol Horsemen at the festival of the Grasslands Inner Mongolia.

Publicity is a weird beast but if you can get publicity for any GOOD thing you do it will pay you back over and over.

Many times using all different marketing methods there is always a compounding effect when you have some natural publicity.

It helps to be memorable.

Several times my business has won business awards retailing, manufacturing and most recently digital marketing - each has boosted business further.

It doesn't have to be some feat or something outstanding.

Two examples of memorable people marketing themselves in my area have both been "cold callers" - not on the phone - but physically B2B door to door.

One sells floor mats - has done for over 40 years.

The other sells insurance.

They both stand out because of their appearance, uniqueness, consistency and professionalism.

It takes time to build any kind of following.

Start with the commitment to build your personal brand over time and keep at it.

Best regards,

Ozi

Hi I do work for real estate agents. Making advertising videos using pre-made videos. But also I get the agents to take photos from the home being sold and I turn them into virtual tours using low cost software. It is a good market to get into because you can save the agents lots of money using your service then paying for a professional virtual tour.

-Print Publications could be an affective offline marketing strategy. Obtaining relevant placements in industry magazines and journals will help increase your brand visibility.
-Similarly, cold calls have that personal touch that often resonates with interested consumers.

When you are running your business, you always want to position yourself as the thought leader in the space. One great way to do that is to speak at events. You might not only get clients from the people who are in the audience, but there may be some bloggers or journalists in the audience and if they like what you are doing, you may get extra coverage in their publication.Try to talk to as many people as possible. After you talk, give out business cards and always ask the people you talk to what they are doing. Don't just focus on your own sales.

Just try to serve folk what they want to get and keep an eye on your competitor what they doing in industry to generate leads! Simply don't show folks that you a seller show them as you are helper.

Some of the offline marketing strategies that I have tried that I find most effective is using business cards and have my business published through a magazine that I have paid for advertisement space. It is direct to the people who really needs it and caters more to the right customers.

Try Guerilla marketing. You may leave sticky notes in random places like bars, coffee shops and fast food chains. You may advertise promotions on a sidewalk using chalk.

I agree, Guerilla marketing is fun and easy to do. You should have business cards and distribute them all. You can leave it with your tip at a restaurant. You may leave it on the public bulletin board as well.

You should remember that social campaigns can be boosted by offline efforts. You may take photos of your company events or daily activities and post it online. You can record it, videos may also help.

What I have used and its help me get outside exposure. Is Wolf Run Enterprises,they do magazine and newspapers. You can look into post card mailers. Also, coupon bundles,that go into peoples mail boxes too.